Many of Singin' Sam's photographs, articles, recordings, interviews, memorabilia, song collection, albums and personal effects are currently housed and preserved at The Utah State University Special Collections and Archives Library in Logan Utah.

Singin' Sam Agins - MSS, COLL, 230

http://library.usu.edu/Specol/index.html

 http://library.usu.edu/Specol/photoarchive/p0134.html

The Sam Agins collection is contained in ten manuscript and storage boxes.  Arrangement of the collection is topical and chronological.  Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent; the name of the correspondent's business, company or organization listed with the name.  news clippings are arranged chronologically by folders, each representing a decade.  All other items are arranged topically under general titles such as Music for any items relating to Sam Agins' musical career.  Photographs were removed from the collection and placed in the main photograph file of the Department of Special Collections and Archives.  Video tapes, cassette tapes, albums and books were incorporated into the folklore Department of Special Collections and Archives.  An oil portrait of Singin' Sam Agins by the well known, Arizona sculptor and painter, John H. Wadell, and six ink drawings by the renowned cowboy/western illustrator, Johnny Hampton were placed in the Art and Artifacts Collection in Special Collections and Archives.

From the Herald Journal Fri. Oct. 11, 1996

"Singin' Sam Agins celebrated the common folk in the songs he wrote and performed, and the stories he told during the half-century he toured throughout the West.  Now the late singer/songwriter's extraordinary collection of songs, poetry, recordings and interviews with ordinary people will be preserved in Special Collections and Archives at Utah State University.

"It's a wonderful collection because it includes his original writings, poetry, lyrics and recordings," said Ann Buttars, acting curator.  "It also includes his collection of others' recordings and his interviews with ordinary people from the 1930s through the 1970s.  He was all over the West performing at guest ranches in Wyoming, Montana and Colorado--being in a wheelchair since childhood never slowed him down."

Agins' widow, Frederica, personally drove the more than a dozen boxes containing writings and recordings, including several unpublished manuscripts to USU from Sun City, Ariz.  She also brought significant artwork including a John Wadell portrait of "Singin'Sam," the cowboy's hat band, several hats, hand-tooled leather visor and a lariat he used for rope tricks.

It will take about a year to inventory and catalog the collection to make it accessible to students and other researchers."The collection is in wonderful condition," she said. "Ideally, we would like to transcribe all of the interviews he taped, but that would be very costly.  This collection will greatly enhance the national reputation of our folklore archives.  The monetary value of the Agins collection is in the artwork, but the original information about common people is invaluable."

Special Collections and Archives at USU also is home to the John I. White "Lonesome Cowboy" collection, one of the nation's largest cowboy poetry collections, the papers of the American Folklore society and the library and papers of folklorists Austin E. and Alta Fife."

In partnership with The Utah State University, we are currently in the process of re-releasing Sam's albums, Singin' Sam's Saddlebag of Songs and Singin' Sam and Friends, and completing the publication of his autobiography "Three Dimes and a Button." 

Tax deductible donations are currently being accepted by the Utah State University Special Collections and Archives to complete the publication of  Singin' Sam's autobiography, "Three Dimes and a Button."   Please contact Curator Ann Buttars at ann.buttars@usu.edu for detailed project and donation information.

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