I had written:

>>To date there is only one major account of Blind Tom's activities, and it
>>is yet incomplete...  Address, and I have no idea if it's still valid,
>>would be Challenge Productions, PO Box 9624, Minneapolis, MN 55440.

Terry Newstrom responded:

>The current Minneapolis telephone directory does not list a "Challenge
>Productions", but there is a "Challenge Printing" at a 55344 Zip Code.
>I called, but there is no relationship between the earlier and current
>organizations.

Thank you, Terry for pointing me in the right direction.  I have just
gotten off the phone with Dr.  Geneva Handy Southall.  The COMPLETED
version of her book was published by Scarecrow Press in the first week
of August this year.  "This is my last deal" she says whimsically, as she
has retired as professor of African-American Studies and music at the
University of Minneapolis.  Last year she donated 4 inches of papers, books
and tapes to the Iowa Women's Studies Archive at the University of Iowa,
her alma mater.  These material are as yet 'unprocessed' as the Archive's
curator, Kathy Neale, has been called away to Minneapolis for another
research study.  I'd thought that this was where I'd find the last protion
of her manuscript but, lo and behold, the work is among us!  Dr.  Southall
stated that the first edition was interrupted as her publisher passed away.
Twenty Years has gone by since that first edition appeared, and Dr.
Southall said she had to "re-invent the wheel" in order to to squeeze those
first two volumes down to one chapter so she could nring the total book
in at 224 pages.  She is very pleased with the way the book reads, and
I myself can hardly wait to get hold of a copy of it!  (Incidentally,
another work listed in the University of Iowa database by Southall is the
manuscript of a dissertaion on John Field's piano concerti dated 1965.)

The 1-800 number at Scarecrow is 1-800-462-6420 and the ISSBN # of Dr.
Southall's book is 0-8108-3594-0.  This is an extremely valuable addition
to the field of 19th American Music History in general, and Dr.  Southall
has devoted 36 years of her life to it's creation.

Uncle Dave Lewis
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