A bibliography of American folksongs, compiled by Harold W. Thompson for his class in American Folk-Literature at the New York State College for Teachers and presented with his compliments to John A. Lomax, with New York’s greetings to Texas and a loud shout for Professor George Lyman Kittredge of Harvard.
ALLEN, W. F., WARE, C. P., AND GARRISON, L. MCK., Slave Songs of the United States. New York: Peter Smith, 1929.
The original edition was published in 1867 by A. Simpson and Co., New York. Important.
BALLANTA-TAYLOR, N. G. J., St. Helena Island Spirituals. New York: G. Schirmer, 1925.
BARBEAU, C. M., AND SAPIR, E., Folksongs of French Canada. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1925.
BARBEAU, M., ENGLAND, P., AND WILLAN, H., Chansons Canadiennes. 2 vols. London and Boston: Frederick Harris Co. and Boston Music Co., 1929.
BARNES, NELLIE, American Indian Love Lyrics and Other Verse. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1925.
BARRY, P., ECKSTORM, F. H., AND SMYTH, M. W., British Ballads from Maine. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929.
Important.
BARTHOLOMEW, M., Yale Glee Club Series. New York: G. Schirmer, 1927–
Some of the best chanteys and spirituals arranged for choral use with men’s voices.
BINGHAM, SETH (composer), Five Cowboy Songs. New York: H. W. Gray Co., 1930.
Solos with elaborate accompaniments; also choral arrangements for men’s voices.
BONE, D. W., Capstan Bars. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1932.
Chanteys and sketches about their use.
Bulletin of the Folksong Society of the Northeast, 1930–
BURLEIGH, H. T. (composer), Four Negro Folksongs. New York: Ricordi, 1921.
Not spirituals.
BURLEIGH, H. T., Negro Spirituals. New York, 1917–.
Many of the most beautiful spirituals arranged for solo voice with rather elaborate accompaniments; also arrangements for choral use.
BURLIN, MRS. N. C. (NATALIE CURTIS), Hampton Series of Negro Folk-Songs. 4 vols., 8vo. New York: G. Schirmer, 1918–1919.
Very careful recording of Negro harmonizations.
BURLIN, N. C. (NATALIE CURTIS), The Indian’s Book. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1907.
CAMPBELL, O., AND SHARP, C. J., English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1917.
See also Sharp, C. J.
COLCORD, JOANNA, Roll and Go. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1924.
Chanteys. Out of print, but best American collection.
COX, J. H., Folk-Songs of the South. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1925.
Important collection of the West Virginia Folklore Society.
CRONYN, G. W., The Path on the Rainbow. New York:Boni & Liveright, 1918.
Anthology of songs and chants from the Indians of North America; words only.
DANN, H., AND LOOMIS, H. W., Fifty-eight Spirituals for Choral Use. Boston: C. C. Birchard Co., 1924.
DAUGHTERS OF UTAH PIONEERS, Pioneer Songs. Salt Lake City, Utah: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1932.
By no means all of these are genuine folksongs. The arrangements are by A. M. Durham.
DAVIS, A. K., JR., Traditional Ballads of Virginia. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1929.
Important collection of the Virginia Folklore Society.
DENSMORE, FRANCES, The American Indians and Their Music. New York: Woman’s Press of the Y.W.C.A., 1926.
Popular presentation by a recognized authority on the Indian.
DENSMORE, FRANCES, Indian Action Songs. Boston: C. C. Birchard, 1921.
DENSMORE, FRANCES. An important series of bulletins of the Bureau of American Ethnology, including: No. 80, Mandan and Hidatsa Music (1923); No. 90, Papago Music (1929); No. 93, Pawnee Music (1929); No. 102, Menominee Music (1932); and No. 110, Yuman and Yaqui Music (1932). See also, if possible, Bulletins Nos. 45, 53, 61, 75—all out of print. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.
DETT, R. N., Listen to the Lambs. New York: G. Schirmer, 1923.
The most famous adaptation of a spiritual for choral use, as an anthem in eight parts.
DETT, R. N., Negro Spirituals. Cincinnati: John Church Co., 1919.
Some of the finest adaptations of spirituals as art-songs for solo voices; also choral arrangements.
