The American Folklore Society (AFS) is the US-based

professional association A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that professio ...

for

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

s, with members from the US,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, 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 Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, etc. The Society is based at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

and has an annual meeting every October. The Society's quarterly publication is the ''

Journal of American Folklore The ''Journal of American Folklore'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Folklore Society. Since 2003, this has been done on its behalf by the University of Illinois Press. The journal has been published since the society' ...

''. The current president is Marilyn White. As of 2016, almost half of its 2,200 members practice their work outside

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

. In addition to professors, members include public folklorists,

arts administrator The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both h ...

s, freelance researchers,

librarians A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

s, and others involved in the study and promotion of

and traditional culture.

History

AFS was founded in 1888 by William Wells Newell, who stood at the center of a diverse group of university-based scholars, museum anthropologists, and men and women of letters and affairs. In 1945, the society became a member of the American Council of Learned Societies. AFS is also an active member of the National Humanities Alliance (NHS). Over the years, prominent members of the American Folklore Society known outside academic circles have included

Marius Barbeau Charles Marius Barbeau, (March 5, 1883 – February 27, 1969), also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology. A ...

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...

Ben Botkin Benjamin Albert Botkin (February 7, 1901 – July 30, 1975) was an American folklorist and scholar. Early life Botkin was born on February 7, 1901, in East Boston, Massachusetts, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. He attended the English High Scho ...

Jan Harold Brunvand Jan Harold Brunvand (born March 23, 1933) is a retired American folklorist, researcher, writer, public speaker, and professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah. Brunvand is best known for popularizing the concept of the urban legend, ...

Linda Dégh Linda Dégh (18 March 1918 – 19 August 2014) was a folklorist and professor of Folklore & Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, USA. Dégh was born in Budapest, Hungary and is well known as a folklorist for her work with legends, identity, and ...

Ella Deloria Ella Cara Deloria (January 31, 1889 – February 12, 1971), also called ''Aŋpétu Wašté Wiŋ'' (Beautiful Day Woman), was a Yankton Dakota (Sioux) educator, anthropologist, ethnographer, linguist, and novelist. She recorded Native American ...

, William Ferris,

John Miles Foley John Miles Foley (January 22, 1947 – May 3, 2012) was a scholar of comparative oral tradition, particularly medieval and Old English literature, Homer and Serbian epic. He was the founder of the academic journal ''Oral Tradition'' and the Cen ...

Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a planta ...

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

, James P. Leary, Alan Lomax,

John A. Lomax John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) 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 ...

, Kay Turner, and

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

. Past presidents have included

Samuel Preston Bayard Samuel Preston Bayard (April 10, 1908, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – January 10, 1997, in State College, Pennsylvania) was an American folklorist and musicologist. He received a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University in 1934 and ...

Henry Glassie Henry Glassie (born 24 March 1941) College Professor Emeritus at Indiana University Bloomington, has done fieldwork on five continents and written books on the full range of folkloristic interest, from drama, song, and story to craft, art, and archi ...

, Diane Goldstein, Dorothy Noyes, and Dell Hymes.

Past Presidents

* 1888–89

Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) 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 ...

* 1890

Daniel Garrison Brinton Daniel Garrison Brinton (May 13, 1837July 31, 1899) was an American surgeon, historian, archaeologist and ethnologist. Biography Brinton was born in Thornbury Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Yale University in 185 ...

* 1891 Otis T. Mason * 1892

Frederic Ward Putnam Frederic Ward Putnam (April 16, 1839 – August 14, 1915) was an American anthropologist and biologist. Biography Putnam was born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts, the son of Ebenezer (1797–1876) and Elizabeth (Appleton) Putnam. After leavin ...

* 1893

Horatio Hale Horatio Emmons Hale (May 3, 1817 – December 28, 1896) was an American-Canadian ethnologist, philologist and businessman. He is known for his study of languages as a key for classifying ancient peoples and being able to trace their migrations. ...

* 1894

Alcée Fortier Alcée Fortier (June 5, 1856 – February 14, 1914) was a renowned Professor of Romance Languages at Tulane University in New Orleans. In the late 19th and early 20th century, he published numerous works on language, literature, Louisiana histor ...

* 1895

Washington Matthews Washington Matthews (June 17, 1843 – March 2, 1905) was a surgeon in the United States Army, ethnographer, and linguist known for his studies of Native American peoples, especially the Navajo. Early life and education Matthews was born in Ki ...

* 1896 John G. Bourke * 1897

Stewart Culin Stewart Culin (July 13, 1858 – April 8, 1929) was an American ethnographer and author interested in games, art and dress. Culin played a major role in the development of ethnography, first concentrating his efforts on studying the Asian-Amer ...

* 1898

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

* 1899 Charles L. Edwards * 1900

* 1901 Frank Russell * 1902 George Dorsey * 1903

Livingston Farrand Livingston Farrand (June 14, 1867 – November 8, 1939) was an American physician, anthropologist, psychologist, public health advocate and academic administrator. Early life and education Born in Newark, New Jersey, to Dr. Samuel Ashbel Far ...

