Historical Portrait
Maria Garcia, left profile, portrait, photograph
Archive record
Forms part of a group of field materials documenting Maria Garcia performing unaccompanied Spanish songs from Asturias, Spain on January 18 and 19, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Monterey, California.
About this photograph
Maria Garcia was photographed in left profile on January 18 or 19, 1939, in Monterey, California, during a field recording session. She performed unaccompanied Spanish songs from Asturias, Spain for collector Sidney Robertson Cowell.
The portrait forms part of the documentation from that session, which also included sound recordings of Garcia's singing.
Cowell directed the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project, which recorded and photographed traditional musicians across Northern California from 1938 to 1940. The project deliberately worked across immigrant communities rather than focusing on a single tradition, documenting Armenian, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, Irish, and Serbian performers among others.
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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