Historical Portrait
John Selleck playing fiddle, facing front, portrait, photograph
Archive record
Photograph caption: A dance fiddler & 5-string banjo picker. Forms part of a group of field materials documenting John Selleck performing Anglo-American music on the fiddle on October 2, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Camino, California.
About this photograph
This photograph of John Selleck holding a fiddle was taken by Sidney Robertson Cowell on October 2, 1939, in Camino, California. The archive caption identifies him as a dance fiddler and five-string banjo picker performing Anglo-American music.
The photograph formed part of field documentation for the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project. Directed by Sidney Robertson Cowell, the project recorded and photographed traditional musicians across Northern California between 1938 and 1940. Cowell worked across the state's immigrant communities rather than focusing on a single tradition, documenting Armenian, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, Irish and Serbian musicians alongside performers like Selleck.
The materials 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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