Ramond Burgin Mountain Music Collection

Ramond Burgin, longtime theater professor at Mountain Empire Community College, spent much of his life recording and collecting mountain music and folklore.  In 2014, his widow, Susan Burgin, donated the collection to the CAS through Corbin Hayslett, a CAS intern.  This extensive compilation is estimated to contain 750 audio tapes, 150 video cassettes, 120 reel-to-reel tapes, and numerous notebooks and indexes.  Likely containing more than 2,000 hours of material, the Ramond Burgin Mountain Music Collection promises to provide a foundation upon which to further build the CAS archival collection.

UVa-Wise alumnus and CAS grant writing intern, Bill Wireman, poses with the Ramond Burgin Mountain Music Collection.

This is a sample of the kinds of recordings Burgin made over the course of decades. While most of his work was in music, there are many folk tales included in the collection.

Robin Benke, Corbin Hayslett, David Rouse, and Bill Wireman explore the collection.

Robin Benke and Corbin Hayslett investigate some of the individual items.

This is a sample of what is contained in the collection. Many of these songs may be the only recordings of their kind.