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This audio begins with Marie Cagle singing Little Rosewood Casket and Barbara Allen. At 3:27, Odell Cagle sings Little Orphan Girl, The Roaming Gambler, and Jesse James. 7:22: Marie Cagle sings an unnamed lullaby that her mother sang to her. 8:13: Odell Cagle sings A Letter Edged in Black, Floyd Collins, and ends the recording with a lullaby his mother sang.
Odell Cagle (1921-2004) was born in Cartersville, Georgia, to Jack Cagle (1886-1948) and Ethel Cagle (1895-1985). In 1941 he married Vivian Marie Kinsey (1923-2017); a year later he was drafted into the army and served until 1943. Vivian Cagles parents were Otis Earl Kinsey (1902-1964) and Willie H. Kinsey (1899-1986). Odell Cagle spent twenty-six years as a minister in a small church, and later worked at Lockheed Airport in Marietta, Georgia.
1~0LKLOHE 302 COLLECTING PROJECT "IINTEH Q,lJARTEH 1969 BY DICK PEHHEAUI.T On the enooupaghlg statey;;en1i "I think :r know S01~e guy in the big C that sings old songs," I set out to 1'Ileet a friend of mine at his hOl~e in Cartersville, Georgia. I spent the afternoon investigating possible ~ads. I had been warned to stay away ~rom an old banjo picker that ran a mill. Of course one of the first leads I got was this banjo picking ~lller, Clark Rogers. Passing up the temtation of reoording some of Mr. Rogers already collected material, I went to see Mr. Frank Vaughn. Mr. Vaughn at one time played the guitar and saggown a group. Unfortunately he could. only play "Hank Williams stuff ". I also talked to an old fiddler named Emmett Cole. Mr. Cole, an alcoholio, had been very ill and said that he, "Couldn't set up fer long." He asle d me to come bRck some day in a month or so and he would play fOD me. Unfortunately time and term papers wait for no one, so I oontinued my searoh. Finally I oontaoted a man that said if I would oome baok the following "leek he would sing for Tile. So I left Cartersville with a 3:00 pm Sunday appointment with Mr. William Howell. I spent the following Sunday oolleoting traditional Eskimo songs, as the ioe and snow kept me away from CartersTille. I oalled Mr. Howell and arranged another session 1 for the following Sunday. The morning of February 23, broke cold and gray as I loaded my guitar, oameras, and recorder into my oar for the grueling forty minute dri~e to CartersYille. A well planned attaok al$owed me to arrive at my friends house at dinner time. After the first home oooked meal I had eaten in hours, I oalled Mr. Howell. The faot that he was out of town for the day would ind~oate that yoo oan't trust the folk. For a while I was too busy orying to notioe that my friends mother had been looking over my finding list. "rlmow mome of these,t!hshe said. My first thought was that she probably knew one song she had learned on the radio, but to oheck it out I hit her with the only collecting formula I knew. "Do you know anybody around here that sings any of the old songs they used to sing before radio?" Realizing how little sense this made, I asked her where she had learned them. It seems that Mrs. Marie Cagle, 46 years of age, had learned these songs from her grandfather and her mother. She reoalled her grandfather, a Welsh-English gentleman from Kentucky, singing the songs. She desoribed his swyle as being "~ery different". "He almost talked the songs," she recalled. When I asked them where her grandfather had learned the songs, she replied, "He just learned em." 2 She also remembered her mother singing to her before she went to bed. She told me of how she used to listen to the "Grand Ole Opry" over earphones when she 3 was three years old. lIer father had built a radio and the earphones were a prerequisite to listening. lIer parents, from Cassville Georgia, moved to Bartow oounty before she was born. While I was talking to ~ws. Cagle, her husband Odell was not to be out done. lIe too reoalled several of the songs on my list, and as I was to find out later, onoe he started it vIas hard to stop him. One song usually lead to another, most of them, however, were anything but folk or traditional. Mr. Cagle, 47, was born in Cartersville. His parents were originally from Chero!ee County Georgj.a. His most 'tivid memory of singing, was an old "nigger man" that Has on his father's plaoe when he was a bo~. Hr. CagJa, all-Tays trying