Update from Julia Bishop:

Dear friends and colleagues,
We are delighted to be putting on two events relating to the J. M. Carpenter Folk Song Collection, about to become publicly accessible online as part of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Digital Archive. This fantastic collection, made in the 1930s but not generally availabile till now, contains several thousand songs and ballads, mummers plays and more, gathered in Scotland and England.
We would appreciate it if you could publicise these two upcoming events among your friends, families, students and colleagues – a musical coach trip relating to the Carpenter collection around Aberdeenshire, and a study day learning how to use the digital archive and comparing the Carpenter collection with other Scottish song collections.
Both events are free but pre-booking is essential to ensure a place!
Thank you – and we look forward to seeing you at one or both events.

Best wishes, Julia Bishop

Following in the Footsteps of the J. M. Carpenter Folk Song Collection – Saturday, 9 September 2017
Don’t miss this free, day-long coach excursion! Join a group of guest singers, descendants of some of those who gave their songs to Carpenter, and researchers working on the collection for a ballad bus excursion through Aberdeenshire. We will visit some of the sites associated with the songs and Carpenter’s fieldwork, all the while singing songs and ballads from the collection. Learn more about the songs, the people who sang them and Carpenter’s work, and explore some little-known corners of North-East Scotland.
Booking essential – https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/events/11885/

Finding Scottish Ballads and Songs Onine – Sunday, 10 September 2017

Come and find out more about the J. M. Carpenter collection and gain practical experience in using the new VWML digital archive website. Discover what’s available, how to search for it, and how to get the most out of this unique resource.

This workshop will be led by Carpenter collection researchers Tom McKean and Julia Bishop (Elphinstone Institute), and Laura Smyth, director of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library and Archive. They are joined by Katherine Campbell, well known as a performer and for her research into North-East song, to delve into connections between the Carpenter collection and other Scottish collections from before and after. How do songs in the Carpenter collection compare with those in the Greig-Duncan collection or the recordings on Tobar an Dulchais?

Free event, but pre-booking essential – https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/events/11912/