Box 1

This series contains Combs’ ballad collection. Occasionally Combs provides the name of an individual with the text of a ballad, but not the geographical region from which it came. Some, but not all, of these names provided by Combs can be found in the Historical Register of Berea College for 1916. At least one name also appears in the Raine collection list of student informants. The use of the names and their inclusion in the register and list suggest that most of the traditional ballads were collected while Combs was a student. Combs’ notes on the history of those ballads was probably based on the work of Raine and others.