People's Songs was an organization founded by

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

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 ...

Lee Hays Lee Elhardt Hays (March 14, 1914 – August 26, 1981) was an American folksinger and songwriter, best known for singing bass with the Weavers. Throughout his life, he was concerned with overcoming racism, inequality, and violence in soci ...

, and others on December 31, 1945, 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 ...

, to "create, promote, and distribute songs of labor and the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

people."People's Songs Inc. ''People's Songs Newsletter, Vol 1. No 1.'' 1945.

Old Town School of Folk Music The Old Town School of Folk Music is a Chicago teaching and performing institution that launched the careers of many notable folk music artists. Founded by Folk musicians Frank Hamilton and Win Stracke, and Dawn Greening, the School opened in the ...

resource center collection. The organization published a quarterly ''Bulletin'' from 1946 through 1950, featuring stories, songs and writings of People's singers members. ''People's Songs Bulletin'' served as a template for folk music magazines to come like ''

Sing Out! ''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960. Background ''Sing Out ...

'' and ''

Broadside Broadside or broadsides may refer to: Naval * Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare Printing and literature * Broadside (comic ...

''.

History

Seeger's work with the

Almanac Singers The Almanac Singers was an American New York City-based folk music group, active between 1940 and 1943, founded by Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie. The group specialized in topical songs, mostly songs advocating an anti- ...

and trips around the country playing banjo for

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...

(CIO) benefits and other progressive organizations in the 1940s cemented his beliefs that folk music could be an effective force for social change. He conceived creating an organization to better disseminate songs for political action to Labor and other progressive organizations around the country. These plans were put on hold as Seeger was drafted into the army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Upon his discharge from the Army in 1946, Seeger finally got a chance to realize his plans, and convened a group of interested people for a meeting in the basement of his in-laws' apartment in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. People's Songs' founding committee included several former members of the

and other notable members of the folk community in New York and included

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...

, Horace Grenell, Anges "Sis" Cunningham,

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

Millard Lampell Millard Lampell (born Milton Lampell, January 23, 1919 – October 3, 1997) was an American movie and television screenwriter who first became publicly known as a member of the Almanac Singers in the 1940s. Early life and career Lampell was bor ...

Bess Lomax Hawes Bess Lomax Hawes (January 21, 1921 – November 27, 2009) was an American folk musician, folklorist, and researcher. She was the daughter of John Avery Lomax and Bess Bauman-Brown Lomax, and the sister of Alan Lomax and John Lomax Jr. Early l ...

Josh White Joshua Daniel White (February 11, 1914 – September 5, 1969) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names Pinewood Tom and Tippy Barton in the 1930s. White grew up in the Sout ...

. and

Tom Glazer Thomas Zachariah Glazer (September 2, 1914 – February 21, 2003) was an American folk singer and songwriter known primarily as a composer of ballads, including: "Because All Men Are Brothers", recorded by The Weavers and Peter, Paul and M ...

. Also attending the first meeting were, Jackie Gibson,

Ronnie Gilbert Ruth Alice "Ronnie" Gilbert (September 7, 1926 – June 6, 2015), was an American folk singer, songwriter, actress and political activist. She was one of the original members of the music quartet the Weavers, as a contralto with Pete Seeger, Le ...

Irwin Silber Irwin Silber (October 17, 1925 – September 8, 2010) was an American Communist, editor, publisher, and political activist. He edited the folk music magazine ''Sing Out!'' and was active in far-left politics throughout his life. Biography Early ...

and David Sear. They elected Pete Seeger president and Lee Hays executive secretary and collected money to rent a small office located at 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, which also housed shared a radical drama group Stage for Action. Corporate counsel was Joseph R. Brodsky. The organization was loosely modeled as an American version Great Britain's Workers Music Association, founded 10 years earlier than People's Songs.People's Songs Inc. ''People's Songs Newsletter, Vol 1. No 2.'' 1945.

resource center collection. It published out a weekly newsletter with songs, articles, and announcements of ''Hootenannies'' and folk dances. It served as a clearing house for progressive entertainers. There were also occasional special issues with relevant songs on an as needed basis geared for specific rallies, strike, and court cases. Soon the booking agency became an offshoot: People's Artists. People's Songs branched out into several satellite locations in addition to the New York offices. A yearly convention was held as a place to exchange ideas and play songs. The first People's Songs convention was held in 1947 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

