"Sad And Dismal Is The Story": Great Lakes Shipwrecks And The Folk Music Tradition

Summary

Music has often taken maritime disasters for its theme, and Great Lakes wrecks claim no shortage of songs. Some were written at the time of the disaster, and others appeared years later, reviving the memory of the event.  In an effort to understand the relationship between shipwrecks, folk traditions, memory, and preservation of the wrecks themselves, this paper will focus on four famous Great Lakes shipwrecks: the Lady Elgin, the Eastland, the Rouse Simmons (a.k.a. the Christmas Ship), and the Edmund Fitzgerald. In order to explore the relationship between music, memory and preservation and make preliminary assessments as to whether the exposure of music and folk traditions serve to aid or deter preservation and understanding, this paper will focus its examination on the "folk" music but will also survey other source data such as archival documents, photographs, books, exhibits, documentaries and interviews with fishermen, folk musicians and others.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Enduring Expression of Historic Memory: The Role of Artistic Works in the Understanding, Protection, and Promotion of Cultural Resources   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 510