Biographical Note
Writer, singer of cowboy songs, map draftsman; born in Washington, D.C. on April 12, 1902; died in Maplewood, N.J. on November 26, 1992. White recorded 20 cowboy and hillbilly songs for the American Record Corporation in 1929-1930. Some were recorded under his various pseudonyms: The Lonesome Cowboy, Whitey Johns, The Lone Star Cowboy, The Old Sexton, Jimmie Price and Frank Ranger. His singing career culminated when he played his guitar and sang as "The Lonesome Cowboy" on the NBC radio drama "Death Valley Days" sponsored by Twenty-Mule-Team Borax from 1929-1936. He maintained a lifelong interest in cowboy songs and the American West, researching and writing articles and two books on this and other topics.
Researcher Note
Photographs from the collection are housed separately, in PHOTO COLL P0037.
Provenance Note
The John I White Photographs (ca. 1860s-1980) were donated in 1992 to Special Collections and Archives jointly by his widow, Augusta Postles White, and two children, Jennifer White Fischer and Jonathan Postles White.
Arrangement Note
Correspondence arranged alphabetically by correspondent; research arranged alphabetically in order that John I. White placed them.