Artus Monroe Moser

University of North Carolina at Asheville D. Hiden Ramsey Library Special Collections/University Archives Oral History Register for Artus Monroe Moser, 1894- Painting of 16th Century Cavalier by Artus Moser Ewart M. Ball Photographic Collection, balln3353 D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville, 28804
Title	Artus Monroe Moser Oral History
Creator	Artus Monroe Moser
Alt. Creator	Interviewer: Dr. Louis D. Silveri
Subject	LCSH:
Subject	Keyword: Music ; Folklore ; Wolfe, Thomas ; Vanderbilt, George ; Biltmore House ; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ; Moser, Joan
Description	Mr. Moser reminisces about life in Western North Carolina and early twentieth century Asheville. Material discussed includes farming, lumbering operations, his early life on the Vanderbilt Estate, stories of George Vanderbilt, and the author's college years at Chapel Hill when he was a classmate of Thomas Wolfe. He describes World War I experiences and his college teaching career at Lincoln Memorial University. He shares memories of life on Biltmore Estate for the family of the forester Dr.Schenck. He describes his study and practice as a painter and adventures as collector of folk ballads for Library of Congress. In another session, Dr. Silveri records Moser playing his guitar and singing folk ballads.
Publisher	D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, NC, 28804
Contributor	Artus Monroe Moser
Date	Electronic Record Issued: 2001-07-23
Type	Sound ; Text
Format	42 double-spaced pages
Identifier	http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/oralhistory/SHRC/moser.html
Source	Louis D. Silveri Oral History Collection, D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804
Language	English
Relation	See: "Artus Monroe Moser" in Hugh Lefler, History of North Carolina, Family and Personal History, Volume III, pp. 46-47.
Coverage	c1900's-1972 ; Western North Carolina
Rights	No restrictions ; Any display, publication, or public use must credit the D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville. Copyright retained by the authors of certain items in the collection, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Acquisition	Donor number: 23 ; Date of acquisition: August, 1977
Processed By	Southern Highlands Research Center staff , 1978 ; Special Collections staff, 2001
Interview Date	1972-04 and 1972-05
Biography	Father: David Lafayette Moser Mother: Cordia Elizabeth (King) Moser Moser's maternal ancestors were among the pioneer settlers of Western North Carolina. His mother's great-uncle, William Franklin Foster, founded Newton Academy, the first school west of the Blue Ridge. His father worked in the Forestry Service on the Biltmore Estate and later on Mount Mitchell. As an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Moser became interested in local history. As a professor at the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville, and later at Lincoln Memorial University, at Harrogate, Tennessee, he continued to gather historical material about Western North Carolina. He also became a collector of folk ballads and folklore for the Library of Congress. In 1943 he became professor of Social Sciences at Asheville-Biltmore College.
Artus Moser singing Folk Ballads Tape I, Side 1 "The Old Man Over the Hill" or "The Farmer's Cursed Wife" tune collected from Mrs. Claudia Roberts, near Hot Springs, NC, learned from her mother "Gentle Fair Jenny" or "The Wife Wrapped in the Whether Skin" collected in 1943, from Mrs. Jean Ritchie, when she was a senior at the University of Kentucky "Wildwood Flower" the Carter Family gets credit for composing it, but it is a "parlor song" of the Victorian Age [Moser describes a visit with Carl Sandburg] "Once I Owned an Old Gray Mare" collected from Artus Moser's uncle (Ainen [?] King) "Doggett's Gap" collected from Bascom Lamar Lunsford Listen to this recording (2:17): Windows Media file (347K) \| RealAudio file (115K) "Pretty Saro" (Version One) "Pretty Saro" (Version Two) "Sourwood Mountain" "Katie Morey" or "A Clever Fellow" "The False Knight Upon the Road" collected from Mrs. Maud Long of Hot Springs, NC Tape I, Side 2 "The Elfin Knight" or "The Cambric Shirt" learned from Artus Moser's mother, who learned it from her mother "The Three Black Crows" or "The Three Ravens" "Edwards" collected from Mrs. Claudia Roberts of Hot Springs "Swannanoa Town" "The Fox" "The Hunting Song" or "The Deer Song" or "On a Bright and Summers Morning" collected from Bascom Lamar Lunsford Listen to this recording (1:55): Windows Media file (290K) \| RealAudio file (97K) "Zeb Turner's Girl" "Martins and the McCoys" "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" Tape II, Side 1 "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" "Lord Bateman" or "The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman" collected from Ples Mobley "Get Up and Bar the Door" "Broken Token" or "The Fair Maid All in the Garden" Mrs. Maud Long of Hot Springs, 1946 "The Old Man Who Came over the Moor" collected from Moser's uncle Ainen [?] King "Fair Ellender"
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University of North Carolina at Asheville D. Hiden Ramsey Library Special Collections/University Archives

Oral History Register for

Artus Monroe Moser, 1894-

Artus Moser singing Folk Ballads

Tape I, Side 1

Tape I, Side 2

Tape II, Side 1

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