Historical Portrait
Francisco Sanfilippo, portrait, photograph
Archive record
Forms part of a group of field materials documenting Francisco Sanfilippo performing unaccompanied Sicilian songs from Italy on February 11, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Martinez, California.
About this photograph
This portrait documents Francisco Sanfilippo during a recording session on February 11, 1939, in Martinez, California. He performed unaccompanied Sicilian songs from Italy for Sidney Robertson Cowell, who photographed and recorded him as part of her fieldwork.
Cowell directed the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project, which documented traditional musicians across Northern California between 1938 and 1940. She deliberately worked across immigrant communities rather than focusing on a single tradition, recording and photographing performers from Armenian, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, Irish, and Serbian backgrounds.
The photograph forms part of the field materials Cowell collected during that session. Both the portrait and the recordings are held by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.
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