Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

For preservation purposes, patrons must use digital access copies of original recordings.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Robert W. Aylor Papers, 1939-2003. Accession 41413. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Ann L. Miller, Somerset, Virginia, 6 August 2004.

Biographical Information

Born on 29 February 1924 in the farming community of Aylor in Madison County Virginia, Robert W. Aylor was the only child of Ivan Wilmer Aylor and Mabel Esther Aylor. He was born and lived most of his life at "Sunnyview," his parents' small farm a little over a mile south of the Aylor post office.

Robert Aylor's parents were both fond of music and the household had access to a Victrola and popular records. His father played the fiddle and Robert learned to play a number of musical instruments by ear including the guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, harmonica, and fiddle. He also played guitars "Hawaiian" style, using a slide. In addition to playing musical instruments he was interested in radio and taught himself basic radio electronics utilizing improvised materials. This allowed him to listen to regional and national broadcasts including WRVA that further strengthened his connection to music.

By the late 1930s/early 1940s, Aylor and his father Ivan played live music for audiences both as duo and also as part of a local band, often accompanied by cousins Kermit Aylor and Charles Aylor. The band played under a variety of names including the Aylor Band; the I. W. Aylor Band; I. W. Aylor and his Ramblers; the Aylor String Band; and the Aylor Hillbillys. In these bands Ivan Aylor played the fiddle; Kermit Aylor sang and played the guitar, and Charles Aylor played the mandolin; and Robert played a variety of instruments. During World War II era, Robert and Ivan Aylor sometimes played with the Berry sisters (Gladys, and the twin sisters Brownie and Berniece), and occasionally their father, Lonnie, who lived in the neighboring hamlet of Ruth, three miles south of Aylor.

Robert Aylor was born with congenital cataracts and for most of the first three decades of his life his vision was extremely limited. His parents refused to allow him to leave home to attend a school for the blind and, as a result, he received no formal education. In his twenties, Aylor's vision worsened to the point of complete blindness. In 1949, at the insistence of his cousins Kermit Aylor and Melvin Aylor, his cataracts were removed. He was fitted with a pair of glasses and subsequently taught himself to read simple text and print his name and write short words. His reading and writing activities were primarily related to music and his hobby of electronics. He also had various home recording machines, which he used to record and copy both live music played by himself, his friends and family, as well as music from the radio. Robert continued to play music until the early 1990's when, as a result of arthritis, he increasingly concentrated on playing a dobro guitar or a standard guitar with a slide. For many years, he also planned and set up the sound system for the Christmas pageant at nearby Oak Grove Methodist Church.

Aylor resided at his home, "Sunnyview," until early 2003, when health issues finally required him to move to the Trinity Mission nursing home in Charlottesville, Virginia. He died on 29 December 2003 and is buried next to his parents at Oak Grove Methodist Church in Aylor.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1939-2003, of Robert W. Aylor (1924-2003) include home recordings of live music, photographs and photographic negatives, songbooks and lyric booklets, music instruction manuals, promotional biographies of popular radio music personalities, fan club mailings, music instrument catalogs, radio broadcast schedules, handbills, and clippings with the bulk of the collection concentrated between 1940 and 1960. An interview with Robert Aylor, recorded 25 September 2003, is included.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following series: