Photographs from the 1940s to the 1980s and
photographic postcards with images from the 19th century. The majority are black
& white silver gelatin prints, 8" x 10" or smaller, although there are a few
color prints and a large number of postcards. There is a total of 105 photographs (11 in
color), 126 black and white proof sheets, 59 postcards (1 in color), 76 black and white
negatives, and 18 posters. The majority of the images range from 1960 to 1980 and
consist of the various places and festivals where Agins performed, the people that he
performed with, and photos used in the photo-essay, Round Legs. Also includes
photographs of a portrait of Agins painted by John Henry Waddell. Many of the photos
were taken by Frederica Agins, some by professional photographers and event
photographers, and a few by Agins' fans. The postcards are reproductions of 19th century
"old west" images including Buffalo Bill, Native Americans, cowboys, stagecoaches, etc.
Many of the photographs have negatives.
Repository:
Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives Photograph Collection
Merrill-Cazier Library Utah State University 3000 Old Main Hill Logan, UT 84322-3000 Phone: 435 797-2663 Fax: 435 797-2880 Email: scweb@usu.edu
Languages:
Collection materials are in English.
Sponsor:
Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant,
2007-2008
Biographical Note
Singin' Sam Agins was born in Denver, Colorado on June 14, 1919 and he died in Sun City,
Arizona on March 28, 1996. He was born with a congenital paralysis of both legs and only
weighed 2 lbs. at birth. Agins was limited to using crutches or a wheelchair for
mobility from childhood. Despite his disability he led a very active and full life.
Sam's activities included guitar playing, making poetry, and writing and collecting
music. In addition he was a leather craftsman, stringed instruments mechanic, and a
maker of hand-tooled silver buckle jewelry and violins. On November 19, 1957 he married
Frederica Agins (born May, 1938) and they had two sons, Judd and Joseph Agins.
Agins' passion was writing, collecting, and recording American folk songs, especially of
the West. During the 1940s and 1950s he entertained disabled youth, veterans, and
children in hospitals acting as an Ambassador of Goodwill Industries. In addition, he
entertained prisoners in New Mexico, guests at dude ranches, and taught classes about
folk singing throughout the American West. Agins was also the United States
representative in 1976 at the Smithsonian Institution's Montreal Expo and also served as
an expert on early American folk songs in Washington D.C. During the 1970s and 1980s he
participated in the Festival of the American West and the Western Writers Conferences
held in Logan, Utah.
Content Description
The collection includes photographs from the 1880s to the 1980s. The majority of the
images are black-and-white silver gelatin prints, 8" x 10" or smaller although there are
a few color prints and a large number of postcards. There is a total of 105 photographs
(11 in color), 126 black and white proof sheets, 59 postcards (1 in color), 76 black and
white negatives, and 18 posters. The majority of the images range from 1960 to 1980 and
consist of the various places where Agins performed, the people that he performed with,
and photos used in Round Legs. Many of the photos were taken by Frederica, some by
professional photographers and event photographers, and a few by Agins' fans. The
postcards are reproductions of 19th century "old west" images including Buffalo Bill,
Native Americans, cowboys, stagecoaches, etc. Captions and some of the inscriptions (or
parts of due to the length) are copied exactly as they appear on the photo inside of
quotation marks with additional information enclosed in brackets. Many of the
photographs have negatives.
Use of the Collection
Restrictions on Access : Restrictions
Open to public research.
Restrictions on Use : Copyright
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of
the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her
transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and
hold harmless the Utah State University Libraries, its officers, employees, and agents
from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of
copyright.
Permission to publish material from the must
be obtained from the Special Collections Photograph Curator and/or the Special Collections
Department Head.
Singin' Sam Agins photograph collection, 1875-1990. (P0134). Utah State University.
Special Collections & Archives Department.
Administrative Information
Arrangement :
Photographs removed from album, in original order.
Acquisition Information :
The collection was donated by Frederica Agins in 1997. The photographs were removed from
the Singin' Sam Agins papers, MSS 230. Included in that collection are copies of the
publication Round Legs, a photo-essay by Agins.
Processing Note :
Register completed by Daniel Davis, February 2005.