,People's Songs Inc. ''People's Songs Newsletter, Vol 2. No 8.'' 1945.

resource center collection. and there was a branch in California headed by Mario Casetta, an army friend of Seeger's from Saipan, who became a key figure in the West Coast folk and world music scene. In its first year People's Songs met with success, but this was a trying time for the labor movements in the United States, which had a significant Communist presence since its inception. After World War II, the Communist Party of the United States became much more dogmatic than formerly, and was indifferent to the use of folk music. There was also not much call for new organizing or singing in the streets, as established unions tried to consolidate their gains. In addition, there was a conservative majority in Congress, which opposed the labor movement altogether and was adamantly committed to maintaining racial segregation in the South. Eager to reverse the social legislation of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

, it passed the Taft-Hartley act (over

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

's veto). Some scholars believe that President Truman himself instituted loyalty oaths and mass firings, in order to preempt conservative criticism, control public opinion, and forestall any opposition to his

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

and to a military build-up from the left wing of his party.See Richard M. Freeland, ''The Truman Doctrine and the Origins of McCarthyism: Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy, and Internal Security, 1946-48'' (New York: New York University Press, 1989). As the

Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...

gathered momentum, the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

held hearings into supposed subversive activity in the entertainment industry. People's Songs began to falter financially. In 1948 it put all its resources into the presidential campaign of

Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. S ...

, and when that failed everywhere but in New York City, People's Songs went bankrupt, although its booking agency, People's Artists, continued for a while. After the financial failure of People's Songs in 1948, Seeger and Silber put out an interim People's Songs newsletter and then went on to form the more durable ''

Sing Out ''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960. Background ''Sing Out ...

!'' magazine with a similar format.

The Newsletter

The ''People's Songs'' ''Bulletin'' was a small mimeographed magazine published quarterly from February 1946 to 1950. The first issue of the ''People's Songs'' was published February 1946 to a circulation of 3000 countrywide. Its musical editor was Waldemar Hille. The first issue featured a selection of seven Union songs widely ranging from traditional songs like ''Casey Jones'', to standards by Joe Hill, to international songs from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

soldiers and new songs by contemporary folk musicians like Lee Hays and Woody Guthrie. This was a format the magazine would follow throughout its years of publication. The songs were numbered to maintain sequence from the first issue continuing through each issue, for example the first issue contained seven songs, and the first song in the second issue was numbered 8. ''People's Songs'' served as a template for folk music magazines to come like ''

'' and ''

''.

Contributors to ''People's Songs'' Newsletter

''People's Songs'' contained a lot of written out sheet music, lyrics and tablature. It was an eclectic mix of traditional folk and union songs along with newly written pieces by contemporary folk musicians of the time. Some contributors include the following: *

Moe Asch Moe, MOE, MoE or m.o.e. may refer to: In arts and entertainment Characters * Moe Szyslak, from the animated television show ''The Simpsons'' * Moe, leader of The Three Stooges, played by Moe Howard * Moe Higurashi, supporting character in ''Yash ...

* Anges "Sis" Cunningham, *

* Waldemar Hille *

Zilphia Horton Zilphia Horton (April 14, 1910 – April 11, 1956) was an American musician, community organizer, educator, Civil Rights activist, and folklorist. She is best known for her work with her husband Myles Horton at the Highlander Folk School where s ...

Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and oc ...

The entire backfile of ''People's Songs'' was microfilmed in the 1980s by Clearwater Publishing Inc. from Pete Seeger's personal copy, including his personal commentaries. Clearwater Publishing (not related to the Sloop Clearwater) was acquired by Congressional Information Service in 1987, which was a subsidiary of Reed-Elsevier, an international publishing conglomerate. In 2010 Reed-Elsevier sold all its microfilm titles, including ''People's Songs'', ''Broadside'' magazine, and ''New City Songstore'', a British folkmusic newsletter published by Peggy Seeger, to ProQuest/CSA.

History

The Newsletter

Contributors to ''People's Songs'' Newsletter

Notes

Further reading