Ballads and Folksongs

This series documents the ballad and folksong collection efforts of Hindman Settlement School. Specifically, the article by Raymond McLain entitled “Folk Music at Hindman” describes the school’s role in ballad collecting and discusses the origin of some of the ballads. The record does not, however, indicate which or how many of these songs were collected from the Hindman area, and which were learned from staff, visitors to the school, or other ballad collections. Some of the ballads and folksongs are part of Josephine McGill’s Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains. McGill’s collecting efforts in the Hindman area were done under the auspices of the school. Furthermore, Cecil Sharp’s English Folksongs from the Southern Appalachians includes works which are also found in the Hindman Collection.



In addition, this series includes international folksongs and religious songs. Most likely this music was brought into the area by school staff or visitors. The “Song Notebook,” n.d. consists of forty-one ballads, folksongs, and religious songs. The songs are marked with various unidentified abbreviated notations. While the meaning of the abbreviations is unknown, two of them (CS) and (JMC) probably refer to Cecil Sharp and Josephine McGill. Lastly, an index of songs completes the ballad and folksong collection. Although not comprehensive, it does indicate the type of music collected and/or sung at Hindman.



This series is arranged by song type and then alphabetically within that arrangement. Frequently, the title of a well-known ballad from a published source differs from the title given by the settlement school collector or transcriber. In an effort to improve access to the ballad collection, the published title has been penciled in and the song then filed under that title (for example Hindman’s “Little Sparrow” is filed under the familiar, “Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies).