Ten Pound Fiddle archive.

The Ten Pound Fiddle collection consists of five series including Business and Organizational Records, Performer Files, Promotion and Publicity, Recordings, and Music Books. The materials date from the Ten Pound Fiddle's establishment in 1975 to the present.

Gift; Ten Pound Fiddle, May 2010.

The Ten Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse is the creation of the MSU and Lansing Area Folksong Societies. Founded in January of 1975, the Fiddle has presented an average of 30 concerts per year since then featuring the best of traditional and contemporary folk, blues, ragtime, bluegrass, country and old time music. Originally founded as a student organization, the Fiddle helped to found the ASMSU Programming Board, a branch of the MSU student government. The Fiddle remained part of that group for several years until finally incorporating as a non-profit, IRS 501C.3 organization. It is still an all-volunteer group, from the ticket takers to the board of directors. In addition to the weekly concerts the Fiddle also presents a monthly Contra and Square Dance, publishes Michigan Folk Notes (a bimonthly newsletter of Michigan folk information and music reviews), and has co-sponsored a weekly dance series with Looking Glass Music and Arts Association and the Foster Advisory Board. They also support community events, co-sponsoring a free children's concert series and lending technical support to the East Lansing Arts Festival (both in conjunction with the City of East Lansing's Fine Arts Commission), and by participating in the MSU Museum's Festival of Michigan Folklife. The concert series runs from mid September through early May. Attendance averages 100, with some concerts fetching 400. Except for the larger concerts they are held at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 855 Grove Street in East Lansing. Larger concerts are usually held in Erickson Kiva on the MSU campus. The Ten Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse has been a past recipient of grants from the Lansing Federated Cultural Appeal, the Michigan Council for the Arts, and the MSU Funding Board. The Fiddle is the current recipient of a grant from the Michigan Council for the Arts.