Historical Society of Woodstock P.O. Box 841, Woodstock, NY 12498 Date: July 23, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Richard Heppner Phone: 845.679.2143 Email: wblelock@woodstockarts.com Folk Songs of the Catskills—the Spirit of Camp Woodland New Exhibit Examines the Renaissance of Catskill Roots Music
Woodstock, NY—On Saturday, July 31, 2010, a retrospective exhibit on Camp Woodland opens with a reception from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Eames House, 20 Comeau Drive in Woodstock. The Camp Woodland story, its influence and legacy, is told through film, music, artifacts, images and archives culled from the collections of former campers, the Norman Studer Papers (University at Albany), and from the Historical Society of Woodstock. Camp Woodland
(1939–1962) was founded near Phoenicia,
NY, by Norman Studer, a former Ph.D. student of John Dewey’s and an educator at
the Elizabeth Irwin
School in New York City. Studer sought to bring America’s
democratic roots alive to his students. His vision embraced cultural diversity
and a multidisciplinary approach. He brought city kids up to the country and
put them in touch with old-time Catskill
Mountain folks—like Aaron Van De
Bogart from Woodstock.
Not only did Woodland Campers hear stories from the hill people, but they were
put to work collecting and preserving hundreds of folk songs for posterity. The camp was an annual destination for Pete and Toshi Seeger and they proved to be an incalculable influence. Pete performed for each division of campers, for the camp as a whole, and—when the campers had gone to bed—for the counselors. In 1954, a 15-year-old camper named John Herald saw Seeger sing and decided to become a musician. The camp’s multi-cultural population was a fertile incubating ground for Seeger. One counselor, Hector Angulo, introduced him to a Cuban song, “Guantanamera,” which became hit for Pete in 1961. Another time Pete wrote three verses based on a Russian folk tune and left it with counselor Joe Hickerson. Joe worked with a group of campers on the rhythm and personally wrote three more verses. This song, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” charted on Billboard for The Kingston Trio as a “B” side in 1961. Perhaps the most important element of the Camp Woodland program was the annual end-of-summer folk festival. It was at these fêtes that hill people like George Edwards and George Van Kleeck came to perform. Equally important, the campers called and performed their own dances. This gave them the chance to learn and carry on the folk tradition of mixing work, community and music. When the camp closed in 1962, the area’s folk action migrated to Woodstock. That year the Café Espresso came under the ownership of the Paturels. The next year Bob Dylan moved to town and did some great song writing in a studio above the Café. In 1967 the Sound-Out folk rock concert series was launched at Pan Copeland’s farm. This series inspired Michael Lang to stage his Woodstock mega-concert in 1969. The show
gratefully acknowledges the support of Ulster Savings and Heritage Folk Music.
The Eames House museum is open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. The show runs through September 12.
For more info call 845.246.3436 or log onto www.campwoodland.org. Historical Society of Woodstock P.O. Box 841, Woodstock, NY 12498 Date: August 7, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Richard Heppner Phone: 845.679.2143 Email: woodstockhistory@hvc.rr.com Folk Songs of the Catskills—the Spirit of Camp Woodland Presentation and Folk Concert Woodstock, NY—On Saturday, August 14, from 2 to 4 p.m., Pat Lamanna and Sue Rosenberg will give a talk about Camp Woodland at the Eames House, 20 Comeau Drive in Woodstock. Located near Phoenicia from 1939 to 1962, Camp Woodland helped to spark a revival in Catskill Mountain roots music. Throughout the presentation Pat Lamanna, a folk singer with The Raggedy Crew in Poughkeepsie, will reprise many old Catskill Mountain/Woodland folk songs. This event complements the Historical Society’s current retrospective exhibit on Camp Woodland, which is on exhibit at the Eames House through September 12. Joe Hickerson, the noted folklorist and folksinger, will also be sitting in on August 14. Hickerson was a Camp Woodland counselor from 1959 to 1960. In the late 1950s Pete Seeger stopped by the camp and parked an unfinished tune with Hickerson. The latter added two verses and the song, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” became a folk classic. Joe Hickerson served as the librarian and director of the Archive of Folk Song/Culture at the Library of Congress from 1963 to 1998. Pete Seeger calls him “a great song leader.” Attendees on August 14 can expect surprise guests on rousing sing-alongs for many old favorites like “Guantanamera” and “Everybody Loves Saturday Night.” The Historical Society of Woodstock gratefully acknowledges the support of Ulster Savings and Heritage Folk Music. The Eames House museum is open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information call 845.246.3436 or log onto www.campwoodland.org. 
Date: September 3, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Richard Heppner Phone: 845.679.2143 Email: woodstockhistory@hvc.rr.com From Camp Woodland to the Woodstock Music Festival Raising Reds author to give talk and sign books
In Raising Reds, Mishler focuses on the era of 1920 to 1950. During this time the Communist Party was able to make significant inroads into American society. Communists were active in labor unions and universities, and they published their articles in popular newspapers. These activities were undermined and demonized in the early 1950s due to McCarthyism and the advent of the Cold War. However, Mishler contends that the Communist radicalism of the 1930s re-emerged in the New Left’s activism of the 1960s. Further, in his book Mishler explores how, during the Great Depression, some Americans believed that the music of the people was being forced underground due to the rise of larger, more impersonal institutions of social, commercial and industrial development. Therefore, during the 1930s, the Communists and their allies sought to discover/construct/create an alternative America grounded in the roots of the country’s culture. Camp Woodland set in motion an experiment to bring this alternative democratic model into being. The camp’s organizers felt that the most important way for Woodland to establish new ground was via a celebration of folk music and early American folk values, and that this could be made the basis for societal change. Mishler contends that these same beliefs led to the activism of the 1960s, to the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, and beyond. Paul Mishler is an Associate Professor of Labor Studies at Indiana University. Raising Reds is published by Columbia University Press. Mishler will be on hand to answer questions and sign books. Refreshments will be served and the event is free. For more information call 845.246.3436 or log onto www.campwoodland.org. |