* 1904

George Lyman Kittredge George Lyman Kittredge (February 28, 1860 – July 23, 1941) was a professor of English literature at Harvard University. His scholarly edition of the works of William Shakespeare was influential in the early 20th century. He was also involved i ...

* 1905 Alice C. Fletcher * 1906

Alfred L. Kroeber Alfred Louis Kroeber (June 11, 1876 – October 5, 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the first ...

* 1907–8 Roland B. Dixon * 1909

John R. Swanton John Reed Swanton (February 19, 1873 – May 2, 1958) was an American anthropologist, folklorist, and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and et ...

* 1910–11 Henry M. Belden * 1912–13

* 1914–15

Pliny Earle Goddard Pliny Earle Goddard (November 24, 1869 – July 12, 1928) was an American linguist and ethnologist noted for his extensive documentation of the languages and cultures of the Athabaskan peoples of western North America. His early research, carr ...

* 1916–17 Robert H. Lowie * 1918 C. Marius Barbeau * 1919–20

Elsie Clews Parsons Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons (November 27, 1875 – December 19, 1941) was an American anthropologist, sociologist, folklorist, and feminist who studied Native American tribes—such as the Tewa and Hopi—in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mex ...

* 1921–22

Frank G. Speck Frank Gouldsmith Speck (November 8, 1881 – February 6, 1950) was an American anthropologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in the Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples among the Eastern Woodland Native Americans of ...

* 1923–24

Aurelio M. Espinosa Aurelio may refer to: People Politicians * Aurelio D. Gonzales Jr. (born 1964), congressman in the Philippines *Aurélio de Lira Tavares (1905–1998), President of Brazil *Aurelio Martínez, Honduran politician *Aurelio Mosquera (1883–1939), Pr ...

* 1925–26

Louise Pound Louise Pound (June 30, 1872 – June 28, 1958) was an American folklorist, linguist, and college professor at the University of Nebraska. In 1955, Pound was the first woman elected president of the Modern Language Association, and in the same y ...

* 1927–28 Alfred M. Tozzer * 1929–30

Edward Sapir Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States. Sap ...

* 1931

* 1932–33 Martha W. Beckwith * 1934

* 1935–36

Archer Taylor Archer Taylor (August 1, 1890September 30, 1973) was one of America's "foremost specialists in American and European folklore","Archer Taylor, UC professor", ''The San Francisco Examiner'', 2 October 1973, p. 49. with a special interest in cultur ...

* 1937–39

Stith Thompson Stith Thompson (March 7, 1885 – January 10, 1976) was an American folklorist: he has been described as "America's most important folklorist". He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which indexes folktales by type, and the ...

* 1940–41 A. Irving Hallowell * 1942 Harold W. Thompson * 1944

Benjamin A. Botkin Benjamin Albert Botkin (February 7, 1901 – July 30, 1975) was an American folklorist and scholar. Early life Botkin was born on February 7, 1901, in East Boston, Massachusetts, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. He attended the English High Schoo ...

* 1945 Melville J. Herskovits * 1946–47 Joseph M. Carrière * 1948

Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin (April 2, 1903 – July 10, 1988) was an award-winning anthropologist, folklorist, and ethnohistorian. Her research and directorship of the Great Lakes-Ohio Valley Research Project at Indiana University has been used ...

* 1949 Thelma G. James * 1950 Ann H. Gayton * 1951–52 Francis Lee Utley * 1953–54 William R. Bascom * 1955–56

Herbert Halpert Herbert Halpert (August 23, 1911 – December 29, 2000) was an American anthropologist and folklorist, specialised in the collection and study of both folk song and narrative. Biography Herbert Norman Halpert's interest in folklore emer ...

* 1957–58

Wayland D. Hand Wayland Debs Hand (March 19, 1907, Auckland, New Zealand – October 22, 1986, Moon Township, Pennsylvania, United States) was an American folklorist. Biography Hand was born in New Zealand, where his parents had emigrated. A few years after hi ...

* 1959–60 William N. Fenton * 1961–62 MacEdward Leach * 1963–64

Melville Jacobs Melville Jacobs (July 3, 1902 – July 31, 1971) was an American anthropologist known for his extensive fieldwork on cultures of the Pacific Northwest. He was born in New York City. After studying with Franz Boas he became a member of the faculty ...

* 1965–66 Samuel P. Bayard * 1967–68

Richard M. Dorson Richard Mercer Dorson (March 12, 1916 – September 11, 1981) was an American folklorist, professor, and director of the Folklore Institute at Indiana University. Dorson has been called the "father of American folklore"Nichols, Amber M.Richard M. ...

* 1969–70 Daniel J. Crowley * 1971–72 D.K. Wilgus * 1973–74 Dell Hymes * 1975–76 Kenneth S. Goldstein * 1977

Ellen Stekert Ellen Stekert (b. 1935) is an American academic, folklorist and musician. Stekert is a Professor Emerita of English at the University of Minnesota and a former president of the American Folklore Society. Early life and education Stekert was bo ...

