Folk artist Dom Flemons’ personal collection of African-American artifacts will be housed at Vanderbilt University
Flemons gained popularity over the past two decades as a founding member of Black banjo and string band revivalists The Carolina Chocolate Drops, known for their 2010 Grammy-award-winning album "Genuine Negro Jig."
Grammy-winning folk artist and cultural historian Dom Flemons’ collection of African-American artifacts is heading to Vanderbilt University.
According to The Nashville Tennessean, Flemons’ musical instruments, an Edison phonograph with several playable wax cylinders, historical sheet music, art pieces, memorabilia, personal gifts, autographed records, materials documenting his professional music career and research materials on Black cowboys as curated by his wife, Vania Kinard, will be housed in the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries.
“From the moment I began my journey into a career in music, I found that my trajectory led me to acquire items that would be of interest to future generations,” Flemons said in a statement. “Many of the items, which are unique in nature, will give viewers insight into my passion for music and its history.”
The university’s Academic Archive Purchasing Fund – which helps Heard Libraries keep up its expanding collection of African-American music-related books, scores, audio recordings, and tangible artifacts for lending, exhibition, and research at the museum – collaborated with the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) to acquire the Dom Flemons American Songster Collection, which will go into Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives.
Country music publisher and songwriter Alice Randall, writer-in-residence in Vanderbilt’s Department of African American and Diaspora Studies, hailed Flemons’ music and research as helping Black communities reclaim a significant part of their heritage.
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Flemons gained popularity over the past two decades as a founding member of Black banjo and string band revivalists The Carolina Chocolate Drops, alongside Justin Robinson and Rhiannon Giddens. The trio is known for albums such as the 2010 Grammy winner “Genuine Negro Jig.”
He’s also recognized as a pioneer and preservationist of the Afro-Caribbean blues, country, folk, and jazz inspirations on American music.
His collection joins other archival exhibitions at the Heard Libraries, including the Rissi Palmer Collection, the Donald Davidson Papers, the Charles Faulkner Bryan Collection, and the Grand Ole Opry Collection.
“Dom Flemons is one of America’s true folk heroes,” said NMAAM curator Bryan Pierce, The Tennessean reported. “Few people excel in this subject matter to the extent that he has over the past three decades. This collection helps the National Museum of African American Music’s mission of providing the public with quality content regarding the foundation of African-American folkways.”
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