FLORENCE REEVES Collection Ballads Songs Colloquialisms

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: Biography – Staff/Personnel

FLORENCE REEVES COLLECTION – BALLADS, SONGS, COLLOQUIALISMS


TAGS: Florence Reeves Collection – Ballads, Songs, Colloquialisms; Florence Reeves; volunteer work; Pine Mountain Settlement School; community; Cumberlands; Far Hollow; Katherine Pettit; Aunt Phronnie


Florence Reeves, a volunteer worker at Pine Mountain Settlement School in 1922, gathered many of the ballads, stories, and language idioms of neighbors in the Pine Mountain valley.

This material, left to Pine Mountain by MIss Reeves, captures the fascination she and others had for the community that surrounded the School. Many of the workers had had little opportunity to work with populations such as those in eastern Kentucky and many of the cultural traits held a special fascination for them. Florence Reeves was one such staff member. She had a special ear for ballads, language and the many stories and conversations that swirled around her as she worked with the children at the School as their housemother, as an assistant to the primary school teacher and with the parents of many of the children. Her notes and letter reflect her profound experiences as she sought to both be observer and participant.

She transcribed her notes and left the following accounts. (See images and transcriptions below):

“Autumn Contentment in the Cumberlands.” [3 pages]

“Aunt Phronnie’s Say by the Fire Peeling Apples …” [5 pages]

“Spring Comes to Far Hollow.” Source: unknown article, c. 1922. [1 page]

Letter to Miss Pettit from Florence Reeves, June 7, 1934. [2 pages]


GALLERY: FLORENCE REEVES COLLECTION – BALLADS, SONGS, COLLOQUIALISMS

“Autumn Contentment in the Cumberlands”

TRANSCRIPTION 

IN PROGRESS


GALLERY: FLORENCE REEVES COLLECTION – BALLADS, SONGS, COLLOQUIALISMS

“Aunt Phronnie’s Say by the Fire Peeling Apples …”

TRANSCRIPTION

Go to: “Aunt Phronnie’s Say by the Fire Peeling Apples …”


GALLERY: FLORENCE REEVES COLLECTION – BALLADS, SONGS, COLLOQUIALISMS

“Spring Comes to Far Hollow” by Florence Reeves (Source: unknown article, c. 1922)
In this spring-time remembrance of Phronnie, Florence Reeves may have been recalling an iconic scene captured in a photograph of a Pine Mountain Valley woman feeding her sheep.

reeves_ky_ballad_006

“Spring Comes to Far Hollow” by F.R. , c. 1922. [reeves_ky_ballad_006.jpg]

TRANSCRIPTION

IN PROGRESS


GALLERY: FLORENCE REEVES COLLECTION – BALLADS, SONGS, COLLOQUIALISMS

Letter to Miss Pettit from Florence Reeves, June 7, 1934.

TRANSCRIPTION

IN PROGRESS


See Also:

FLORENCE REEVES “Aunt Phronnie Say by Her Fire Peeling Apples…”
FLORENCE REEVES Biography
FLORENCE REEVES Correspondence, 1924-1947
FLORENCE REEVES Poetry