I Wonder as I Wander: The Life of John Jacob Niles

Second photo section

Double exposure of Niles at piano and with dulcimer, 1951. Photo by Eugene Meatyard. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PAS82M9M9716, Special Collections and Digital Programs, University of Kentucky. Niles in white tie and tails with top hat in New York City, 1932–1933. Photo by Doris Ulmann. J. Paul Getty Museum, 87.XM.89.10. Courtesy of the museum. Rena Lipetz’s high school graduation portrait, Saratoga Springs, New York, 1929. Photo by Gustav Lorey. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9388. Portrait of Rena Niles in Finland, 1936. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9393. Niles performing at a broadcast of the Radio Listening Center at Lott’s Creek, Knott County, Kentucky, 1937. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9021. Thomas Michael Tolliver Niles and John Jacob Niles at the front door of Boot Hill Farm. The door was carved by Niles in 1948. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9441. Boot Hill, Niles’s home in Clark County. The photograph was taken for a Garden Club tour in 1951. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9006. Rena, John Jacob, and son Tom, reading together in the living room of Boot Hill Farm, ca. 1941. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9710. Tom Niles with his brother John Edward (seated on pony) at Boot Hill Farm, ca. 1949. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9452A. Niles and a stubborn Jersey cow at Boot Hill Farm, 1955. Photo by Frank Van Deren Coke. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9224. Niles holding a cigar and a cabbage in his garden at Boot Hill Farm, ca. 1970s. Courtesy of Thomas Michael Tolliver Niles. Niles on a tractor with his son Tom in the garden at Boot Hill Farm, 1955. Photo by Frank Van Deren Coke. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9469. Niles (right) working on a dulcimer with Harry Mefford at the wood shop of the University of Kentucky, ca. 1937. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9511C. Niles’s cello-style G dulcimer under construction with clamps at the University of Kentucky wood shop, ca. 1941. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9635B. A “slipper chair” carved in 1631, flanked by two copies carved by Niles ca. 1939–1942. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9636H. Table and chairs hand-crafted by Niles and used regularly at Boot Hill Farm. The table is inscribed with names of ballads and songs composed and collected by Niles. Photo by the author. This furniture is a gift from the Niles family to the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music. Niles surrounded by objects representing his interests, including carving, woodworking, composing, painting, recording, and gardening, 1953. Photo by Louisville Courier-Journal staff photographer. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9220. John Jacob and Rena Niles, photographed at Boot Hill Farm for a Life magazine feature, 1942. Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9421. Courtesy of the Alfred Eisenstaedt Estate, J. Paul Getty Museum. Niles (second row, right end) with the other staff of and participants in the Indiana University Folklore Institute, July 1942. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9516A. Niles cradling his G dulcimer in a performance of “Hangman” at the Newport Folk Festival, 1959. Photo by David Gahr. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9046C. Niles seated at the piano with Met diva Gladys Swarthout, in her New York City apartment, ca. 1947–1949. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9523b. Niles holding his G dulcimer, posed by the portrait painted by Victor Hammer ca. 1958. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9791-F. The painting is in the possession of Thomas Niles; a preliminary sketch for it is in the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music. Left to right: Niles, Jacqueline Roberts, Thomas Merton, and Janelle Pope (seated) at a rehearsal of the Niles-Merton songs at Boot Hill Farm, 1967. Photo by Helm Roberts. John Jacob Niles Photographic Collection, PA82M9099a. The exterior of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music at the University of Kentucky, 2010. Photo by the author. ...