Ellen Stekert (b. 1935) is an American academic, folklorist and musician.
Stekert is a Professor Emerita of English at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
and a former president of the
American Folklore Society.
Early life and education
Stekert was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1935 and grew up in
Great Neck
Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincor ...
on
Long Island.
She survived
polio
Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
as a child.
Stekert began performing
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
in high school and has recorded several albums.
Stekert attended
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
, where she took classes taught by the folklorist
Harold Thompson, who she also assisted in teaching.
As her interest in folklore grew, Stekert began doing fieldwork, collecting folksongs from traditional singers in upstate New York.
The songs Stekert collected from Ezra "Fuzzy" Barhight, a retired lumberjack from
Cohocton, New York, she recorded and released as ''Songs of a New York Lumberjack'' in 1958.
After graduating in philosophy at Cornell, Stekert began a Masters degree in folklore 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 Universi ...
. There she continued her fieldwork, collecting folk songs in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. On completion of her M.A., Stekert began research for a Ph.D. in folklore at Indiana. She completed her doctorate at the
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia due to the attitude towards her work of her supervisor at Indiana,
Richard 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. ...
.
Stekert completed her Ph.D. in 1965.
Career
Stekert's first teaching position was at
Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
in Detroit. There, Stekert built upon the pioneering work of
Thelma G. James in the collection of urban folklore traditions.
From there, she moved to the University of Minnesota where she was based for the rest of her academic career.
Recognition
Stekert served as president of the
American Folklore Society for the year 1977.
She was also appointed Minnesota's state folklorist.
Selected publications
Books
* Américo Paredes and Ellen Jane Stekert (eds.) ''The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition''. Published for the
American Folklore Society by the
University of Texas Press
The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books and journals in several areas, including Latin American studies, Texan ...
(1971)
Articles
* Ellen Stekert, "Fairy Palace". ''
Western Folklore
''Western Folklore'' is a quarterly academic journal for the study of folklore published by the Western States Folklore Society (formerly the California Folklore Society). It was established in 1942 as the ''California Folklore Quarterly'' and ob ...
'' (1959)
* Ellen Stekert, "The Hidden Informant." ''
Midwest Folklore
The ''Journal of Folklore Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on folklore, folklife, and ethnomusicology. It was established in 1942 and is publishe ...
'' (1963)
* Ellen Stekert. “The Snake-Handling Sect of Harlan County, Kentucky: Its Influence on Folk Tradition.” ''Southern Folklore Quarterly'' (1963)
* Ellen Stekert, "Four Pennsylvania Songs Learned Before 1900, From the Repertoire of Ezra V. Barhight" in ''Two Penny Ballads and Four Dollar Whiskey: A Pennsylvania Folklore Miscellany'', ed. Robert H. Byington and Kenneth S. Goldstein (1966)
* Ellen J. Stekert, "Foreword: The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition." ''
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' ...
'' (1970)
* Ellen J. Stekert, "Focus for Conflict: Southern Mountain Medical Beliefs in Detroit". ''
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' ...
'' (1970)
*Richard M. Dorson, Ronald L. Baker, Robert H. Byington, George Carey, Robert A. Georges, Thomas A. Green, Ellen J. Stekert, Robert T. Teske, "The Academic Future of Folklore". ''
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' ...
'' (1972)
* Ellen J. Stekert, "The False Issue of Folklore vs. 'Fakelore': Was Paul Bunyan a Hoax?" ''Journal of Forest History'' (1986)
* Mary Jane Hennigar, Daniel Hoffman, and Ellen J. Stekert. “The First Paul Bunyan Story in Print
ith Commentary” ''Journal of Forest History'' (1986)
* Ellen J. Stekert, "Autobiography of a Woman Folklorist". ''
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' ...
'' (1987)
*Ellen J. Stekert and Luz María Umpierre, "Deviance and Power: Malleable Realities in Manuel Puig‘s Use of Folklore and Cinematic Sources in ''
Kiss of the Spider Woman''." ''
Cincinnati Romance Review'' (1992)
*Ellen Stekert, "Folk Song and Folk Music" in ''Encyclopedia of American Social History'' (Scribner, 1993)
* Ellen J. Stekert, "Cents and Nonsense in the Urban Folksong Movement: 1930–1966" in ''Transforming Tradition'', ed. Neil V. Rosenberg (1993)
Selected discography
As primary artist
*Ellen Stekert, ''Ozark Mountain Folk Songs Volume One'' (
Stinson Records
Stinson Records was an American record label formed by Herbert Harris and Irving Prosky in 1939, initially to market, in the US, recordings made in the Soviet Union. Between the 1940s and 1960s, it mainly issued recordings of American folk and bl ...
, c. 1955)
*Ellen Stekert, ''Ballads Of Careless Love'' (Cornell Recording Society, 1956)
*
Milton Okun
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Fre ...
and Ellen Stekert, ''Traditional American Love Songs'' (
Riverside Records
Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riverside ...
, 1957)
*Ellen Stekert, ''Songs Of A New York Lumberjack'' (
Folkways Records, 1958)
Compilations and other appearances
*Various Artists, ''Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 1: Songs For Cubs'' (
Riverside Records
Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riverside ...
, c. 1957): Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, "Paper of Pins/Jenny Jenkins"
*Various Artists, ''Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 2: Songs For Juniors'' (
Riverside Records
Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riverside ...
, c. 1957): Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, "River Brazos/Shule Aroon"
*Various Artists, ''Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 3: Songs For Seniors'' (
Riverside Records
Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riverside ...
, c. 1957): Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, "Must I Go Bound; The Cambric Shirt"
*Various Artists, ''Our Singing Heritage Volume I'' (Elektra, 1958): "The House Carpenter" and "Froggie went A-Courting"
*Various Artists, ''Songs Of The Civil War'' (Folkways Records, 1963): "The Cumberland And The Merrimac" and "Pat Murphy Of The Irish Brigade"
*
Sarah Ogan Gunning
Sarah Ogan Gunning (June 28, 1910 – November 14, 1983) was an American singer and songwriter from the coal mining country of eastern Kentucky, as were her older half-sister Aunt Molly Jackson and her brother Jim Garland. Although she made an ...
, ''Girl Of Constant Sorrow'' (
Folk-Legacy Records, 1965)
*Various Artists, ''O Love Is Teasin' (Anglo-American Mountain Balladry)'' (
Elektra, 1984): "Froggie went A-Courting"
*Various Artists, ''The Riverside Folklore Series Volume Three: Singing the New Traditions: Songs, Singers, and Instrumentalists of the Folk Revival'' (Riverside Records, 1996): Milt Okun and Ellen Stekert, "The Cambric Shirt (Child #2)", "Must I Go Bound", "The Brazos River", "Trouble"
*Various Artists, ''Constant Sorrow (Gems From The Elektra Vaults)'' (One Day Music, 2014): "Froggie went A-Courting"
*Various Artists, ''Classic English And Scottish Ballads From Smithsonian Folkways'' (
Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fo ...
, 2017): "The Two Sisters (Child No. 10)"
References
External links
Folklorist Ellen Stekert Performs and Shares Stories from Folklore AMPERS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stekert, Ellen
Living people
University of Minnesota faculty
1935 births
People from Great Neck, New York
Educators from Minneapolis
Musicians from Minneapolis
Cornell University alumni
American folk-song collectors
American folk musicians
Presidents of the American Folklore Society
Polio survivors
20th-century American musicians
20th-century American women musicians
20th-century American educators
20th-century American academics
20th-century American women educators
Scholars and academics with disabilities
American musicians with disabilities