Josiah Combs Collection

Born in Hazard, Kentucky, Josiah H. Combs (1886-1960) grew up in Hindman where he learned many folksongs from family members, especially his mother. In 1902 he entered the newly established Hindman Settlement School, where his songs came to the attention of school director, Katherine Pettit (who sent the words of several of these songs to folk music scholar George Lyman Kittredge who arranged for their publication in the Journal of American Folklore.) After being Hindman’s first graduate (1905), Combs went on to attend Transylvania University. There he began a fruitful scholarly collaboration and friendship with Dr. Hubert G. Shearin. In 1911 the two published A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk Songs, which included over 333 titles from eastern and central Kentucky. Its positive reception by scholars and the general public led to the 1915 sequel, Twenty Mountain Songs. Combs’ other published works include The Kentucky Highlanders (1912), All That’s Kentucky (1915), and Folk Songs of the Kentucky Highlands (1939). From 1911 to 1918, Combs taught in high schools and colleges in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. He also presented many public lectures and song recitals, accompanying himself on the dulcimer. After World War I Army service, he taught English and Spanish at West Virginia University (1922-24). During this time he continued his lecture / recital activity and commenced working toward his doctorate at the Sorbonne (University of Paris). In 1925, Combs successfully defended his thesis, Folk Songs du Midi des Etats-Unis (Folk-songs of the Southern United States) in which he explored the origins of Appalachian songs and ballads as revealed in the language, names, and customs of the people he collected them from. After 1925 Combs continued to be active in folksong scholarship; however, his scholarly energies were mostly devoted to the study of the American language. Much of his work in this area remains in manuscript including, the monograph, The Language of the Southern Highlanders. Combs’ academic career included professorships at the University of Oklahoma (1926-27), Texas Christian University (1927-1947), and Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia, where he retired in 1956.