.
By Margaret Foote
Collection Overview
Title: Homer Ledford Papers, 1952-2011
Predominant Dates:1952-2009
Primary Creator: Ledford, Homer (1927-2006)
Other Creators: Ledford, Colista
Extent: 2.39 Cubic Feet
Arrangement: Although it is not standard archival practice, scrapbooks were taken apart and arranged chronologically with other materials of like types.
Date Acquired: 09/01/2010
Subjects: Appalachian dulcimer., Bluegrass Music., Cabin Creek Band., Eastern Kentucky University--Alumni and alumnae., Folk art - Kentucky., Ledford, Homer., Music instrument makers - Kentucky., Old-time Music.
Languages: English
Scope and Contents of the Materials
The Homer Ledford Papers document his career as a musician and as a luthier. His luthier activities are documented with sketches and designs for some of his instruments, photographs, news clippings, contracts and correspondence, an inventory of instruments he owned and two ledgers documenting sales of his numbered instruments (note that the first ledger with instruments 1-2396 were not included with this donation).
Ledford was a talented musician and played many instruments solo and with the Cabin Creek Band which he organized in 1967. The collection includes contracts, correspondence, news clippings, program and audio recordings from his musical activities.
This collection should be used in conjunction with the Homer Ledford Instrument Photographs, the Ledford vertical file and his biography--Dulcimer Maker: The Craft of Homer Ledford by R. Gerald Alvey.
Biographical Note
Homer C. Ledford (1927-2006) is recognized throughout Appalachia and beyond as a master craftsman of dulcimers and other instruments, a skilled musician, and a creative man filled with joy and gentle humor. Born in Ivyton, TN, Ledford showed a strong talent for carving and music at an early age. At 15 he made a fiddle out of curly maple from a tree in his father's hog lot. In 1946, while attending the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, he crafted his first mountain dulcimers.
Ledford attended Berea College in 1949, later transferring to Eastern Kentucky University, where he received a BS degree in industrial arts in 1954. He taught industrial arts in high schools in Jefferson County and then in Clark County until, in 1963, he left teaching to become a full time luthier. During his lifetime Ledford completed 6,014 dulcimers, over 500 banjos, 36 guitars, 36 mandolins, 4 fiddles, 2 bowed dulcimers, and an autoharp. He invented the dulcitar, the dulcibro, and the ducijo. A fretless dulcimer, a dulcitar, and a fretless banjo by Ledford are a part of the musical instrument collection at the Smithsonian.
In addition to his work as a luthier, Ledford was an accomplished musician, able to play 13 different instruments. In 1976 he organized a bluegrass group, Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band, which performed throughout Kentucky for well over a quarter century. The band performed in Ecuador in 1989 and at the Ireland International Bluegrass Festival in the early 1990s.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
Eastern Kentucky University - Special Collections and Archives
Acquisition Source:
Colista Ledford
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Box:
[
Box 1],
[
Box 2],
[
Box 3],
[
Box 4],
[Box 5],
[
Box 6],
[
Box 7: Audio Recordings, 1993-1994],
[
Box 8: Audio Recordings, 1990s],
[
Folder OS 1: Oversize],
[
Item 1: Kentucky Collage],
[
Item 2: Honorary Degree Hood],
[
All]
- Box 5
- Barcode: 31234014045064
- Folder 1: Articles and Programs, 2000
- Newspaper and magazine articles about Ledford as well as programs, flyers and other information about fairs, festivals, performances and workshops he attended.
- Folder 2: Articles and Programs, 2001-2002
- Newspaper and magazine articles about Ledford as well as programs, flyers and other information about fairs, festivals, performances and workshops he attended.
- Folder 3: Articles and Programs, 2003
- Newspaper and magazine articles about Ledford as well as programs, flyers and other information about fairs, festivals, performances and workshops he attended.
- Folder 4: Articles and Programs, 2004
- Newspaper and magazine articles about Ledford as well as programs, flyers and other information about fairs, festivals, performances and workshops he attended.
- Folder 5: Articles and Programs, 2005-2011
- Newspaper and magazine articles about Ledford as well as programs, flyers and other information about fairs, festivals, performances and workshops he attended.
- Folder 6: Articles and Programs, Undated
- Newspaper and magazine articles about Ledford as well as programs, flyers and other information about fairs, festivals, performances and workshops he attended.
- Folder 7: Biographical and Genealogical Papers, Undated
- Ledford's handwritten and typed notes on various performances and workshops he attended. Several biographical sketches compiled by various authors. Some of these have edits as the information was updated, but most are undated. Also includes a print out of a Ledford family genealogy showing the family from William Ledford (1722-1796) to Homer Ledford.
- Folder 8: Business Brochures, Undated
- Brochures from Ledford's luthier business
- Folder 9: Cabin Creek Band, Undated
- Contact information for band members, flyers and a list of the Berea College inventory of the radio program "Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band."
