Robert Stone Sacred Steel Collection

Robert L. (Bob) Stone is an independent folklorist and photographer based in Gainesville, Florida. During his tenure with the Florida Folklife Program from 1990-2010, he traveled throughout the state documenting the traditional culture of Floridians — one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the United States.

In 1992, Stone began documenting the vibrant African American steel guitar tradition of the House of God, Keith Dominion, and the Church of the Living God, Jewell Dominion. The cassette/booklet album resulting from his first survey of the music, Sacred Steel: Traditional Sacred African-American Steel Guitar Music in Florida, was released by Arhoolie Records in 1997. Stone subsequently produced seven more Arhoolie CDs in the “Sacred Steel” series and directed the Sacred Steel documentary video for the Arhoolie Foundation in 2001.

He is the author of Sacred Steel: Inside an African American Steel Guitar Tradition (University of Illinois Press, 2010) and Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus!: Photographs from the Sacred Steel Community (University Press of Mississippi, 2020).

The Stone Sacred Steel Collection features the full range of his documentary work, including roughly 6,500 photographs and 88 audio interviews with key figures in the Sacred Steel community. Digitization of Stone's photographs was supported by a 2024-25 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The collection is presented here with Stone's own descriptive notes (the "Description" and "Notes" fields). 

Explore the finding aid for the collection at the link below.