Diane Hamilton was the pseudonym of Diane Guggenheim (1924 – 1991), an American mining heiress,

folksong Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

patron and founder of

Tradition Records Tradition Records was an American record label from 1955 to 1966 that specialized in folk music. The label was founded and financed by Guggenheim heiress Diane Hamilton in 1956. Its president and director was Patrick "Paddy" Clancy, who was soon ...

Personal life

The only child of millionaire

Harry Frank Guggenheim Harry Frank Guggenheim (August 23, 1890 – January 22, 1971) was an American businessman, diplomat, publisher, philanthropist, aviator, and horseman. Early life He was born August 23, 1890, in West End, New Jersey. He was the second son of Fl ...

, president of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' and onetime U. S. ambassador to Cuba, and his second wife, Caroline Morton (formerly Mrs William Chapman Potter), Hamilton was born as Diana Guggenheim in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. She had two half-sisters, Joan (born 1913) and Nancy (1915–1972), from her father's first marriage to Helen Rosenberg. Her maternal grandfather was Paul Morton, U. S. Secretary of the Navy, while her maternal great-grandfather was

Julius Sterling Morton Julius Sterling Morton (April 22, 1832 – April 27, 1902) was a Nebraska newspaper editor and politician who served as President Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture. He was a prominent Bourbon Democrat, taking a conservative position o ...

, U. S. Secretary of Agriculture. She was married and divorced four times: *Lieutenant John Meredith Langstaff, a U. S. Army officer and aspiring concert singer, married 1943. They had one child, Diane Carol Langstaff (Mrs Peter Duveneck, Mrs Jim Rooney). *Robert Guillard. *William Meek, an Irish journalist, whom she married in 1963. They had four children: Eoin Meek, Colm Meek, Sorcha Meek, and Caitriona Meek. *John Darby Stolt, aka John Hamilton-Darby

Career

Very little is known of Hamilton's life, and only since the publication of the book ''The Mountain of the Women: Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour'' by

Liam Clancy Liam Clancy ( ga, Liam Mac Fhlannchadha; 2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009) was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's ...

has it been possible to reconstruct her most notable years. In order to disguise her wealth, she adopted the alias 'Diane Hamilton'. She lived in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the late 1950s, where she ran a

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

school and frequented workshops led by Dr. Roberto Assagioli. In 1955, she traveled to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in search of

folk singers Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

. According to Liam Clancy's book, she became acquainted with Tom and Paddy Clancy in New York, and while in Ireland made the Clancy household one of the stops on her collecting trip. Young Liam was invited to continue on the trip with her, and one of the next stops was the home of

Sarah Makem Sarah Makem (18 October 1900 – 20 April 1983) a native of Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, was a traditional Irish singer. She was the wife of fiddler Peter Makem, mother of musicians Tommy Makem and Jack Makem, and grandmother of ...

who had previously been recorded by

Jean Ritchie Jean Ruth Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way (orally ...

on her album ''Field Trip'' (1954). This fateful meeting brought together Liam and Sarah's younger son,

Tommy Makem Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo ...

, who was also recorded. These two, along with Liam's older brothers Paddy and Tom Clancy, would eventually form "

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

", one of the most successful groups in Irish music history. The anthology Hamilton recorded in 1955 as '' The Lark in the Morning'' is the earliest album-length collection of Irish folk songs sung by Irish singers to be recorded in Ireland. Also on the album are

Paddy Tunney Paddy Tunney (28 January 1921 – 7 December 2002) was an Irish traditional singer, poet, writer, raconteur, lilter and songwriter. He was affectionately known as the ''Man of Songs''. From Glasgow to Garvery Tunney was born in Glasgow to Ir ...

and

, son of Sarah Makem. This album was re-released in a restored format in the late 1990s on the

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

label.

Tradition Records

Another member of the Clancy family,

Paddy Clancy Patrick Michael Clancy (7 March 1922 – 11 November 1998), usually called Paddy Clancy or Pat Clancy, was an Irish folk singer best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. In addition to singing and storytelling, Clancy playe ...

, helped Hamilton run

as the company's president. ''The Lark in the Morning'' was the first album released on the Tradition label in 1955. Subsequent releases included '' The Rising of the Moon'' by

, and ''The Countess Cathleen'' by W.B. Yeats in 1956. Other notable recordings include ''Negro Prison songs'', a compilation by

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...

and ''The Bonny Bunch of Roses'' with

Seamus Ennis Seamus may refer to: * Séamus, a male first name of Gaelic origin Film and television * Seamus (''Family Guy''), a character on the television series ''Family Guy'' * Seamus, a pigeon in '' Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore'' * Seamus Mc ...

. Other Tradition artists included

Ed McCurdy Edward Potts McCurdy (January 11, 1919 – March 23, 2000) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and television actor. His most well-known song was the anti-war " Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream", written in 1950. Career Born to ...

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and a civil rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire co ...

, Paul Clayton,

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list o ...

and

Etta Baker Etta Baker (March 31, 1913 – September 23, 2006) was an American Piedmont blues guitarist and singer from North Carolina. Early life and career She was born Etta Lucille Reid in Caldwell County, North Carolina, of African-American, Native A ...

. In 1959 the label released ''John Langstaff Sings American and English Ballads'', featuring her then-current husband singing and Nancy Trowbridge (who later became Langstaff's second wife) on piano. The album was re-released by Revels Records in 2002 as ''The Water Is Wide: American and British Ballads and Folksongs''. Once the Clancy Brothers signed with Columbia Records in 1961, the catalogue was sold, possibly to Transatlantic. In the 1970s, Hamilton was involved in the founding of the Mulligan record label, in Dublin. She may have regarded

Dónal Lunny Dónal Lunny (born 10 March 1947) is an Irish folk musician and producer. He plays left-handed guitar and bouzouki, as well as keyboards and bodhrán. As a founding member of popular bands Planxty, The Bothy Band, Moving Hearts, Coolfin, Mozai ...

as the successor to Liam Clancy as the next standard-bearer of the authentic Irish traditional music heritage. A passing reference to Hamilton in a California folk music magazine suggests that she was still active in Irish music as late as the early 1980s. The November/December 1982 issue of ''Folk Scene'' (Los Angeles) credits her with "the lion's share of the work" for the recording, in 1977, of the album '' The Gathering''—released on the label Greenhays in 1981—which features the playing of Andy Irvine,

Paul Brady Paul Joseph Brady (born 19 May 1947) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. Initially popular for playing ...

Matt Molloy Matt Molloy (born 12 January 1947) is an Irish musician, from a region known for producing talented flautists. As a child, he began playing the flute and won the All-Ireland Flute Championship at nineteen. Considered one of the most brilliant ...

Tommy Potts Tommy Potts (1912–1988) was an Irish fiddle player and composer from Dublin who gained iconic status in traditional Irish music circles for his virtuoso musicianship. Potts' given name is also frequently spelled Tommie. His music has influenc ...

Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish traditional singer, keyboard player, and composer, considered one of the most influential female vocalists in the history of Irish music. She is famed for her work with traditional Irish groups such as Skara ...

and uilleann piper Peter Browne.''Folk Scene,'' Los Angeles, CA, November–December 1982, Vol. 10, #5, p. 14.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

Attempted suicide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Diane 1924 births 1991 deaths Tradition Records American folk-song collectors American music industry executives American women record producers Record producers from New York (state) 20th-century American Jews

Diane Hamilton Diane Hamilton was the pseudonym of Diane Guggenheim (1924 – 1991), an American mining heiress, folksong patron and founder of Tradition Records. Personal life The only child of millionaire Harry Frank Guggenheim, president of ''Newsday'' and o ...

20th-century American musicians 20th-century American businesspeople