- Folder 10: Fan Photograph, Undated
- Of Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys: Ledford treasured this photograph of the pioneering bluegrass band from probably the mid-1940s. Monroe's mandolin, in the lower left hand corner, was especially inspirational to Ledford.
- Item 1: Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, 1945
- Photo of the band from a program with song lyrics on the back from the Grand Ole Opry.
- Physical Description: 10.5x8
- Folder 11: Photographs, 1983, undated
- Includes many of the photographs used in Gerald Alvey
- Item 2: Dulcimer made by Homer Ledford
- Physical Description: 3.5x4.0
- Item 3: The Ledford Family in "The World Is Your Hometown", Nov, 1972
- Homer Ledford and Family performing "The World Is Your Hometown".
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 4: Homer Ledford and The Cabin Creek Band
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 5: Homer Ledford and The Cabin Creek Band
- 9 images of Homer Ledford and Cabin Creek Band.
- Physical Description: 7.5x10
- Item 6: Homer Ledford and The Cabin Creek Band
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 7: Homer Ledford and The Cabin Creek Band
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 8: Old-Style End Block of a Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 9: Fine Tuners of a Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 10: Fine Tuners
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 11: Homer Ledford using Lucite scale to mark fret, nut, and bridge positions.
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 12: Homer Ledford punching holes for staple-type frets.
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 13: Homer Ledford carving scalloped peg head.
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 14: Homer Ledford laying the fingerboard.
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 15: Homer Ledford attaching the finger board to a dulcimer.
- Item 16: Homer Ledford attaching the fingerboard to the head of a dulcimer
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 17: Turners Being Attached To Head of Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 18: Strings being attached to the bridge
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 19: Mother of Pearl Inlay in the Shape of a Flower
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 20: Close Up of a Song board Including the Dulcimer String
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 21: Close Up Of A Dulcimer With Homer Ledford's Signature
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 22: Sound hole
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 23: Homer Ledford Working On Instrument
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 24: Dulcimer before the main pieces are attached.
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 25: Using Bent Nail To Create Purfling
- Creator: Jerry O. Schureman
-
Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 26: Homer Ledford Working On Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 27: Carving a Scalloped Peg Head
- Creator: Jerry O. Schureman
-
Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 28: Positioning Fingerboard Between Pegbox And End Block
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 29: Homer's Traditional Performing Stance
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 30: Homer Ledford Installing Sides of a Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 31: Homer Ledford aligning the dulcimer back with the pegbox before trimming it to the proper length.
- Creator: Jerry O. Schureman
-
Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 32: Homer Ledford fitting the dulcimer side into the end block.
- Creator: Jerry O. Schureman
-
Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 33: Homer Ledford using his pocketknife to give the pegbox its final contours.
- Creator: Jerry O. Schureman
-
Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 34: Homer Ledford With Dulcimer
- Homer Ledford presenting a dulcimer in Winchester, Kentucky.
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 35: Homer Ledford Multi-Instrumentalist
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 36: Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band
- Physical Description: 8x10
- Item 37: Homer Ledford Holding a Mandolin
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 38: Dulcimer Being Played
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 39: Homer Ledford Playing His Dulcitar
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 40: Dulcimers Being Made
- A finished dulcimer next to a dulcimer being created.
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 41: Homer and Colista Ledford Playing a Sweetheart Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 42: Homer Ledford Playing a Sweetheart Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 43: Homer Ledford Playing a Sweetheart Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 44: Homer and Colista Ledford Playing a Sweetheart Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 45: Ledford attaching the fingerboard to the scroll of a dulcimer.
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 46: Ledford attaching the pegbox to the scroll.
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 47: Homer Ledford Playing the Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 48: Homer Ledford
- Physical Description: 3.5x3.5
- Item 49: Cabin Creek Band
- Backrow- Homer and Mike Minor. Front- John Barker, Kathy Angimeyer, and Larry Stewart
- Physical Description: 3.5x4.0
- Item 50: Cabin Creek Band
- Physical Description: 4.0x3.5
- Item 51: Cabin Creek Band, Nov, 1982
- Homer Ledford, Art Mize, Melissa Eubanks, David Cope, and John Baker.
- Physical Description: 4.0x3.5
- Item 52: Unidentified Musicians
- Physical Description: 4.0x3.5
- Item 53: Cabin Creek Band
- Physical Description: 4.0x3.5
- Item 54: Cabin Creek Band
- Physical Description: 4.0x3.5
- Item 55: Homer Ledford and Others Playing Instruments, Apr, 1985
- Homer Ledford and group of men playing traditional bluegrass instruments.
- Physical Description: 4.0x3.5
- Item 56: Homer Ledford Playing His Mandolin
- Physical Description: 4.0x3.5
- Item 57: Homer Ledford Holding a Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 5x3.5
- Item 58: Specialty Carved Dulcimer Scroll
- Dulcimer scroll carved to look like a man's face.