to pleade, Vlanted to ohange into ro me o'l'eralls to seem 1110re country, but I asured him that Hasn't neoessary. So in bits and pieces of Hhat they remembered, 111'. and Mrs. Odell Cagle began to sing for me. Mrs. Cagle sat quietly and sang her songs softly. Hr. Cagle, a L01~eed emplyee, soemed less at home before the miorophone. He would hold my finding list while singing, and some times he would appear as though he were singing from the sheet. I had to cheok afterwards to see if I had missed anything I had intended to return to CartersYilJ.e, to try and rel~ate Mr. Howell, and lperhaps to dig deeper into the Cagle1s collection. Unfortunately, two days after returning from the "hills" I contracted an eye infection. This leads to my second postulate, the first you cant trust the folk. Postulate 62: Collecting folk songs causes eye infection. Considering these, two great findings, I set out halt blind and half crazed, (prGTious condition, not caused by collecting) to see just what I had collected. TAPE LOCNPION LITTLE tJjARY PHAGAN~r:H~;~ ':H{:HH:~::~~~:~::"~:-~;-':HH~--::~:H~:H ::H:-:HH:122 THE LI rr':PLE ORPHAN GI RL~HHr:::~':HHHH::H::HHH:::';H::::~::~:HH:1 70 R0 VIN t GANBLER~:{{{{:;HHr ;Hr :';:(~::H{:{:{~:H~::-:H:~:::::4HH:-{H (,.;:..;; ::1H"2 23 ~ESSE J"A1JIE:S:H::H:~~ ';:":H:',;; ::-:::::HHHH~::":::HH::HH:":HH::~1H:1: :}-:"250 LET 'rHE HEST OF' THE WOHLD GO BY::::'::-::::','::"::":HH":HHH:-273 LgTTER ETCHED IN BLACK'::":HHH:~'::4':H:';:-~~':HHHH~-):-';Ht-'::":HHH:-::-;~298 FLOYD COLLI NS;H:H:r::~(:: .::~ ;H;-;:;:" :H}::l~::H-:: ~~::~HH~~:H}';: ~:;:;::H::~ 354 THEBES A LIGHT BURNING BRIGHT IN THE VALLEYiHHHi431 10 on the finding list. Apparently he was using it as a seourity bJanket., iJ On two occasions the family clook caught me by sounding while I was recording. I oan assure you that this was not an attempt to create atmosphere, but it is rather effective. And so off and on in the following two hours, this exohange of words, thoughts and songs took place: Mrs. Cagle-Uh, I IlnOvl the "Li ttle Rosewood Casket ". 1o1y grandfather when I was just a little girl we sat around his chair and he was deaf and he ,.ould teach us these songs. And.:> he would r.' sing them to us and we never had em written we always justrlistened and learned the \fords from that. In the little rosewood casket resting on a marble stand Is a package of old letters written by a lovers hand \1hen 1 'm resting in my coffin and my shroud around me's wound And my narrow bed is ready In the pleasant ohurch yard ground I must say farewell dear sister plaoe my hands upon my breast I ron dying kiss me sister I am going home to rest Another song I remember is uh Barbara Allen. But I just vaguely remember the tune and it may not be exaotly right but I'll do the best X can. All in the early month of May When the green bean buds they \fO ee sVlel,lin I Sweet William on his death bed lay P'or the love of Barbara Allen 4 ;:; Its true I'm siok and very siok And death lies in my dwelling And I do know that I will die 1r I don't get Barbara Allen Then slow~y slowly She rose up And slowly she did leave him She (signing) sighing said she could not stay Since the breath of live had left him. Mr. Cag:j.e-Uh, this song is about a little girl that lived in Marietta Georgia back in the uh, 1920's that was killed that worked at the null there. And uh, this feller that killed the little girl I believe, was as far as we know he was the only Mason that had ever done anything like that, and uh---------got away with it. Little Maren Fagan she went to to\1U one day She went to the penoil factory to get her little pay Frank: Fagan met he he met her at the door He laughed and said little Mary, you'll go home no more He snea~ d along behind her till he met the middle room He said Iii.ttle Maren Fagan you've llIet your fatal doom I learned this song from an old nigger man that lived in this house on our place years ago when I ~as a boy and uh he lived in this little house nearby He'd go down a lotta nights and listen to him. He Ivill Id uh, play the. banjo and the frenoh harp and we learned a lotta old folk songs from him. And this is one of em, The Little Orphan Gir~ Two little children a girl and a boy Sat by an old en urch door The little boys coat IV"S all l'agged and torn And soot on the dress that she wore The IHtle girls feet was all (I forgot--cut