Sometime in 2011 a monolith dropped on the Old-Time world that is perhaps one of the better resources we have available as tune-seekers. The Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes fiddle tunes is 6 lbs. worth of meticulously transcribed fiddle tunes from Appalachia to Acadia. 1404 songs, to be exact. This anthology is the end product of Clare Milliner and Walt Koken scouring Library of Congress field recordings as well as 78 rpm "hillbilly" recordings from the 1930's and 40's, largely in their spare time. Tunes are indexed by title, tuning, key, and source. At $90.00, its a bit of a hefty price tag, but well worth it given the amount of work that went into this and what this represents overall.
I have a very rudimentary knowledge of reading music, nor am I a fiddle player, but this collection has given me the chance to learn how (to read music that is). I've started by grouping lines and spaces on the staff into which string would be played on the banjo, as well as which fret on that string. It seems easiest to do this by key. If that doesn't sound all that appealing to you and you are a "learn it by ear" kind of person, Larry Warren has put audio examples of many of the Milliner-Koken songs on his website,
Slippery Hill. I imagine for a fiddler adapt at sight-reading this would be quite a powerful tool in a jam!
