James Kimball (SUNY Geneseo/Keith Walters '11)
The SUNY Geneseo College Library’s newly digitized James W. Kimball Traditional Music and Dance in New York State Collection is now accessible to researchers and the public. The collection of ethnomusicologist James Kimball documents traditional musicians of New York who specialized in the Eastern square dance tradition.
During his 40+ year career as a lecturer of music at SUNY Geneseo, Kimball curated a selection of more than 700 hours of audio and video recordings Kimball made between 1976 and 2008. The collection includes interviews recounting changes that affected rural areas of New York since the 1950s and performances of notable fiddlers and other musicians, square dance callers, and others whose knowledge bridges 19th-century repertory to contemporary practices of the tradition.
The digital open-access collection will allow academic scholars and interested members of the public free and easy access to this valuable collection from their desktops.