Historical Portrait
Guiseppe Russo, portrait, photograph
Archive record
Forms part of a group of field materials documenting Guiseppe Russo, performing Sicilian and Italian songs, some in Neapolitan dialect, at times accompanying himself on the piano, on March 11, and 29, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Pittsburg, California.
About this photograph
This portrait was made during fieldwork for the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project. Sidney Robertson Cowell photographed and recorded Guiseppe Russo in Pittsburg, California, on March 11 and 29, 1939, as he performed Sicilian and Italian songs, some in Neapolitan dialect. Russo sometimes accompanied himself on piano.
The project, which Cowell directed from 1938 to 1940, recorded and photographed traditional musicians across Northern California's immigrant communities. The fieldwork deliberately spanned multiple traditions rather than focusing on one, which is why the archive includes Armenian, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, Irish, and Serbian names together.
The recordings and photographs 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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