Much has been written about the songs gathered in North America in the first half of the 20th century. However, there is scant information on those individuals responsible for gathering these songs. The Ballad Collectors of North America: How Gathering Folksongs Transformed Academic Thought and American Identity fills this gap, documenting the efforts of those who transcribed and recorded North American folk songs. Both biographical and topical, this book chronicles not only the most influential of these "song catchers" but also examines the main schools of thought on the collection process, the leading proponents of those schools, and the projects that they shaped. Contributors also consider the role of technology--especially the phonograph--in the collection efforts. Chapters organized by region cover such areas as Appalachia, the West, and Canada, while others devoted to specialized topics from the cowboy tune and occupational song to the commercialization of folk music through song collections and anthologies. Ballad Collectors investigates the larger role of the ballad in the development of American identity, from the national appreciation of cowboy songs in popular culture to the use of Appalachian song forms in radio broadcasts to the role of dustbowl ballads in the urban folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, this collection assesses the changing role of songs and song texts in the academic fields of folklore, anthropology, musicology, and ethnomusicology. Scholars and students of American cultural and social history, as well as fans of North American folk and popular music, will find The Ballad Collectors of North America a fascinating story of how the American folk tradition gained greater visibility, fueling the revolutions that would follow in the writing and performance of American music.

written by workers of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the state of Maine, sponsored by the Maine Development Commission ...

Add to this the thousands of farms that have grown back to woods since the Civil War, and you have the most forested state, by percentage, in the United States. But the “uninterrupted forest” that Henry David Thoreau first saw in the 1840s was never exactly that. Loggers had cut it severely, European settlers had gnawed into it, and, much earlier, native people had left their mark. This book takes you deep into the past to understand the present, allowing you to hear the stories of the people and events that have shaped the woods and made them what they are today.

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. WPA Guide to Maine focuses in on the very tip of the Northeastern United States, also known as the Pine Tree State. With a short but comprehensive description of Maine’s history, two of the most enthralling sections of the guide include essays on Maine’s folklore and maritime heritage.

Includes section "Bibliography. Articles on the history of New England in periodical literature.

"With a rugged coast and more than four thousand offshore islands, Maine's dark waters attracted sea raiders like Dixie Bull from the 1600s through colonial times. Pirate treasure still awaits discovery in Phippsburg and Machias, and pirate deceit prompted a massacre in ancient Fort Loyall. The infamous Captain Kidd may have prowled the waters off Deer Isle, while farther down the coast a woman and a bloodthirsty band of cutthroats lured ships to disaster at Isles of Shoals." --supplied by publisher.