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Three members of ladies quintette at community sing, Pie Town, New Mexico

Artwork Tombstone
ArtistRussell Lee (American, 1903–1986)
TitleThree members of ladies quintette at community sing, Pie Town, New Mexico
DateJune 1940
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 7 3/16 x 9 1/2 in. (18.3 x 24.1 cm)
Sheet: 8 1/8 x 10 in. (20.6 x 25.4 cm)
Credit LineHenry Holmes Smith Archive, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number79.200.XX.1.238
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During the Great Depression, music helped to bring communities together and offered fun, diversion, and emotional support during economic hard times. There was also a growing interest in traditional music, spurred by the efforts of ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, who collected thousands of field recordings for the Archive of American Folk Song. "Race records," "hillybilly," and "ethnic" music gained popularity.
By the 1940s swing music heralded a move away from the music of America's rural past to the energized sounds of an industrialized urban society. The Farm Security Adminstration (FSA) photogrpahs in this kiosk illustrate some of this trends.(Displayed with 200.XX.1.20, 200.XX.1.72, 200.XX.7.21, 200.XX.8.15, and 200.XX.3.29)

Additional Constituents
PublisherFarm Security Administration

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Three members of ladies quintette at community sing, Pie Town, New Mexico | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=79.200.XX.1.238