- Physical Description: 5x3.5
- Item 59: Cabin Creek Band Performing
- Physical Description: 5x3.5
- Item 60: Cabin Creek Band Performing
- Physical Description: 5x3.5
- Item 61: Cabin Creek Band Performing
- Physical Description: 3.5x4.5
- Item 62: Cabin Creek Band Performing
- Physical Description: 3.5x4.5
- Item 63: Homer Ledford Playing His Dulcimer
- Physical Description: 3.5x4.5
- Item 64: Cabin Creek Band Performing
- Physical Description: 3.5x4.5
- Item 65: Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band at the Lions Club Show., Apr, 1984
- Photo includes Gene Hall, Dave Cope, Homer Ledford, Jen Sunega, and Lee Mastin (Dancing).
- Physical Description: 3.5x5.0
- Item 66: Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band at the Lions Club Show., Apr, 1984
- Photo includes Gene Hall, Dave Cope, Jen Sunega, and Homer Ledford.
- Physical Description: 3.5x4.0
- Item 67: Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band at the Lions Club Show., Apr, 1984
- Photo includes Gene Hall, Dave Cope, Jen Sunega, and Homer Ledford.
- Physical Description: 3.5x4.0
- Item 68: Homer Ledford Playing a Saw
- Physical Description: 6.0x4.0
- Item 69: Homer Ledford Holding Instrument
- Physical Description: 6.0x4.0
- Item 70: Historic Marker in Honor of Homer Ledford.
- Physical Description: 4.0x6.0
- Item 71: Homer Ledford, Helen Harmon-Cargile and Colista Ledford
- Cargile presents Ledford with the Southern Highland Craft Guild Life Time Achievement Award.
- Physical Description: 5.5x4.0
- Item 72: Cabin Creek Band Performing
- Cabin Creek performing at Meadow Green Park.
- Physical Description: 4.0x6.0
- Item 73: Homer Ledford and Unidentified Man
- Homer Ledford and unknown man hold article with the headline "Mountain Music Man".
- Physical Description: 4.0x6.0
- Item 74: Homer Ledford Standing Outside Southwest Virginia Community College
- Physical Description: 4.0x6.0
- Item 75: The Ledford Family Honored by the Kentucky Senate
- Physical Description: 4.0x6.0
- Item 76: Homer Ledford
- Physical Description: 5.0x7.0
- Item 77: Homer Ledford Performing
- Physical Description: 7.0x5.0
- Item 78: Homer Ledford and his Family at the Wesley Retirement Village Awards., Oct, 2003
- Physical Description: 5.0x6.5
- Item 79: Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band.
- Physical Description: 5.0x6.5
- Folder 12: Photographs, 1983, undated
- Negatives
- Item 80: Homer Ledford Playing Dulcimer
- 6 images of Ledford playing under a tree.
- Physical Description: 2.5x5.5
- Item 81: Homer Ledford Book-Instruments, Jun, 1983
- 9 images of Ledford instruments
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 82: Homer Ledford Book-Instruments, Jul, 1983
- 9 images of details of Ledford instruments as well as carved sculptures and carving tools.
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 83: Homer Ledford Book-Instruments, Jun, 1983
- 2 images of instrument details and tools.
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 84: Homer Ledford Book-Shop, Jun, 1983
- 9 images of Ledford working in his shop.
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 85: Homer Ledford Book-Shop, Jun, 1983
- 9 images of Ledford working in his shop.
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 86: Homer Ledford Book-Shop, Jun, 1983
- 9 images of Ledford working in his shop.
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 87: Homer Ledford Book-Shop, Jun, 1983
- 9 images of Ledford working in his shop.
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 88: Homer Ledford Book-Shop, Jun, 1983
- 9 images of Ledford working in his shop.
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 89: Homer Ledford Book-Shop, Jun, 1983
- 8 images of Ledford working in his shop and playing a dulcimer.
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 90: Edna Ritchie Baker
- 9 images of Baker playing a dulcimer.
- Physical Description: 120
- Item 91: Miscellaneous Photos
- 12 images that include wood carvings by Homer Ledford, headshots of Homer and Colista Ledford, Edna Ritchie Baker, and Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band.
- Physical Description: 35mm
- Item 92: Homer Ledford Book (Shop), Jun, 1983
- 2 images of Ledford working on instruments.
- Physical Description: 120
- Folder 13: Woodsongs, Undated
- Brochures, schedules and flyers from the Woodsongs radio show.
Browse by Box:
[
Box 1],
[
Box 2],
[
Box 3],
[
Box 4],
[Box 5],
[
Box 6],
[
Box 7: Audio Recordings, 1993-1994],
[
Box 8: Audio Recordings, 1990s],
[
Folder OS 1: Oversize],
[
Item 1: Kentucky Collage],
[
Item 2: Honorary Degree Hood],
[
All]