DETT, R. N., Religious Folk-Songs of the Negro as Sung on the Plantations. Hampton, Va., and New York: Hampton Institute and G. Schirmer, 1926.
DITON, C., Thirty-six South Carolina Spirituals. New York: G. Schirmer, 1928.
Simply harmonized in four parts.
DOLPH, E. A., Sound Off: Soldier Songs. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1927.
ECKSTORM, F. H., AND SMYTH, M. W., Minstrelsy of Maine. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1927.
Important.
FARWELL, ARTHUR, Folk-Songs of the West and South. Newton Center, Mass.: Wa-Wan Press, 1905.
One of a series of publications marking the rise of interest in our folksongs on the part of American composers.
FINGER, C. J., Frontier Ballads. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1927.
FISHER, W. A., Seventy Negro Spirituals. Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1926.
For solo voice, with admirable introductions and with accompaniments by leading composers.
FISHER, W. A., Ye Olde New-England Psalm-Tunes, 1620–1820. Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1930.
FLANDERS, H. H., AND BROWN, GEORGE, Vermont Folk-Songs and Ballads. Brattleboro, Vt.: Stephen Daye Press, 1931.
Important collection by Vermont Folklore Society.
FLETCHER, A. C., Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs. Boston: C. C. Birchard Co., 1915.
Folk-Say. Published annually since 1929 by the University of Oklahoma.
FUSON, H. H., Ballads of the Kentucky Highlands. London: Mitre Press, 1931.
GAUL, H. B., Nine Negro Spirituals. New York: H. W. Gray Co., 1918.
In octavo volume, paper cover. Some of the most attractive of the art-song arrangements for solo voice.
GIBBON, J. M., Canadian Folk Songs. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1927.
GORDON, R. W., “The Folk-Songs of America”: a series of 18 articles in the Sunday Magazine of the New York Times, beginning 2 January, 1927.
Popular articles by a scholar; important.
GORDON, R. W., “Old Songs That Men Have Sung”: a department in Adventure Magazine from 10 July, 1923, to November, 1927.
Very important; edited by one of the leading collectors.
GRAY, R. P., Songs and Ballads of the Maine Lumberjacks. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1924.
GREENLEAF, E. B., AND MANSFIELD, G. Y., Ballads and Sea Songs of New-foundland. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1933.
HAGUE, E., “Spanish-American Folk-Songs.” In Memoirs of the American Folklore Society, Vol. X, 1917.
HALLOWELL, E., Calhoun Plantation Songs, 2nd ed. Boston: C. W. Thompson Co., 1907.
HANDY, W. C., Blues. New York: A. & C. Boni, 1926.
HOWARD, J. T., Our American Music. New York: T. Y. Crowell Co., 1931.
Note especially Chapter XV on “Our Folk-Music,” and also the Bibliographies.
HUDSON, A. P., Specimens of Mississippi Folk-Lore. Ann Arbor, Mich. (mimeographed), and University of Mississippi, 1928. Mimeographed for the editor and on sale in well-bound copies.
Important collection of the Mississippi Folklore Society.
HULBERT, A. B., Forty-niners. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1932.
Contains migration songs and tells of the circumstances under which they were sung.
JACKSON, G. P., White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1933.
Pioneer work; important also for the history of the Negro spiritual.
JACKSON, G. S., Early Songs of Uncle Sam. Introduction by K. B. Murdock. Boston: B. Humphries, 1933.
JOHNSON, GUY B., Folk Culture on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1930.
Important; should be read in connection with Mr. Ballanta-Taylor’s book listed above.
JOHNSON, GUY B., John Henry. Chapel Hill, N. C.; University of North Carolina Press, 1929.
JOHNSON, J. R., Utica Jubilee Singers Spirituals. Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1930.
For male voices in harmony. An important Introduction by C. W. Hyne contains a valuable classification of Negro folksongs.
JOHNSON, J. W. AND J. R., The Book of American Negro Spirituals and The Second Book of American Negro Spirituals. New York: Viking Press, 1925, 1926.
Journal of American Folk-Lore. 1888–
There is an Index to Vol. I–XL, covering the years 1888–1927, published as Volume XIV of the Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society and distributed by G. E. Stechert and Co., New York, in 1930. In Vol. XLI of the Journal, pp. 1–60, will be found an important “Bibliography of American Folklore, 1915–28,” compiled by Alexander Lesser. The Journal is the most important publication named in the present Bibliography.
