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Category: England

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

The Two First “Folk-Lore” Columns

Posted by: Stephen Winick

This post presents two primary source documents, both in the public domain, which are difficult to find online. Both relate to my previous post on William John Thoms. They are the first two columns in Thoms’ series “Folk-Lore,” which ran in the journal The Athenæum from 1846 to 1849, and in Notes & Queries from …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

“He Coined the Word ‘Folk-Lore'”: The “Old Folk-Lorist” William John Thoms

Posted by: Stephen Winick

August 22 is an important date to folklore fans.  It is, in fact, the anniversary of the first appearance of the (originally hyphenated) word “Folk-Lore” in print. The medium was a letter to the editor of the Athenæum, a scholarly journal, and the author was William John Thoms, although he wrote the letter under his …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Turkey in the Straw

Posted by: Stephen Winick

It’s not often a fiddle tune becomes controversial, but that’s happening this week, thanks to a blog post by Theodore R. Johnson, III over at National Public Radio. Johnson discusses a well-known tune, with many versions in Library of Congress collections, and raises interesting and important issues, so I thought we might feature the piece …