it off) The little boys coat was all ragged and torn A tear mOlvn in his blue eye Why don't you run home to your lnother he said And this was the fatal reply l'fothers in heaven they took her alVay Left Jim and I all alone We crone here to sleep till the olose of the day Cause lVe have no mother or home Mr. Cagle-This is one tha old nigger Will taught me. About the raying gambler. I only know a few yerses of it. I am a roaming gambler I gamble down in town wheneYer I meet wihh a deck of oards I lie my money down I had not been in Washington Many more weeks than three I fell in loye with a pretty little girl And she fell in lOYe with me She took me in the parlor She cooled me with a fan She said to her nlOther I loye that gambling man This ones uh the story of Jesse James. Bacl,:; in the early twenties. Dh he would uh rob the rioh and giYe to the poor. And then this is a song about him. Jesse James viaS a man he killed many a Illen He robbed the Newborn tml.in Jesse had a wife he mourned all his life (And poor put) put poor Jesse in his graye Thats all I know. Mrs. Cagle-This is a song I remember my mama used to sing to me when I was a little girl. Right before I went to bed at night I'd beg her to sing it to me eyery night. 6 Some where out in the We III build a little And let the rest of wesb nest the world go by And thats all loan remember of the words uhm she, it was popular about the time she was a little girl in um the early 1900's and the ]a te 1800 s Hr. Oagle-----'rhis one Has e. hmm a r,etter Etohed in blaok. I learned it rrom a blind man that used to go along the streets singin l this song. I Has standing by my vlindow yesterday moroning Without a Harry or a oare When I saw the postman ooming up the pathway With suoh a happy raoe and air He rang the bell and Hhistlea as he Hoke me He said good morning to you Jaok &\t I little kneH the sorrow that he brought me As he handed me this letter etohed in black With tremblllmg hands I took the letter from him I broke the seal and this is what it said Oome hom my boy your dear old father needs you Come home my boy uour dear old mothers dead Those angry words I wished Ida never spoke them You know I did not meantthem don't you Jack If the angels bear this witness I am asking To forgive me of this letter etohed in black Mr. Perreault-iVhen did you learn that, about Hhat age? Mr. Cagle----Oh I learned that baok uh in uh nineteen an twenty-tHO, about that. I guess somewhere around that age. Anduh its been qui te a "hile ago. Uh this is a song that I learned about when i Has a young boy. It was in the tHenties along that age um. I heard it this man was ah workin' in a cave uh not to far from here uh and it oaved in uh. He ]a y there ah two or three days before they round him and they was a song written about it and I learned it as a little boy. Goes some thin , like thi s: Oh (lome all you young people .And listen while I tell ~l'he delt h of Floyd Gollins They all knew him well 7 He was so handsome His heart was true and brave His body mow lies sleeping In a lonesome sandstone cave. Oh mother don't you worry Dear father don't be sad I'll tell you all my troubles And an a1flful dre am I had I dreroned I was a prisoner My lifa oould not be saVed My body then lies sleeping in a lonesome sandstone oaTe It was on one fatal morning The sun rose in the sky The workmen they were working Did save him by and by But oh (sow) how sad the ending Their hearts vlere true and brave His body now lies sleeping In a lonesome sandstone cave Mh. Perreault-\'lhere \~as the oaVe, do you know'l Mr. Gagle-----It was not too far from here. I don't remember exaotly where but um thats, thats what happened. Mr. Perreault-Where you born in Cartersvill, or where? Mr. Cagle----yeah. Mr. P~~reault-\'lhere were your folks from? Mr. Cagle-----Ivell they were from Cherokee County. Its around urn 50-75 miles I guess from here. Ughm, It was somewhere in that neighborhood. I think it was on the edge of Tennessee where this happened uh but it w~s in Georgia on the edge of Tennessee not too far a\~ay. Mr. Perreault-Mrs. Cagle, ah, you said your ah grandfathers from Kentuoky? Mrs. Cagle----yes. 8 Mr. Perreault-Ah, where were you born? Mrs. Cagle----I was born here in Bartow County. Mr. Perreault-Urnmn, and where were your folks from, rather than your grandfather, say your mother, or