1:01:01: Agins performing around the campfire at Desert
Willow Ranch, Tucson, Arizona, "Desert Willow Ranch, Tucson AZ. 1949"
photograph By Western Ways, Tucson Arizona
1949
1
2
1:02:01: Agins performing on KLZ Denver with radio
personality Pete Smythe in a tribute to Sam's life. Photograph by C. A. Jackson
Photographic Services, Denver, Colorado
1950s
1
3
1:03:01: Agins performing at a children's hospital in
Denver, Colorado
ca. 1940s
1
4
1:04:01: Performer (does not appear to be Agins)
entertaining around a campfire, the "El Conquistador Hotel Breakfast Ride,
Tucson, Arizona,"
ca. 1940s
1
5
1:05:01: Agins spinning a lasso around himself and a
little girl
ca. 1950s
1
6
1:06:01: Agins spinning a lasso around himself and
several children
ca. 1950s
1
7
1:07:01: Agins demonstrating a lasso on horseback
ca. 1950s
1
8
1:08:01: Agins performing around a campfire,
unidentified local
ca. 1960s
1
9
1:09:01: Agins performing around a campfire,
unidentified local
see 1:08:01.
ca. 1960s.
1
10
1:10:01: Agins with unknown woman during a performance,
possibly a recording session
ca. 1970s
1
10
1:10:02: Formal studio portrait of Agins with his
guitar
ca. 1970s
1
10
1:10:03: Agins during a performance, possibly a
recording session, with his fiddle
ca. 1970s
1
10
1:10:04: Agins performing at the Buffalo Bill Historical
Museum. Cody, Wyoming
1:12:01: Formal studio publicity portrait of Agins with
his guitar
ca. 1970s
1
12
1:12:02: Copy print of original photograph, the Agins
family, "from L to R, Leona Agins, Harry Agins with Sam, Yetta Agins (standing)
Bette Agins"
ca. 1922
1
12
1:12:03: Agins as a young man, holding a string of fish,
"Sammy"
ca. 1940
1
13
1:13:01: Formal studio publicity portrait of Agins with
his guitar. Photograph by Gaines of Tucson, Arizona
ca. 1960s
1
13
1:13:02: Tracing from photograph 1:12:01
1
14
1:14:01: Agins performing around a campfire with guitar
and mandolin. Photograph by Bob Woodall of Jackson Hole, Wyoming
ca. 1970s
1
14
1:14:02: Agins performing around a campfire with guitar
and mandolin. Photography by Bob Woodall of Jackson Hole, Wyoming
ca. 1970s
1
14
1:14:03: Agins performing around a campfire with guitar
and mandolin. Photography by Bob Woodall of Jackson Hole, Wyoming
ca. 1970s
1
15
1:15:01: Proof sheet on 35mm negatives, Agins during an
unidentified performance. Photographs by Gruenbaum
ca. 1970s
1
15
1:15:02: Agins during performance. Photograph by Bob
Krueger, Aspen, Colorado
ca. 1970s
1
15
1:15:03: Photograph of an original portrait of Agins by
Waddell
see 1:11:01-02,
1
15
1:15:04: Agins, John Henry Waddell, and Lindsay Waddell
with completed portrait "Form L to R, John Henry Waddell , Sam Agins, Lindsay
Waddell, John's son, Sam traded John a violin for Lindsay for the
portrait"
see also 1:11:03
1
15
1:15:05-14: Agins, John Henry Waddell, and Lindsay Waddell
with completed portrait
see also 1:11:03, negative available.
1
15
1:15:15: Proof sheet, fiddler Vasar Clements and
others
negative available.
1
15
1:15:16: 35mm negatives of proof sheet
see 1:15:15.
1
16
1:16:01: Agins playing a duet on the fiddle
[two copies.]
ca. 1970s
1
1
1:16:01: Agins playing a duet on the fiddle [two
copies], "Sam, after 20 years of playing the fiddle, has got to be one of the
hottest fiddle players there is. Here Tom joins Sam in some duets."
ca. 1970s
1
17
1:17:01: Agins in a motorized wheelchair
ca. 1980s
1
18
1:18:01: Agins in his wheelchair, "Sam is one of a kind.
Another man like him you'll never meet"
1
19
1:19:01: Agins talking with a young woman on an
unidentified campus [two copies], "If a pretty lady isn't careful--Sam is sure
to lasso her for a little chat. Diane, who is an education major, thought she
was going to class--that was before she met Sam."
ca. 1970s
1
19
1:19:01: Agins talking with a young woman on an
unidentified campus
[two copies.]
ca. 1970s
1
201
1:20:01: Agins and other performers on stage at the 1979
San Diego Folk Festival. "Sam is a cowboy from way-back-when. Here these
gentlemen (Left to Right, Sam, Bob, Neil, and Al) share their favorite cowboy
songs with the audience, during the 1979 San Diego State Festival."
