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Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Guide to the Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection
Summary
- Collection ID:
- NMAH.AC.1485
- Creators:
-
McCormick, Mack
- Dates:
-
1858-2015, undated
- Languages:
-
Collection is inEnglish. Some materials inFrenchandSpanish.
- Physical Description:
-
60 Cubic feet171 boxes, 9 map folders
- Repository:
Field notes, manuscripts, photographs, booking contracts, correspondence, personal papers, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, interviews, and other research materials primarily relating to the history of American blues music. Collection documents the lives of significant blues musicians Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mance Lipscomb; insight into the life, writings, and research practices of Robert "Mack" McCormick; and the business side of recording and selling the blues.
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
The collection documents the life, writings, research practices, and business activities of blues scholar Robert "Mack" Burton McCormick who came to serve as a leading authority on the genre. Personal papers include diaries, curriculum vitae, biographical sketches, school papers, employment documents, correspondence, financial records, and an interview transcript. McCormick's writings consist of published magazine and journal articles, plays, essays, television scripts, short stories, and album liner notes. There are complete unpublished manuscripts, drafts with notes and research materials, and ideas for future work. McCormick's research practices and subjects of interest are documented in correspondence, field notes, annotated maps, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, city directories, interviews, photographic prints, negatives, slides, and contact sheets. American blues, Texas blues, and the music of significant blues artists, who McCormick served as an agent and manager for, dominated his extensive research efforts. In addition, the collection documents the recording, distribution and sale, and identification of consumer markets for American music in correspondence, contracts, agreements, music journals, publicity and promotional materials, music manuscripts, and interviews.
Throughout the collection preservation measures were performed to ensure long term use of the materials. Newspaper clippings were photocopied, and the originals were discarded. Audio cassette tapes have been reformatted and the digital copies will soon be available for research use.
Arrangement
Arrangement
Collection is arranged into fifteen series.
Series 1: Photographic Negatives, Photographs and Slides, 1959-1998, undated
Subseries 1.1: Photographic Negatives and Contact Sheets, 1967-1977, undated
Subseries 1.2: Photographs, 1959-1998, undated
Subseries 1.3: Photographs, Texas Blues (TB), 1961-1964, undated
Subseries 1.4: Photographic Slides, 1964-1977, undated
Subseries 1.5: Negative and Photograph Indices and Assorted Material, 1963-1975
Series 2: Personal Papers, 1937-2015, undated
Subseries 2.1: Biographical Information, 1945-2003, undated
Subseries 2.2: Correspondence, Greeting Cards, and Postcards, 1937-2010, undated
Subseries 2.3: Education, 1938-1946
Subseries 2.4: Employment Records, 1948-1961, undated
Subseries 2.5: Family Papers, 1945-1988, undated
Subseries 2.6: Press, 1960-2015, undated
Subseries 2.7: Archive, 1972-2015, undated
Subseries 2.8: Campaign, 1959-2015, undated
Subseries 2.9: Financial Papers, 1952-2015
Subseries 2.10: Legal Papers, 1950-2015, undated
Subseries 2.11: Business Records, 1941-2006, undated
Series 3: Project Files, 1960-2003, undated
Subseries 3.1: Library of Congress, 1960-1964
Subseries 3.2: Newport Folk Festival, 1965-1969
Subseries 3.3: Hemisfair, 1968
Subseries 3.4: Smithsonian Institution, Festival of American Folklife 1966-1980, undated
Subseries 3.5: Other Blues Project, 2001-2003, undated
Series 4: Manuscripts and Writings, 1952-2015, undated
Subseries 4.1: Almost A Savage Joy, 1959-1980
Subseries 4.2: Another Fine Mess, 1981-1987, undated
Subseries 4.3: Blues: A New Look, 1965-1984, undated
Subseries 4.4: Blues Odyssey, 1971, undated
Subseries 4.5: Death and Tragedy, 1975-1980, undated
Subseries 4.6: Down in Texas Blues, undated
Subseries 4.7: Folk Songs of Men, 1952-1977, undated
Subseries 4.8: Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, 1958-1976, undated
Subseries 4.9: Henry Thomas, 1975-2002, undated
Subseries 4.10: Ira, George, Edward, and Lee, 1994, undated
Subseries 4.11: The Magic Room, 1961-1962, undated
Subseries 4.12: Origin of Blues, 1991-2004, undated
Subseries 4.13: Snake in the Belly, 1956-1957, undated
Subseries 4.14: Wiley, 1957-1984, undated
Subseries 4.15: Articles, Ideas and Drafts, 1961-2004, undated