you r father? Hrs. Cagle----Uh they were from a little town called Cassville, just seven miles from Cartersville, but uh her father CMle from Kentucky as a young man to Cassville and there he stayed until he died. (I learned later that her grandfather) (and grandmother got married against) (the fmnily will, and so when they were) (disowned, they crune to Georgia, f~om) (Kentucky) Mr. Cagle-----Uh this is a song that um my mother used to sing just happened to think of it and um she used to sing when 1 was a little boyan her knee. Theres a light burning bright in the valley In the window its burning for me And I know that my mother is praying l!'or the boy she is longing to see When its Imap lighting time in the valley And in 3. dream I go back to my home I can heal' my dear mother a pra:\ring For the boy S1 e is longing to see. And so I ended a very pleasant evening with the Cagles. Their son, Ronny, is a very fine folksinger in his own right, but unfortur~tely not in the srune tradition. :1 Has amazed that he seemeill. so surprised at his parents knowing these songs. Perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Cagle~ generation Hill be the last to remember these songs as a main form of family entertainment. 9 THE LITTLE ROSEWOOD CASKET The Little Rosewood Casket, as Belden poinbs out, is "clearly a pi ec e of li terary sentiment." Reported as a trad! tional ro ng from Kentucky, it has been found in print only onoe. This one printing, on a stall sheet, was marked oopyright 1870 by White and Goullad. The SDng has also been found in tradition in Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkffi1sas, Texas, Illinois, and Iowa. The version that Mrs. Cagle sang for me is olosely related to the example in Belden's Ballads and Songs. lIe Hsts the song as being from the MS book of A. E. Allenbrand of Gentry County. The three verses Mrs. Cagle remembered are a~lost identioal to verses 1,4,and 6. BARBRY ALLEN What needs to be said ablut Barbry Allen? I could go into a detailed history of this ballad, but I i feel such a history would be out of plaoe in th~s Paper. Let me only classify it as Child ballad #8~_, and add that ~ t is probably the best knO\ffi of all the Child ballads. So nwnerous are the variations of the song, that Belden lists 18 varients. Though Mrs. Cagle refered to the song as Barbry Allen, she sang it to sound more like Barbry Ellen. 11 12 Mrs. Cagle sang three verses which closel~ agree with Tel'ses 1,4., and 6, in Belden's example K. She did however, have one variation in the first verse. She mentioned the green bean buds swelling. I later asked her to repeat the first verse and the buds returned to simply being green. I rationalized this as being simply an active mental set, muoh the same as in word assooiation. LI'r'l'LE HAHY PHAGAN On August $, 1913, Mary Phagan went to the National Pencil Compan1 in Atlanta, Georgia. That same day she was beaten to death by Leo Frank. Frank, and Jas. Conley, a watemnan at the faotory, were acoused of the crime. Conley was set free, but Frank was sentenced to death on August 26, 1913. On June 22, 191$, Governor Slaton changed Frankls sentenoe to life partly due to wide spread public sympathy in his faTor. On August 17 of the same year, however, I<'rank was kidnapped from a state work o~ap and lynched. Apperently the public sympathy wasnlt as wide spread as some people would have you belie,e. ~fuat little of the song Mr. Cagle knew, is a Tast corruption of the original. He sings the Tictim.s name as Haren F'agan, probably an unconsoious rhyme. He then goes on to oall Leo Frank, Frank Fagan, an obvious mistake. I was unable to find more than the first line of the song, though Kirkland lists in his book, A Check List, a broadside entitled Little Mary Phagan. 