Leonard W. Roberts (January 28, 1912 - April 29, 1983) was an early

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 ...

, professor, and publisher. Roberts was born in

Floyd County, Kentucky Floyd County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,942. Its county seat is Prestonsburg. The county, founded in 1800, is named for Colonel John Floyd (1750–1783). History On Decembe ...

to Lewis Jackson and Rhoda Jane (Osborn) Roberts. He graduated from Berea College before studying creative writing at the University of Iowa. Roberts then attended the University of Kentucky, where he earned a

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in English. While at the University of Kentucky, he began collecting folktales from his students and their families. Roberts later studied folklore at Indiana University before accepting a position as professor at

Pikeville College The University of Pikeville (UPIKE) is a private university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Pikeville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1889 by the Presbyterian Church and is located on a campus on a hillside overlookin ...

. While at Pikeville College, he founded a press which published the literary journal ''Twigs'' (which later became ''Cumberlands''), as well as numerous books of poetry and regional history. In his career, Roberts also taught at the Berea Foundation School, Morehead State University, Union College (Kentucky), and West Virginia Wesleyan College. Roberts was killed in a traffic accident and is buried in

Ivel, Kentucky Ivel is an unincorporated community and coal town in Floyd County, Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. I ...

Publications

* ''I Bought Me a Dog and Other Folktales from the Southern Mountains'' (Berea, KY: Council of the Southern Mountains), 1954. eprinted in 1959 and 1972* ''South from Hell-fer-Sartin'' (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press), 1955. eprinted in 1987, * ''Nippy and the Yankee Doodle and More Folk Tales from the Southern Mountains'' (Berea, KY: Council of the Southern Mountains), 1958. eprinted in 1963* ''Up Cutshin and Down Greasy: Folkways of a Kentucky Family'' (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press), 1959. eprinted in 1988, * ''Old Greasybeard: Tales from the Cumberland Gap'' (Pikeville, KY: Pikeville College Press), 1969. eprinted in 1980* ''The McCoys: Their Story'' (Pikeville, KY: Preservation Council Press), 1976. * ''In the Pine: Selected Kentucky Folksongs'' (Pikeville, KY: Pikeville College Press), 1978. * ''The Couches Tales and Songs'' reprinted later as ''Sang Branch Settlers'' (Pikeville, KY: Pikeville College Press), 1980.

References

* "Leonard W. Roberts" in ''The Kentucky Encyclopedia'' (Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky), 1992. * Jones, Loyal. 2017. ''My Curious and Jocular Heroes: Tales and Tale-Spinners from Appalachia.'' Urbana: University of Illinois Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Leonard W. 1912 births People from Floyd County, Kentucky Berea College alumni University of Kentucky alumni American folklorists 1983 deaths University of Pikeville faculty