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The Missouri Folklore Society was organized December 15, 1906, "to encourage the collection, preservation and study of folklore in the widest sense, including customs, institutions, beliefs, signs, legends, language, literature, musical arts, and folk arts and crafts of all ethnic groups throughout the State of Missouri." [1]
The roots of MFS go back to a meeting held in the offices of the English Department at the University of Missouri at the turn of the twentieth century. The "Writer’s Club" expressed interest in "folksongs and literary material to be found in Missouri," as reported in the M.S.U. Independent on March 6, 1903. [ citation needed ] The State Historical Society of Missouri had recently opened its library in what is now Jesse Hall, and the cultural moment had arrived for the development of a new academic field which would blend the materials and methods of many traditional disciplines – philology, literature and history—as well as connecting to the newer fields of sociology and anthropology. In literature, the movement that would come to be known as "local color" and the political disposition known as populism worked together to prosper an interest in what Ralph Waldo Emerson had called for, long ago, in a genuinely American literary culture: rejecting "the courtly muses of Europe" in favor of "the near, the low, the common."
The students of the English Club conceived of what would now be called a project in fieldwork and salvage ethnography; aware that sociological trends did not favor the preservation of materials of limited distribution and held in oral tradition, they proposed to gather the lore of Missouri into bound volumes, as an archive for future researchers.[ citation needed ] Mary Alicia Owen, writer and folklorist, was a founding member of the Missouri Folklore Society. [2]
This collection project, with leadership from the English Club's faculty sponsor, Henry Marvin Belden and its secretary-treasurer, Maude Williams, would form the basis for the society's single most-cited work, Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folklore Society, published in 1940 (second edition, 1955; reprinted 1966 and 1973).
The collection project was an item of discussion at the 1905 meeting of the Modern Language Society in Chicago, where the fact that ancient ballads continued to be sung in rural areas was received as something of a revelation, though one to which the "popular antiquities" orientation of incipient folklore studies was favorably disposed. In addition to a very local sort of patriotism, the primary warrant for preserving a given text was that it could be traced to a prior tradition (especially one documentable in the British Isles, ideally in Thomas Percy’s 1765 Reliques of Ancient English Poetry or the English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-98) of Francis James Child. Belden published results of his students’ researches in Modern Philology and the Journal of American Folklore , and the club had achieved sufficient stability as to establish itself officially on December 15, 1906.
The innovations here are numerous: the recognition of fieldwork as an academic enterprise, the development of collection and archiving protocols, and the participation of undergraduates in original research (a novelty which lies behind such projects as the Foxfire books, Bittersweet and The Chariton Collector). Early proceedings indicate keen awareness of the dual orientations of the society, both to literature and to anthropology. From an early date, there was recognition of the need to collect the lore of the state's Black and Native American communities. The Missouri Folklore Society provided the impetus (and expertise) for other such organizations, notably the Texas Folklore Society. Belden became prominent in national folklore circles, serving as president of the American Folklore Society and working closely with such period luminaries as the anthropologist Franz Boas and the literary scholar George Lyman Kittredge – again testifying to the new discipline's divided identity. Unfortunately, nothing came of the American Folklore Society's plans, much discussed in 1917, to publish the Missouri collection (which was substantially what it would be on its 1940 appearance).
The society did not participate in the virtual explosion of amateur and academic activity, the formation of organizations and the implementation of collection projects, which extended through the 1920s and 30s. As a result of a combination of factors, including disappointment over the derailment of the organization's signature project, but perhaps primarily because of a failure of continuity in leadership and philosophy, the society "fell into a coma in 1920 from which it has not recovered." [3] Belden became increasingly busy with administrative duties and other research projects, as was the case too with what then seemed a fine choice for Belden's successor, Archer Taylor.
For these and other reasons, the society as such effectively went silent until 1977, though Missouri folklorists certainly remained active, and Missouri folklore continued to be collected and studied by such as Ward Dorrance, Vance Randolph, Joseph Carrière, R.P. Christeson, Rosemary Thomas and others. A group consisting mainly of University of Missouri faculty met on March 30, 1977, for the re-activation of the society.[ citation needed ]During this time, the society started collecting materials, such as “correspondence, meeting minutes, publications, photographs, audio and audiovisual materials, clippings, membership lists, and annual meeting materials.” [4] They began producing a historical journal in 1979. The re-incarnation of MFS, led by Adolph and Rebecca Schroeder, Don Holliday and Cathy Barton (among others), was well-prepared with broad publicity and grass-roots participation from throughout the state. The basic frameworks for the annual Missouri Folklore Society Journal (long edited by Donald Lance) and the statewide meeting, to be held each year in a different part of the state were established. Meetings included keynote speakers such as Roger Abrahams and Max Hunter.