13 Mr. Cagle's historical notes are interesting, though I was unalble to validate any of them. He Hsts the 1913 killing as haYing taken place in the 1920's. He said that he thought he remembered when it happened, but since he wasn't born until 1922, this would have been impossible. He also said that Mary lived and workld at a r~ll in Marietta. I couldn't find any information either to back this up, or to discredit it. v~. Cagl said that Frank was the only Mason to ever be convicted of a nlurder. I found no eyidence concerning this either. Belden lists one version of the song, Leo Frank and Mary Phagan, as being a late adaptation of Florella. The change of spelling from Phagan to Fagan is easily explained througg' oral tradition. The Little Orphan Girl Belden lists one song titled The Orphan Girl, and two The Orphan. No where could I find a Little Orphan Girl like Mr. Cagle's. All four of these songs are vaguely similar, dealing with some poor little child left alone in the world. All of them bear religious overtones, as churches, Jesus, and graveyards are mentioned. Mr, Cagle obviously knew or at least recalled this song only partially as his verbatem stor~ has technical :Caul ts. Exoonples of this would be his giving characteristics to the little boy which would be more effectiYe describing the girl: "The H ttle boys coat was all ragged and torn, and soot on the dress that she wore." In a false start on the second yerse, he says "The little girls feet was all ", I feel somewhere in his memory a verse concerning the little girls feet does exist, but I was unable to uncover it. Another plausability gap arises when the girl says that she and her brother oame to the church to sleep till "the olose of the day". If there is a oorruption here, I don't feel it is on the part of Hr. Cagle, as the rhyme scheme and meter are maintained. Anyway, I've neYer been an orphan, and maybe they do sleep until the close of the day. TIlE ROVIN' GAHBLER Similar songs to the Roving Gambler exist in the forms of The Guerrilla Boy, The G~abling man, The Poor Soldier, The Rebel Soldier, and the Roving Journe~nan. Mr. Cagle, in a somewhat contradictory style that seemed to dominate his singing introduces the song as The Roving Gambler, and then sings it as the Roaming Gambler. Although the theme of the song cooinsides with those mentioned abo.e, it does not m()ch up exactly .Iith any of the texts. Ml'. Cagle's gambler g~ables down in town while the others gamble or rove from town to town in sticking with the idea of roying. Probably the 15 closest relationship comes with a song in Belden's collection, ~he Guerrilla Boy. The key points to this relationship are the two verses ('rIlE ROVING GAHBLER) I had not been in Washington Many more weeks than three I fell in love with a pretty little girl And she fell in love with me She took me in the parlor She cooled me with her fan She said to her mother I love that gambling man (THE GUERRILLA BOY) I had not been in Bloomfield More days than two or three Till I fell in love with a pretty little girl And she fell in love with me She asked me in her parlor She colled me with her fan She whispered in her mother's ear I love that guerrilla man. The changing of Cmerrilla Boy to ~~~. Guerrilla man to allow an end rhyme, could indmcate that the Guerrilla Boy is a varient of The Roving Gambler. Perhaps the gWlbler version cmne first, but ~~. Cagle's mention of his source as being "Old nigger Will" might explain the gmnbler varient. LETTER ETOHED IN BLACK Letter Etched in Black was \~ri tten by Hattie Nevada _.:tfin the latter part of the nineteenth century. It is listed in Everybody's Favorite Songs of the Gay 90 t s. and in Robbin's MWlmoth Vollection of Songs of the Gay 90's. The original first line read: I was standing by my window As I heard the postman Mr. Caglets first line is: I was standing by my window yesberday morning The validity of this s,mg as a traditional one is highly questionable. Mr. Cagle says he learned that song "back in about nineteen an twenty-two. Mr. Cagle is now )+7 years old. He would have had to learn it before his first birthday. On two occasfuons, however, he mentions the twenties and folloVlS Vlith, "somewhere about that age." Perhaps he is making reference to his twenties, in which case it would be the 1940 1 s. If so it Vlould give this song nearly a half century of semioral tradition. f1r. Cagle learned this song orally, but I doubt that it can really be c~ssified as traditional. JESSE JAMES Mr. Cagle again is historically incorect as he mentions Jesse, James as being in the early t\venties. The real Jesse JMles, a Robin Hood type outlaw, was killed in 1882. The identical song appears in Beldents collection and that of Friedman. In fact, F'ri edman makes reference to the Belden book and the fact that the last line of the song is signed by Billy Gashade. This name is LaShade in two printed Missouri texts, but none the less 