Historical Portrait
Mario Olmeda, portrait, photograph
Archive record
Forms part of a group of field materials documenting Mario Olmeda, performing unaccompanied Italian songs on February 13, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Concord, California.
About this photograph
This portrait documents Mario Olmeda during a February 1939 field recording session in Concord, California, where he performed unaccompanied Italian songs for collector Sidney Robertson Cowell.
The session formed part of the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project, which Robertson Cowell directed from 1938 to 1940. The project recorded and photographed traditional musicians across Northern California's immigrant communities, documenting Armenian, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, Irish and Serbian traditions rather than concentrating on any single group.
The recordings and photographs now reside at 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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