Tag: West Virginia Folklore Journal

September 17, 1897: Folklorist Ruth Ann Musick Born in Missouri

Folklorist Ruth Ann Musick was born in Missouri on September 17, 1897. She earned a Ph.D. in English from the State University of Iowa, where she developed a lifelong interest in folklore. She first came to West Virginia in 1946 to teach mathematics and English at Fairmont State College, which is now Fairmont State University. Musick quickly made a big impact on the Mountain State by starting a folk literature class at Fairmont State and helping to revive the West Virginia Folklore Society. And in 1951, she founded the West Virginia Folklore Journal. She retired from both the journal and Fairmont State in 1967.

Musick was West Virginia’s folklore ambassador through education, public speaking, radio, and television. She published four major collections of folklore, including The Telltale Lilac Bush and Coffin Hollow, and wrote two popular folklore columns for West Virginia newspapers, ‘‘The Old Folks Say’’ and ‘‘Sassafras Tea.’’

Ruth Ann Musick died in Fairmont in 1974 at age 76. Her papers are now archived in the West Virginia Folklife Center at Fairmont State. In 1980, the university library was renamed in her honor.

July 15, 1915: West Virginia Folklore Society Founded in Morgantown

The West Virginia Folklore Society was founded in Morgantown on July 15, 1915, by John Harrington Cox and Robert Allen Armstrong of West Virginia University and Walter Barnes of Fairmont State.

One of the earliest state folklore societies in the nation, it remained active for only two years. However, during this time, the society collected traditional ballads and songs that were later published in Cox’s classic book Folk-Songs of the South.

In 1950, Barnes, along with Patrick Gainer of WVU and Ruth Ann Musick of Fairmont State, revived the folklore society. Barnes pushed to create the society’s official publication, West Virginia Folklore, which Musick edited until 1967. Gainer directed the group’s participation in the 1963 West Virginia Centennial, including publication of a songbook.

The society operated intermittently in later years. West Virginia Folklore continued to be published annually at Fairmont State until 1980. In 1993, the journal was reissued under a new format and title, Traditions: A Journal of West Virginia Folk Culture and Educational Awareness. In 1998, the folklore society evolved into the West Virginia Folklife Center at Fairmont State University, which houses the society’s archives.

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