16 Gashade or LaShade was probably a minstrel who started the ballad afloatj The only verse that Mr. Cagle could recall varies from those found in Frie&nan and Belden in that the Newborn train is robbed rather than the Danville train. The Danville train is historically co"rect. One slight variation is Mr. Cagle's somewhat redundant"Jesse James was a man he killed many a men". Anyone accustemed to writing songs would probably have tried to avoid this as the two other exronples under consideration did by making Jesse a "lad". Again there is plausability gap in Mr. Cagle's rendition as he has Jesse mourning all his life, rath~ than his wife doing so. LET THE REST OF THE WORLD GO BY Much more consistant in her facts than Mr. Cagle, }1rs. Cagle remembers her mother singing this song to her when she was a little girl. She estimated the song being popular in the late 1800's or the early nineteens, but in actuality, the song wasn't written until 1919. It did however reach great populari ty as it sold over three million copies, much to the delight of it's writer Ernest Ball. As far as its place in tradition goes, I would have to rank it along with Mr. Cagle's Letter Etched in Black, 17 though it perhaps played a bigger part in the family tradition as it seemed to be a regular" night time event. TIlE DEATH OF FLOYD COLLINS I believe that Jr. Cagle tI'ied to identify much of his musical heritage with himself and his surroundings which really is not too unusual. In several previous exmaples, he dated events in his lifetime that actually occured before he was born. As for the death of F'loyd Collins, he places the cave as "not too far from here," and generalizes that it was in north georgia on the edge of Tennessee. Actually the cave was in Kentucky. The six verses I recorded of this song were the most of any song I collected. Oddly enough ~t is the closest text-wise of any also. The song itself was written by Hev. Andl'ew "Blind Andy" Jenkins, a negro minister in Atlanta. The idea for the song however, came from P.C. Brockman, a song scout for Okeh Records. Mr. Brockman was in Florida when Floyd Collins was trapped. He immediately saw the market for a song telling of the accident, so he sent out a call which resulted in the broads~de patterned Death Of F'loyd Collins. The song reached great popUlarity mainly because the public sentiment and interest centered in the attempts to rescue Floyd Collins. Collins was trapped in ManMoth 18 Cave Kentuoky from January 30, 1925 until February 16. 'rBERES A LIGHT BURNING BRIGHT IN THE VALLEY This song was an after thought on the Inrt of Mr. Cagle, and in all honesty I wish he hadnlt had the thought. I know it would be great for me to disoover some previously untouohed song, but just beoause I canlt (C\Yoate any information on this doesn't mean that it is a great find. I estimate that it is probably from early or pre-radio days. It could however, date baok before that, I honestly don't know, and as of this moment I have been unable to find any traoe of it. In a final analyses, I see the Cagle fanlily as a sort of transition from tradition to non-tradition. Mr. And Mrs. Cagle hang on to slight traces of oral tradition, but their son was totaly unaware that they knew these songs. I suppose that in the day of radio, TV, stereo, and tape reoorders, ohildren no longer need mothers, fathers, grandparents, blind men and "old niggers" to sing to them. What a pity. 19 BIBLIOGRAPHY Belden, H. M. ~allads and Songs, Columbia Mo; University of Missouri Press, 1966. Breed, Paul Ii'., Songs in Collections Oohn, Arthur, The Collectors 20th Century Music in the Western Hemisphere, N.Y.: J.B~ Lippincott 00., 1961. Friedman, Albert B., The Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the En~lish Speaking_World, N.Y.: The Viking Press, 19 6. Laws, G. Malcolm Jr., Native Maerican Ballads, Kutztown Pa.: Kutztown Publishing Co" 1964. 20 Ni~; GU';"l'IWJ HOL8 'PO UOl:GE .t"I~i1rNG ;JlflG1i.; l\OAuJ reo CA:\'l'EH~VJL1~ \'J;"rn~ GL03',;D. G'fE;:'{()NE LA UGHE,) A'l' HE !lECAliSE '.IE DOt, I '1' nAVE A LA',m HI OHnVhOli1l1 Yi\.HD. I CAUCH-PI' ;:Y LJj;rLI 21 ,-:. I NdS. TrAFnE CAGLE HH. 0 DE.LL t; AGLE MR. AND ti f1S. CAGLE
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Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions.
As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.