Rayburn Moore collection


Download Finding Aid

Collection Details

Collection Dates: 1938 – 1967
Scope and Content Note: The Rayburn Moore collection consists of footage related to the Moore family. Also included are two reels of film showing touring performances of KFFA Radio's "King Biscuit Time," and one reel showing a walking tour around Ralston Purina's Research Farm outside of St. Louis, Missouri. One of the King Biscuit Time reels is a circa 1943 country store performance by blues artists Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Junior Lockwood. The second King Biscuit Time reel is a 1952 bus performing tour of various Arkansas locations by Sonny Boy Williamson and other African-American performers.
Biographical Note: Rayburn Moore's father, Max, started Interstate Grocery Co. in Helena, Arkansas. Interstate Grocery created King Biscuit Flour and was the original sponsor of KFFA radio’s “King Biscuit Time”.  On the air since 1941, it  was the first program to bring roots music to a mainstream audience and is the longest running daily radio show in history. In 1992, the program was recognized with a George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting for continuing its all-Delta-blues format and for preserving an “original American art form.”
Extent: 19 film reels : si., b&w and col. ; 8 mm.
Genre: Music;Home movies and video
Provenance: During the summer of 2007, the family of the late UGA English professor Rayburn Moore donated his archives (papers and film) to the UGA Libraries.  Rayburn Moore had diligently kept his father, Max Moore’s, business records; Max Moore lived in Helena, Arkansas, and founded Interstate Grocery Co. which created King Biscuit Flour. He died in 1979.  Max was the longtime (40 years) sponsor of the KFFA radio program, “King Biscuit Time” beginning in 1941. The radio program is still on the air and in 1992 received a UGA Grady School of Journalism George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting (UGA Libraries maintains the Peabody Award Archives).  Rayburn had planned on writing a history of King Biscuit Time, but that was never completed.  His widow's trustee has signed an unrestricted Deed of Gift of the materials to the UGA Libraries. The papers are preserved in the Hargrett Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, the films in the Media Archives. Deposited at the Walter J. Brown Media Archives by Jean Bear, 2007.
Cite Collection As: Rayburn Moore collection, circa 1938-1967. Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries.

Objects in the collection


Loading...