Place, Jeff
Curator and Senior Archivist
Place, Jeff
Curator and Senior Archivist
American folk, bluegrass, blues and vernacular music, record labels, sound archives
Positions
- Curator and Senior Archivist, Center for Folkliife and Cultural Heritage 1988 -
Geographic Focus
- Southeastern United States Geographic Region
Background And Education
Education And Training
- B.A., Kenyon College
- B.A., Kenyon College
- M.L.S., University of Maryland, College Park
- M.L.S., University of Maryland, College Park
- University of Maryland 1985 - 1987
Professional Biography
- Jeff Place has been at the Center’s Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections since 1988. He holds an MLS from the University of Maryland and specializes in sound archives. He oversees the cataloging of the Center's collections and has been involved in the compilation of over sixty CDs of American music for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings including the Lead Belly Legacy Series; the Pete Seeger American Favorite Ballads; Jazz Fest; and The Asch Recordings (Woody Guthrie). Place has been nominated for eight GRAMMY Awards and twelve Indie Awards, winning three GRAMMYs and six Indies. He was one of the producers and writers of the acclaimed 1997 edition of the Anthology of American Folk Music and The Best of Broadside, 1962-1988 (2000). He has served on the curatorial team for a number of exhibitions including the traveling Woody Guthrie exhibition This Land is Your Land. In 2003, he co-curated the Smithsonian Folklife Festival program on Appalachian culture. In 2012, he is produced and co-authored (with Robert Santelli) the publication and CD-box set Woody at 100, the Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Collection in 2014, and the Pete Seeger Centennial Collection in 2019.
Awards And Honors
- Grammy Award, conferred by National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 2019
- Grammy Award, 2019
- International Bluegrass Music Award, conferred by International Bluegrass Music Association, 2019
- Grammy Award Nomination, Best Album Notes, conferred by National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 2019
- Independent Music Award, conferred by Association for Independent Music, 2018
- Grammy Award Nomination, Best Album Notes, 2015
- Independent Music Award, 2014
- Independent Music Award, 2012
- Grammy Award Nomination, Best Historical, 2012
- Independent Music Award, 2010
- Independent Music Award, 2010
- Indie Award, conferred by Association for Independent Music, 2001
- Grammy Award Nomination, Best Album Notes, 2000
- Indie Award, 2000
- Grammy Award Nomination, Best Historical, conferred by National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 2000
- Indie Award, 1998
- Grammy Award, 1997
- Grammy Award, conferred by National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1997
- Brenda McCallum Prize, conferred by American Folklore Society, 1988
Research And Grants
Investigator On
Publications
Selected Publications
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Book
- Place, Jeff. 2020. Day by Day (Norman Blake). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2020
- Place, Jeffrey and Paton, Juliana. 2019. A Living Tradition: A Selection from Folk-Legacy Records. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2019
- Place, Jeff, Lyons, Rachel, Ankers, Dave, Cataliotti, Robert H., Spera, Keith, Pareles, Jon, Celestan, Karen, and Wein, George. 2019. Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2019
- Place, Jeffrey and Santelli, Robert. 2019. Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Fokways Collection. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2019
- Place, Jeff, Schippers, Huib, Seeger, Anthony, Sonneborn, D. Atesh, and Wong, Deborah A. 2019. The Social Power of Music. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2019
- Place, Jeff, Connell, Dudley, Daley, Katy, and Otsuka, Akira. 2018. Epilogue: A Tribute to John Duffey. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2018
- Place, Jeff and Alarik, Scott. 2017. Classic English and Scottish Ballads from the Francis James Child Collection. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2017
- Place, Jeff, Dane, Barbara, and Menendez, Nina. 2017. Hot Jazz, Cool Blues and Hard-Hitting Songs. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2017
- Place, Jeff. 2017. Lead Belly Baby!. Washington. DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2017
- Place, Jeff. 2017. Roll Columbia: Woody Guthrie's 26 Northwest Songs, Seamons, Joe, editor. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2017
- Place, Jeff. 2016. Classic Folk Songs for Kids. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2016
- Place, Jeff. 2015. Classic American Ballads. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2015
- Place, Jeff. 2014. Classic African American Songsters, Pearson, Barry Lee, editor. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2014
- Place, Jeff. 2014. Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Collection, Santelli, Robert, editor. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2014
- Place, Jeff. 2013. Classic Banjo from Smithsonian Folkways, Adams, Greg C., editor. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2013
- Place, Jeff. 2013. Down in Washington Square. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2013
- Pearson, Barry Lee and Place, Jeff. 2013. Liner notes to Classic Harmonica Blues. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways. 2013
- Place, Jeff. 2012. Liner notes to Live at Bowdoin College (Pete Seeger). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways. 2012
- Place, Jeff and Santelli, Robert. 2012. Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways. 2012
- Place, Jeff. 2011. Golden Kids Rules. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways. 2011
- Place, Jeff and Pearson, Barry Lee. 2010. Liner notes in Rappahannock Blues (John Jackson). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways. 2010
- Pearson, Barry Lee and Place, Jeff. 2010. Liner notes to Classic Appalachian Blues. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways. 2010
- Place, Jeff. 2010. Liner notes to Rising Sun Melodies (Ola Belle Reed). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways. 2010
- Place, Jeff. 2009. Liner notes to Classic Protest Songs. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways. 2009
- Place, Jeff. 2008. Liner notes to Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 2008
- Place, Jeff and Logsdon, Guy. 2007. Liner notes to Americas Favorite Ballads, (boxed set). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 2007
- Place, Jeff and Logsdon, Guy. 2007. Liner notes to Americas Favorite Ballads, Vol. 5. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 2007
- Place, Jeff and Krack, Jake. 2007. Liner notes to Classic Old-Time Fiddle from Smithsonian Folkways. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 2007
- Place, Jeff. 2007. Liner notes to If You Aint Got the Do-Re-Mi: Songs of Rags and Riches. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 2007
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Chapter
- Place, Jeffrey. 2019. "Smithsonian Folkways and the Associated Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections." In Computational Phonogram Archiving. Bader, Rolf, editor. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 2019
- Place, Jeff. 2016. "The Bristol Sesions: The Big Bang of Country Music--Music and Culture in the South-Central Appalachians." In Curatorial Conversations: Cultural Representation and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Cadaval, Olivia, Kim, Sojin, and N'Diaye, Diana Baird, editors. 199. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. 2016
- Place, Jeff. 2010. "A Tribute to Moses Asch." In The 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival [Program Book]: México, Asian Pacific Americans, Smithsonian Inside Out. Deutsch, James I., editor. 66. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. 2010