KENNEDY, R. E., Black Cameos. New York: A. & C. Boni, 1924.
Sketches and songs.
KENNEDY, R. E., Mellows. New York: A. & C. Boni, 1925.
Negro work songs, street cries, and spirituals.
KENNEDY, R. E., More Mellows. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1931.
Accompaniments free but not difficult. Entertaining descriptions of the singers.
KORSON, G. G., Songs and Ballads of the Anthracite Miner. New York: Frederick H. Hitchcock, The Grafton Press, 1927.
KREHBIEL, H. E., Afro-American Folk Songs. New York: G. Schirmer, 1914.
Pioneer work by distinguished critic of music.
LARKIN, M., AND BLACK, H., Singing Cowboy. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1931.
Simple accompaniments.
LOMAX, JOHN A., Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1910.
Revised with additions, 1916; several reprints.
LOMAX, JOHN A., Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1919.
LUCE, ALLENA, Canciones Populares. New York: Silver, Burdett & Co., 1921.
Contains many songs and children’s games from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Mexico.
LUMMIS, C. F., The Land of Poco Tiempo. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1906.
MCGILL, J., Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains. New York and London: Boosey & Co., 1917.
MACKENZIE, W. R., Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1928.
MACKENZIE, W. R., The Quest of the Ballad. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1919.
MATTFELD, J., The Folk-Music of the Western Hemisphere: A List of References in the New York Public Library. New York Public Library, 1925.
Out of print; important.
METFESSEL, M. F., Phonophotography in Folk Music. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1929.
MICHELSON, THOMAS, Important series of studies of Indian rituals, published in bulletins of the Bureau of American Ethnology, including: No. 87, Notes on the Buffalo-Head Dance of the Thunder Gens of the Fox Indians (1928); No. 89, Observations on the Thunder Dance of the Bear Gens of the Fox Indians (1929); No. 95, Contributions to Fox Ethnology [Buffalo Dance and Great Sacred Pack] (1930); No. 105, Notes on the Fox Wâpanōwiweni (1932). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.
MONROE, MINA, AND SCHINDLER, K., Bayou Ballads, Twelve Folk-Songs from Louisiana. New York: G. Schirmer, 1921.
NEWELL, W. W., Games and Songs of American Children. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1883.
Out of print; still the standard work.
NILES, J. J., Singing Soldiers. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1927.
ODUM, H. W., Rainbow Round My Shoulder. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1928.
ODUM, H. W., AND JOHNSON, G. B., The Negro and His Songs. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1925.
ODUM, H. W., AND JOHNSON, G. B., Negro Workaday Songs. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1926. Important.
PASKMAN, D., AND SPAETH, S., Gentlemen, Be Seated. New York: Double-day, Doran & Co., 1928.
Minstrel shows and minstrels.
PETERSON, C. G., Creole Songs from New Orleans in the Negro Dialect. New Orleans: L. Gruenewald and Co., 1902. Revised, 1909.
POUND, LOUISE, American Ballads and Songs. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1922.
Songs of whites only. Admirable introduction and notes.
Publications of the Texas Folk-Lore Society, 1916–
First volume out of print. Admirably written to entertain as well as to inform; contributions from such important collectors as the present editor, J. Frank Dobie. Volume X, for 1932, entitled Tone the Bell Easy, is a good example of the great interest of the series.
RANDOLPH, VANCE, Ozark Mountain Folks. New York: Vanguard Press, 1932.
RANDOLPH, VANCE, The Ozarks. New York: Vanguard Press, 1931.
RICHARDSON, E. P., AND SPAETH, S., American Mountain Songs. New York: Greenberg, Publisher, 1927.
Simple accompaniments.
RICKABY, FRANZ, Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1926.
SANDBURG, CARL, The American Songbag. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1927. Two editions—the second much lower in price than the first.
Words and music, with delightful comments; a very important book, avowedly borrowing from Messrs. Gordon, Lomax, and other leading collectors. Some of the musical settings are much too elaborate and “modern.”
SARGENT, H. C., AND KITTREDGE, G. L., English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1904.
Edited from the great Child Collection. Indispensable for an appreciation of ballads; very important Introduction by Professor Kittredge.