For the continued existence and success of the society, there was an explicit recognition of the need to participate in multiple networks of likeminded organizations (for example the Ozarks States Folklore Society). The society recognized the legitimate participation of a variety of constituencies and stakeholders in folklore: academic scholars, certainly, but also performers, tradition-bearers, informants, and emerging folklorists. Since its reactivation, the Missouri Folklore Society has met annually in October or November. [5] Each annual meeting has had presentations and participation by such scholars of international standing as John Miles Foley, Elaine Lawless, Barry Bergey, Alan Jabbour and Jan Harold Brunvand, as well as reports on collection-efforts by students and members of local historical societies, remembrance sessions, presentations on crafts, and music sessions.
The society has, at the century mark, its largest membership in history, a well-trafficked website that includes a growing repository of studies and documents (Missouri Folklore Studies) and a journal now well past the quarter-century mark.[ citation needed ]
In 2021, the Missouri Folklore Society published volumes 40 and 41: Emerging Folklorists. These volumes contain works by 17 Missouri college students from 2010-2019, ranging in different academic lenses. [6] Students majoring in English, linguistics, biology, and nursing majors took part in this issue. [7]
The Missouri Folklore Society meets annually in Missouri.
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, myths, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also includes material culture, such as traditional building styles common to the group. Folklore also encompasses customary lore, taking actions for folk beliefs, and the forms and rituals of celebrations such as Christmas, weddings, folk dances, and initiation rites.
Francis James Child was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry. In 1876 he was named Harvard's first Professor of English, a position which allowed him to focus on academic research. It was during this time that he began work on the Child Ballads.
John Avery Lomax was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music. He was the father of Alan Lomax, John Lomax Jr. and Bess Lomax Hawes, also distinguished collectors of folk music.
Folklore studies is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the academic study of traditional culture from the folklore artifacts themselves. It became established as a field across both Europe and North America, coordinating with Volkskunde (German), folkeminner (Norwegian), and folkminnen (Swedish), among others.
Jan Harold Brunvand is an American retired folklorist, researcher, writer, public speaker, and professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah.
Alan Dundes was an American folklorist. He spent much of his career as a professional academic at the University of California, Berkeley and published his ideas in a wide range of books and articles.
William John Thoms was a British writer credited with coining the term "folklore" in 1846. Thoms' investigation of folklore and myth led to a later career of debunking longevity myths, and he was a pioneer demographer.
The American Folklore Society (AFS) is the United States (US)-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world, which aims to encourage research, aid in disseminating that research, promote the responsible application of that research, publish various forms of publications, advocate for the continued study and teaching of folklore, etc. The Society is based at Indiana University and has an annual meeting every October. The Society's quarterly publication is the Journal of American Folklore. The current president is Marilyn White.
Stith Thompson was an American folklorist: he has been described as "America's most important folklorist".
The Folklore Society (FLS) is a registered charity under English law based in London, England for the study of folklore. Its office is at 50 Fitzroy Street, London home of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
Ruth Ann Musick was an American writer and folklorist specializing in West Virginia. She was the sister of artist Archie Musick and niece of writer John R. Musick.
The Estonian Literary Museum, is a national research institute of the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia. Its mission is to improve the cultural heritage of Estonia, to collect, preserve, research and publish the results. The current Head of the Estonian Literary Museum is Piret Voolaid.
Charlotte Sophia Burne (1850–1923) was an English author and editor, and the first woman to become president of the Folklore Society.
The Estonian Folklore Archives (EFA) is the central folklore archives in Estonia. The Archives functions currently as the subdivision of the Estonian Literary Museum but it was established in 1927 as the division of the Estonian National Museum. The current Head of the Archives is Dr. Risto Järv.
Thomas Edward Cheney (1901–1993) was an American folklorist who made contributions to the field of Mormon folklore. As one of the first Mormon folklorists, he collected folk songs in Utah and Idaho and authored books and articles on Utah, Idaho, and Mormon folklore. He served as president of the Folklore Society of Utah from 1963 to 1964. Cheney also compiled songs for the American Folklore Society, which were published in 1968. Along with books on Mormon Folklore, Cheney wrote a book about J. Golden Kimball, which was considered controversial. He was also a professor of English at Brigham Young University (BYU) and taught courses in English Romantic literature, ballads, and Mormon folklore.
Prof Harold William ("Tommy") Thompson FRSE FSA DLitt (1891–1964) was an American folklorist and historian. He was also a competent musician, specialising in playing the organ.
Breton Ballads is an academic monograph by Mary-Ann Constantine, published in 1996. The book includes examples of the Breton ballad known as the gwerz, and follows their history, and that of scholarship on the genre, into the 19th and 20th centuries. It was awarded the Katharine Briggs Prize by The Folklore Society in 1996.
Henry Marvin Belden (1865-1954) was an American Folklorist and pioneer collector of folksongs and ballads from Missouri.
Eber Carle Perrow (1880–1968) was an American professor of English who wrote about the literary history of the last will and testament and southern folk songs. His writings on folk songs were influential.
{note: the history of the Missouri Folklore Society was written up for the annual Missouri Folklore Society Journal by Susan Pentlin and Rebecca B. Schroeder in the MFSJ VIII-IX (1986-87:1-44). The article above was adapted from this essay, with permission from MFS}.
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