Nation's Largest Collection of Ozark Folksongs Featured in Video: 'Preserving Ozark Voices'

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Ozark Folksong Collection, the nation's largest and most complete collection of traditional music, oral histories, anecdotes and tales from the Ozarks, can now be accessed online. The collection, which contains more than 4,500 audio recordings, was originally recorded and compiled between 1949 and 1965. Former University of Arkansas professor Mary Parler, the primary collector, traveled throughout the Ozarks with her field assistant, Merlin Mitchell, and her students to make field recordings on reel-to-reel audio tapes.