SCARBOROUGH, DOROTHY, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1925.
SHARP, C. J., American-English Folk Songs. New York: G. Schirmer, 1918.
SHARP, C. J., Nursery Songs from the Appalachian Mountains. London and New York: Novello & Co., 1921–1923.
SHARP, C. J., AND CAMPBELL, O., English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1917.
The enlarged edition of this work published in two volumes by the Oxford University Press in 1932 is the most important of the contributions to the subject of American folk-song made by the greatest English collector. The editor of the new edition is M. Karpeles.
SHAY, FRANK, Iron Men and Wooden Ships. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1925.
Sailor songs and chanteys.
SHAY, FRANK, My Pious Friends and Drunken Companions. New York Macaulay Co., 1927.
Songs and ballads of conviviality.
SHAY, FRANK, More Pious Friends and Drunken Companions. New York: Macaulay Co., 1928.
SHERWIN, S., KATZMAN, L., AND MOORE, B., Songs of the Gold Miners. New York: Carl Fischer & Son, 1932.
SHOEMAKER, H. W., Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: McGirr, 1931.
SIRES, INA, AND REPPER, C., Songs of the Open Range. Boston: C. C. Birchard Co., 1928.
SMITH, N. C., New Plantation Melodies as Sung by the Tuskegee Students. Tuskegee, Ala.: Tuskegee Press, 1909.
SMITH, REED, South Carolina Ballads. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1928.
Important collection of South Carolina Folklore Society; lucid and interesting discussions by the editor, forming an excellent introduction to the whole subject of the American ballad.
SMYTHE, A. T., AND OTHERS, The Carolina Low-Country. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1932.
Handsome and important volume containing forty-nine Negro songs and several valuable essays, including R. W. Gordon’s chapter on “The Negro Spiritual.”
SPAETH, S. G., Read ’Em and Weep. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1927.
SPAETH, S. G., The Songs You Forgot to Remember. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1927.
SPAETH, S. G., Weep Some More, My Lady. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1927.
SPECK, F. G., Ceremonial Songs of the Creek and Yuchi Indians. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum, Anthropological Publications, Vol. I, Number II, 1911.
STURGIS, E. B., AND HUGHES, R., Songs from the Hills of Vermont. New York: G. Schirmer, 1919.
Texts important; accompaniments too elaborate.
TALLEY, T. W., Negro Folk Rhymes. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1922.
Some of these rhymes are probably of white origin.
TERRY, R. R., The Shanty Book. 2 parts. London: J. Curwen & Sons (Germantown, Philadelphia: Curwen, Inc.), 1921, 1926.
Inasmuch as chanteys are usually common property of British and American sailors, the best of English collections, arranged for solo voice with pianoforte accompaniments, deserves mention.
THOMAS, JEAN, Devil’s Ditties. Chicago: W. Wilbur Hatfield, 1931.
THORPE, N. H., Songs of the Cowboys. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1921.
TURNER, HARRIET, Folk Songs of the American Negro. Boston: Boston Music Co., 1925.
VAN STONE, M. R., Spanish Folk Songs of New Mexico. Chicago: R. F. Seymour, 1926.
WHITE, C. C., Negro Folk Melodies. Philadelphia: Presser, 1927.
WHITE, N. I., American Negro Folk-Songs. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1928.
Important. Extensive bibliography.
WHITEMAN, P., AND MCBRIDE, M. M., Jazz. New York: J. H. Sears and Co., 1926.
WHITNEY, A. W., AND BULLOCK, C. C., Folk-Lore from Maryland. Vol. XVIII of the Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. New York: G. E. Stechert and Co., Agents, 1925.
Contains words of songs.
WOLFORD, L. J., The Play-Party in Indiana: A Collection of Folksongs and Games. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Commission, 1916.
WORK, J. W., Folk Song of the American Negro. Nashville, Tenn.: Fisk University Press, 1915.
WYMAN, LORAINE, AND BROCKWAY, HOWARD, Lonesome Tunes: Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains. New York: H. W. Gray Co., 1916.
Accompaniments elaborate; a volume popular among professional singers, and a pioneer work in arousing interest.
WYMAN, LORAINE, AND BROCKWAY, HOWARD, Twenty Kentucky Mountain Songs. Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1920.