Series 5: Artist Files, 1880-2010, undated
Series 6: Texas Blues Research, 1858-2011, undated
Subseries 6.1: Texas Blues Research, 1910-2010, undated
Subseries 6.2: Lead Files, 1962-1980, undated
Subseries 6.3: Trip Notes, 1960-1989, undated
Subseries 6.4: Song Histories, 1920-1982, undated
Subseries 6.5: Music, 1928-2011, undated
Subseries 6.6: Record Catalogs, 1963-2006, undated
Subseries 6.7: Maps, 1958-1989, undated
Series 7: Robert Johnson, 1910-2015, undated
Subseries 7.1: Research Materials, 1910-2015, undated
Subseries 7.2: Who Killed Robert Johnson Manuscript, 1955-2015, undated
Series 8: Office Files, 1938-2000, undated
Series 9: Correspondence, 1959-2015, undated
Series 10: Organizations, Groups and Buffs, 1961-2003, undated
Series 11: Festivals and Living Museums, 1960-2003, undated
Series 12: Music Journals, 1971-2006, undated
Series 13: Subject Files, 1896-2015, undated
Series 14: People Files, 1928-2014, undated
Series 15: Audio Cassette Tapes and Digital Files, 1941-2007, undated
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930-November 18, 2015) was a self-taught folklorist who spent a lifetime researching, collecting, and writing about vernacular music in the United States. Most of his work focused on the blues and other musical traditions of Black, brown, and white communities living throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. After experiencing a difficult, transient childhood and eventually dropping out of high school, McCormick settled in Houston, Texas and began to work a series of odd jobs while relentlessly pursuing his goal of becoming a successful writer. Although researching and writing about music came to occupy most of his time, he also pursued passions as a screenwriter and novelist. The volume of historical research and personal interviews he conducted from the 1950s through the early 1970s is remarkable, and his published writings during this period about music and the musicians he doggedly studied were lauded by his peers as among the best in the field. Along the way he worked for a time as a manager for the careers of the Texas songsters Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb, and briefly ran his own record label. He made hundreds of hours of field recordings with musicians living throughout the South. He collaborated with colleagues such as Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, and Paul Oliver, with whom McCormick spent over a decade researching and writing a manuscript on the history of Texas Blues. Beginning in the late 1960s, he was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution as a field worker for its annual Festival of American Folklife, and around the same time began researching the life of blues legend Robert Johnson for a manuscript that McCormick wrote and re-wrote but failed to publish in his lifetime.
McCormick's research, along with his personal archive, became the stuff of legend among fellow blues researchers and enthusiasts, particularly after his publishing output dwindled in the 1970s. He lived with a bipolar disorder that drew him into bouts of depression and paranoia. He came to distrust many of those colleagues working most closely with him, and sometimes shared untrue information to throw them off the trail of his research discoveries. He also "borrowed" heirloom photographs from the family members and descendants of blues artists and, in several cases documented in this collection, he refused to return them. Overcome with challenges that lay both within and without his control, he came to describe the massive archive in his Houston, Texas home as "the monster," and spent his final decades attempting with little success to publish his writings.
Administration
Author
Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, María Daniela Jiménez, Alison L. Oswald, Franklin A. Robinson Jr., and John W. Troutman
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Collection donated by Susannah Nix to the Archives Center in 2019.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Karen Adjei, intern, 2020; John Benko, intern, 2019; Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2019; Kevin DeVries, intern, 2019; María Daniela Jiménez, archivist, 2019; Katie Kerekes, intern, 2020; Alison L. Oswald, archivist, 2019; Franklin A. Robinson Jr., archivist, 2019; Brian Quann, intern, 2020; Kai Walther, intern, 2020; supervised by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2019-2020.
Photographic materials scanned by Noah Stewart, digitization assistant, 2020. Texas blues manuscripts photographed and digitized by Sydney Pearce, intern, 2023; Capri Stevenson-Bisom, intern, 2023; and Sophie Frankel, intern, 2023; supervised by Janice Stagnitto Ellis, senior paper conservator, 2023.