1979
1
21
1:21:01: Photocopy of a photo of Agins with his
banjo
1
21
1:21:02: Agins seated with his feet on a desk, "Singin'
Sam at the house of a friend
circa 1980s."
1
21
1:21:03: Photo of Agins
1
21
1:21:04: Three 35mm negatives, left to right "our house
- Sedona Az. early 70s, Sam, Sam and Judd, Mario Balza."
1970s
1
22
1:22:01: Agins performing at the Arizona Heritage Fest
1:24:01: Clayton Barnes demonstrating his horse shoeing
machine at the Elkhorn Ranch, Montana, 1960. Photographs taken for The Western
Horseman by Clayton Barnes
1960
1
24
1:24:02: Clayton Barnes horse shoeing machine, "Sep
1960, The Western Horseman"
Sept 1960
1
24
1:24:03: A group of men trying out the machine on a
horse, "Sep 1960, The Western Horseman"
Sept 1960
1
24
1:24:04: Clayton Barnes horse shoeing machine, "Sep
1960, The Western Horseman"
Sept 1960
1
24
1:24:05: Men working on the horse shoeing machine, "Sep
1960, The Western Horseman"
Sept 1960
1
24
1:24:06: Clayton Barnes demonstrating the machine which
raises the horse horizontal, "Sep 1960, The Western Horseman"
Sept 1960
1
24
1:24:07: "Clayton Barnes and Bob Miller demonstrating
his horse shoeing machine, and an electric sander to remove a horse shoe, "Sep
1960, The Western Horseman"
Sept 1960
1
24
1:24:08: Clayton Barnes shoeing the horse, "Sep 1960,
The Western Horseman"
Sept 1960
1
24
1:24:09: Clayton Barnes shoeing the horse, "Sep 1960,
The Western Horseman"
Sept 1960
1
24
1:24:010: "Clayton Barnes demonstrating his horse shoeing
machine, and an electric sander to remove a horse shoe, Sep 1960, The Western
Horseman"
1:31:02: Postcard announcing a 1990 exhibit entitled
"Survivors: Underemployed workers in Third World Streets" by photographer Rolf
Kjolseth at the University of Colorado, Boulder. On front is an image of a woman
and carring her child labeled, "Overworked and Underemployed"; verso is signed by
the photographer to Agins
1990
1
31
1:31:03: Brochure with color photograph on folk legend Don
Pablo (1898-1974.)
1
32
1:32:01: Pancho Villa and his men
1
32
1:32:02: Pancho Villa's corpse, with a group of men
surrounding it
1
32
1:32:03: Pancho Villa's corpse, "Sadaver de Francisico
Villa and Hotel Hidalgo Parral Chihva
1
32
1:32:04: "Rattlesnake killing rabbit" in verso "Lucy Brown,
Billings, Montana"
1
32
1:32:05: Copy photograph of a brochure advertising Harter's
Liver Pills
1
32
1:32:06: Copy photograph of a brochure advertising Harter's
Liver Pills
1
32
1:32:07: Unidentified cowboy performing with a
lasso
1
32
1:32:08: "Old Occidental Hotel Where the Virginian got his
man Buffalo, Wyoming"
2:03:01: Photo of the oxen team, 'Yankee and Doodle'
with unknown man, "100% Ox team"
negative available.
2:03:02: Publicity photo of Singin' Sam Agins"
"early '70s
2:03:03: Letter to Mr. Sherratt, VP for university
Relations regarding the oxen team, 'Yankee and Doodle' from Russell G. Mawby
President of W.K. Kellogg Foundation
2:03:04: Photo of the oxen team, 'Yankee and Doodle'
with unknown man
negative available.
2:03:05: Biography of Peter Breck, from the Jay
Bernstein Public Relations Inc
Oversize, exhibition prints of photographs used in
Agins' Round Legs (1989) and posters entitled, "The Horsetrader," used in poster
with Agins' poem, "Eight Years Old, Comin' Nine"
Container(s)
Description
Dates
box
1
3:01: Agins demonstrating a lasso
3:02: Photograph entitled, "The Horsetrader," used in
poster with Agins' poem, "Eight Years Old, Comin' Nine"
3:03: Poster entitled, "The Horsetrader," used in
poster with Agins' poem, "Eight Years Old, Comin' Nine."as above
[Three copies.]
3:04-18 : Exhibition prints of photographs used in Agins'
Round Legs
