Pearl R. Nye, Captain

Captain Pearl R. Nye (1872-1950)

Captain Pearl R. Nye transcribed hundreds of songs for the U.S. Library of Congress c. 1937.  He also recorded a number of songs which are currently available for download.

Barista Uno of the Marine Café Blog has re-mastered a selection of Nye’s audio tracks, which are indicated in this listing.  We encourage you to support his work with a donation.

Nye was a prolific letter writer and corresponded with the Lomaxes frequently after meeting them in 1937. In addition, he transcribed the lyrics of hundreds of songs for the Library of Congress. Nye taped handwritten song texts together creating “scrolls”—the longest in this collection is approximately 14 feet. Many of Nye’s letters  and song texts are included in this online presentation.

From The Library of Congress website.