Charles Faulkner Bryan papers

Unprocessed Material

Identifier: 1996-0001

Staff Only

Content Description

The papers and tapes of Charles Faulkner Bryan. Bryan was born on July 26, 1911, near McMinnville, Tennessee. His music education began at the age of ten when he started studying piano. In 1934 he graduated from the Nashville Conservatory School of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree. In 1935 Bryan was appointed director of the Tennessee Polytechnic Institute's Music Department in Cookeville, Tennessee. While in Cookeville, Bryan began an extensive study of folk music with his wife, Edith Hillis Bryan. Together they wrote and produced the operetta "Rebel Academy". Bryan's many compositions ("White Spiritual Symphony", "Singin' Billy", "The Bell Witch", "Florida Aflame") earned him a national reputation as a composer, recitalist, and authority on folk music. He is accredited with one hundred and twenty-two works. He had also acquired a collection of dulcimers, folk music and folklore. This collection reflects Bryan's career as a composer, folklore collector, performer and teacher as well as his personal life. The collection includes correspondence, biographical and financial papers, newspaper clippings, programs, teaching notes, folk music and folklore collections, professional publications, composition scores and notes, scripts, posters, photographs and recordings.