Pueblo Chant Recordings (SC-26)

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA Archives
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Margaret R. and Robert M. Freeman Library
200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23220-4007
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Roxanne Winfield
Phone: (804) 340-1497
Phone: (804) 340-1495
Restrictions:

The collection is open for research. The records have been digitized, and access copies are available on-site.

Terms of access:

The collection is subject to all copyright laws. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright, beyond that allowed by fair use, requires the researcher to obtain permission of copyright holders.

Preferred citation:

Pueblo Chant Recordings (SC-26). Gift of Karen Gravelle. VMFA Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
0.25 Linear Feet 1 box; 8 items
Abstract:
The collection is comprised of eight rare 78 rpm shellac records of Native American chants and songs. Recorded in the early 1950s by Manuel Archuleta, the first Native American in the United States to own his own record label, the chants preserve the songs and dances from the Navajo and several Southwestern pueblos, including the Hopi, Zuni, and San Juan peoples.
Language:
Hopi, Navajo, Zuni
Preferred citation:

Pueblo Chant Recordings (SC-26). Gift of Karen Gravelle. VMFA Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Biographical / historical:

In the late 1940s, a San Juan Pueblo Indian from Gallup, New Mexico, Manuel Archuleta, or Tse-We Ant-Yen (Rain God), used his life savings to launch Tom Tom Records. It would be the first Native-owned record label. A stock and file clerk at the Albuquerque Indian School by day, Archuleta supplemented his incoming by lecturing about American Indian music at the University of New Mexico and signing traditional songs at public schools.

Distributed primarily in the Southwest, Tom Tom's releases - originally on 78-rpm discs and later collected as a pair of twelve-inch albums, "Indian Chants, Volumes 1 and 2" - are remembered more for their historic importance than their commercial success.

Source: Heartbeat, Warble, and the Electric Powwow: American Indian Music

Custodial history:

The collection was donated by Karen Gravelle in May 2017. She inherited the records from her father who received them from his brother prior to 1953.

Processing information:

The records were rehoused and the original wrappers retained.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into one series.

Series 1
Chant Recordings, [late 1940s]