David Bromberg – photo by Harald Krichel
The US Library of Congress has announced a major gift, a donation of personal papers from folk, bluegrass and old time musician David Bromberg to their American Folklife Center.
Bromberg has been a prominent guitarist, fiddler, and vocalist in acoustic music since the 1960s. A native of Philadelphia, he studied and mastered many styles of American roots music, and found himself moving in circles that included icons like Bob Dylan, Doc Watson, Pete Seeger, Jerry Garcia, and George Harrison.
In more recent years his focus has turned to violin building and repair, and David is now highly-regarded both for his luthiery and his expertise on the history of violins and violin makers.
The papers he has shared with the Folklife Center includes notes, letters, photographs, show posters and programs, plus his private collection of audio and video recordings from his performances.
The American Folklife Center is a relatively new venture for the Library of Congress, created in 1976 by the US Congress to preserve and archive American Folklife in its various forms.
Along with the announcement of their acquisition of Bromberg’s papers, the Center has released this hour long video of a discussion he had with Carol Lynn Ward Bamford from the Library’s Music Center, and AFC’s Nancy Groce, recorded March 31, 2014.
