GULLAH Hymns from Sea Island, SC. Private 5 10” 78 rpm records in album. E/E+

$

1,000

Sea Island Gullah Hymns.

Private 5 10” 78 rpm records in album. E/E+

Unnamed performers

St. Helena is at the South Carolina end of the Sea Islands clustered along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia at the center of the Gullah culture, an important area of black studies. I’m offering a set on 78 rpm records of 10 spirituals sung by descendants of the original Sea Island plantation slaves. They were recorded at the Penn Normal Industrial and Agricultural School at Frogmore on St. Helena’s Island.

Private donors commissioned a fund-raising 16mm 35 minute color film, “To Live as Free Men” in 1941, supervised by John A. Silver, one of the donors. These records were also made at that time as the film’s sound recording equipment was available. The performances are built around the school’s touring vocal quartet, apparently all Hampton graduates, with students and teachers voices contributing. They are unaccompanied.

The set was offered in the Penn School newspaper in January, 1942. There were special showings of the film in New York, Washington and Philadelphia. The film includes a “Praise House” scene.

After each showing, sets of these records were offered to the attendees at $ 5.00 per set. As this occurred during the first year of World War II, it’s not surprising that most of the public’s attention was focused elsewhere, which may account in part for the extreme scarcity of this set.

Apparently, the recording was done on film, then transferred to lacquers which were duly processed so pressings could be made. More was recorded than issued since the records have side numbers with gaps when all 10 published sides are accounted for. These 78s, with their content and arrangements chosen by those deep within the community, are unrelated to the better known group of Gullah recordings made by Alan Lomax, a sympathetic outsider. They are possibly the earliest ethnic audio artifacts going back to beginning of recording to be unsupervised, unfiltered choices made by the culture itself.

6 Leanin’ on De Lawd
8 I’m Goin’ to Sings a New Song

10 Tree Planted By de Water (1 light scratch)
12 Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow

4 Ride On, Jesus
5 All My Sins Done Taken Away

1 The Lonesome Valley
9 Every Time I Feels de Spirit

3 Nobody Knows de Trouble I’ve Seen (1 scratch, may sound)
11 Fader, Praise Fader

The 5 10” two-sided 78 rpm records are in a blue faux-leather album which is labelled on the front, “Sea Island Spirituals. Limited First Edition.” There is no printing on the spine. I'm including a xerox set of the notes.

Except where so indicated, the records are in E+ or better condition. There is almost no wear at the center holes and no spindle trail marks.

Album. There is an unrepaired 3” tear along the front hinge at the top and is in otherwise excellent condition.

Shipping to the U.S. is $ 4.00; elsewhere calculated by mailing address.