Materials have been removed from public access pending investigation under the Smithsonian Institution's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy.
Finding aid authored by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, María Daniela Jiménez, Alison L. Oswald, and Franklin A. Robinson Jr. with supplemental biographical and historical information contributed by Craig Orr, archivist, 2019; John Troutman, NMAH music curator, 2020; and Tony Scherman, author, music historian, and journalist, 2020 revised in 2023.
Existence and Location of Copies
Photographic materials in Series 1 were scanned in 2020.
Documents relating to the Texas blues in Series 6 were photographed and digitized in 2023.
In addition, materials in the collection were digitized for the National Museum of American History's 2023-2025 exhibit Treasures and Trouble: Looking Inside a Legendary Blues Archive; for Smithsonian Books' 2023 publication, Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey; and Smithsonian Folkways' 2023 release, Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958-1971.
Separated Materials
National Museum of American History's Division of Culture and the Arts
Artifacts acquired as part of the collection include:
Washburn style G guitar, serial number 46472, Accession number 2019.0234.01.
Set of quills (or panpipes) made and played by blues artist Joe Patterson. Accession number 2019.0234.02.
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
Audio recordings acquired as part of the collection are listed in The Guide to the Mack McCormick Audio Tapes Collection prepared by Jeff Place, 2020-2022.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Access to original materials in boxes 76-80 is prohibited. Researchers must use digital copies.
Additional materials have been removed from public access pending investigation under the Smithsonian Institution's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy.
Preferred Citation
Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Conditions Governing Use
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Related Materials
Related Materials
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
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Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301
Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints, NMAH.AC.0389
Program in African American Culture Collection, NMAH.AC.0408
Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0415
Alan Strauber Photoprints, 1990-1994, 1999, NMAH.AC.0517
Jonas Bernholm Rhythm and Blues Collection, NMAH.AC.0551
Ray McKinley Music and Ephemera, NMAH.AC.0635
Bluestime Power Hour Videotapes, NMAH.AC.0657
Edward and Gaye Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704
Bill Holman Collection, NMAH.AC.0733
Andrew Homzy Collection of Duke Ellington Stock Arrangements, NMAH.AC.0740
Harry Warren Papers, NMAH.AC.0750
Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766
Fletcher and Horace Henderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0797
Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808
William Russo Music and Personal Papers, NMAH.AC.0845
Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849
Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900
Bobby Tucker Papers, NMAH.AC.1141
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC1222
Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC1323
Maceo Jefferson Papers, NMAH.AC1370
Jazz and Big Band Collection, 1927-1966, NMAH.AC.1388
Nick Reynolds Kingston Trio Papers, NMAH.AC.1472
McIntire Family Hawaiian Entertainers Collection, NMAH.AC.1511
Native Peoples Musicians and Music Collection, NMAH.AC.1512
Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Arhoolie Business Records and Audio Recordings, 1960-2016, CFCH.ARHO
Moses and Frances Asch Collection, 1926-1986, CFCH.ASCH
CFCH Audiovisual Projects, 2011-2018, CFCH.AVPR
Diana Davies Photographs, 1963-1969, CFCH.DAVIE
Frederic Ramsey Audio Recordings, 1945-1959, CFCH.RAMS
Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, 1950-1994, CFCH.RINZ
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1968 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1968
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1969 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1969
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1970 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1970
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1972 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1972
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1973 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1973
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1974 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1974
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1975
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1976 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1976
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1983 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1983
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1985 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1985
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1987 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1987
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1988 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1988
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1989 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1989
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1991 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1991
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1996 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1996
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1997 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1997
Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 2011 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.2011
Smithsonian Institution
Division of Performing Arts Records, 1966-1979, Accession T90055
Office of Public Affairs, Biographical Files, 1963-1988, Record Unit 420, SIA.FARU0420
National Museum of American History, Department of Public Programs, 1968-1992, Record Unit 584, SIA.FARU0584
Smithsonian Productions, 1967-2000, undated, SIA.FA09-055
Keywords
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
Business Number: Phone: 202-633-3270
Fax Number: Fax: 202-786-2453
archivescenter@si.edu