* 1978 J. Barre Toelken * 1979

Roger D. Abrahams Roger David Abrahams (June 12, 1933 – June 20, 2017) was an American folklorist whose work focused on the expressive cultures and cultural histories of the Americas, with a specific emphasis on African American peoples and traditions. Abrahams ...

* 1980 Alan Dundes * 1981

Don Yoder Don Yoder (August 27, 1921– August 11, 2015) was an American folklorist specializing in the study of Pennsylvania Dutch, Quaker, and Amish and other Anabaptist folklife in Pennsylvania who wrote at least 15 books on these subjects. A professor em ...

* 1982

* 1983 W.F.H. Nicolaisen * 1984 Bruce Jackson * 1985

* 1986

Rayna Green Rayna Diane Green (born 1942) is an American curator and folklorist. She is Curator Emerita, in the Division of Cultural and Community Life at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Her research expertise is on American ...

* 1987

Judith McCulloh Judith McCulloh (August 16, 1935 – July 13, 2014) was an American folklorist, ethnomusicologist, and university press editor. Early life and education McCulloh was born in Spring Valley, Illinois, on August 16, 1935 to Henry and Edna Bink ...

* 1988

Alan Jabbour Alan Jabbour (June 21, 1942 – January 13, 2017) was an American musician and folklorist, and the founding director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Life and career Jabbour was born in Jacksonville, Florida. His gra ...

* 1989–90

* 1991–92

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (born September 30, 1942, in Toronto, Ontario) is a scholar of Performance and Jewish Studies and a museum professional. Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New York University, she is best known for her int ...

* 1993–94 Sylvia Grider * 1995–96 Jane Beck * 1997–98

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including ''Nati ...

* 1999-2000 Jo Radner * 2001 Peggy A. Bulger * 2002-2003

Jack Santino Jack (John Francis) Santino, Ph.D. is an academic folklorist. His work He is a Professor of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University and is Director of the Bowling Green Center for Culture Studies. His work has primarily focused on ritu ...

* 2004-2005 Michael Owen Jones * 2006-2007

Bill Ivey Bill Ivey is an American folklorist and author. He was the seventh chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and is a past chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Early life Billy Ivey was born in Detroit, Michi ...

* 2008–2009 Elaine Lawless * 2010-2011 C. Kurt Dewhurst * 2012–2013 Diane Goldstein * 2014-2015 Michael Ann Williams * 2016-2017 Kay Turner * 2018-2019 Dorothy Noyes * 2020-2021 Norma Cantú

Awards

AFS awards various prizes to honor outstanding work in the field of folklore, at the opening ceremony of the annual AFS meeting. These include the following: * The

Prize is awarded annually and honors the best student work in the field of African American folklore. * The Américo Paredes Prize is awarded annually and honors excellence in integrating scholarship and engagement with local communities. * The

Prize is awarded annually to honor outstanding achievements by folklorists working in the field of

public folklore Public folklore is the term for the work done by folklorists in public settings in the United States and Canada outside of universities and colleges, such as arts councils, museums, folklife festivals, radio stations, etc., as opposed to academic ...

. * The Chicago Folklore Prize is awarded annually and honors author(s) for the best scholarly monograph in folklore. Other prizes are awarded annually, by different sections of the American Folklore Society. * The ''Women's Section'', inaugurated in 1983, awards two prizes in the memory of

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

Elli Köngäs-Maranda Elli-Kaija Köngäs-Maranda (11 January 1932, Tervola, Finland – 1 November 1982, Québec City, Canada) was an internationally renowned anthropologist and feminist folklorist. She studied Finnish language and folklore at the University of Helsink ...

. * The ''Children's Folklore Section'' awards the annual Prize, for the best student essay. It also awards the

Iona and Peter Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...

Prize approximately every two years to the author of the best recently published scholarly book on children's folklore and annually awards the

Aesop Prize and Aesop Accolades The Aesop Prize and Aesop Accolades are conferred annually by the Children’s Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society upon English language books for children and young adults, both fiction and nonfiction. About the Prize The Prize and t ...

. * The ''History and Folklore Section'' awards the biennial Wayland D. Hand Prize for an outstanding book that combines historical and folkloristic perspectives and the Richard Reuss Prize for students of folklore and history. Every other year (in alternating years), AFS awards the following prizes: * The American Folklore Society Lifetime Scholarly Achievement Award (even-numbered years) honors folklorists for outstanding accomplishments over a career of scholarship. * The Kenneth Goldstein Award for Lifetime Academic Leadership (odd-numbered years) honors those who have made contributions to supporting academic programs in folklore for outstanding achievement."AFS Prizes"
Retrieved May 25, 2013.

References

External links

* at americanfolkloresociety.org * {{Authority control Organizations established in 1888 American folklore Folklore studies Non-profit organizations based in Indiana Historical societies of the United States Professional associations based in the United States Member organizations of the American Council of Learned Societies Learned societies of the United States 1888 establishments in the United States

History

Past Presidents

Awards

See also

References

External links