The chances of finding new data is diminishing everyday, but the enjoyable thing about this is that its turned into an ad lib puzzle of sorts. Although it is time consuming, it has been fun to cross reference various sources when you’re trying to find the last bit of information that was missing. One type of source that I was not expecting to be consistently useful is the “History” pages on the websites of old churches. Many times, churches will have the whole history of the congregation listed on their website. I have found that historically black churches that have been around since 19th or 20th century keep a particularly detailed account of their history. Because Burleigh performed at a huge amount of churches in his lifetime, these websites have helped to fill in the blanks on everything from address changes to the names of pastors during certain periods. Another cool resource that I shared in class was the website “Discography of American Historical Recordings.” This website is able to sort by arranger/composer, performer, song/arrangement and a couple more. I can see the website being helpful in so many musicological research projects outside of this one. The biggest conceptual problem I’ve been thinking about is one having to do with the Global Map of Burleigh. I’m slowly creating a list of the types of things to include, but since we cannot include everything, it will be important to curate carefully. How do we present the map so that it is clear that, along with his fame and success, Burleigh had to deal with complexities of everyday life just like everyone else. One thing that I know our maps will accomplish is showing that he was in no way in a bubble.
