Ellen Stekert

Ellen Stekert (b. 1935) is an American academic, folklorist and musician.[1][2][3][4] Stekert is a Professor Emerita of English at the University of Minnesota and a former president of the American Folklore Society.[5]

Early life and education

Stekert was born in New York City in 1935 and grew up in Great Neck on Long Island.[6] She survived polio as a child.[2] Stekert began performing folk music in high school and has recorded several albums.[1][7][8][9]

Stekert attended Cornell University, where she took classes taught by the folklorist Harold Thompson, who she also assisted in teaching.[10] As her interest in folklore grew, Stekert began doing fieldwork, collecting folksongs from traditional singers in upstate New York.[1] 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.[11]

After graduating in philosophy at Cornell, Stekert began a Masters degree in folklore at Indiana University.[12] 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.[10] Stekert completed her Ph.D. in 1965.[10]

Career

Stekert's first teaching position was at Wayne State University in Detroit. There, Stekert built upon the pioneering work of Thelma G. James in the collection of urban folklore traditions.[13]

From there, she moved to the University of Minnesota where she was based for the rest of her academic career.[1]

Recognition

Stekert served as president of the American Folklore Society for the year 1977.[14][15] She was also appointed Minnesota's state folklorist.[1]

Selected publications

Books

Articles
  • Ellen Stekert, "Fairy Palace". Western Folklore (1959)[17]
  • Ellen Stekert, "The Hidden Informant." Midwest Folklore (1963)[18]
  • Ellen Stekert. “The Snake-Handling Sect of Harlan County, Kentucky: Its Influence on Folk Tradition.” Southern Folklore Quarterly (1963)[19]
  • 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)[20]
  • Ellen J. Stekert, "Foreword: The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition." Journal of American Folklore (1970)[21]
  • Ellen J. Stekert, "Focus for Conflict: Southern Mountain Medical Beliefs in Detroit". Journal of American Folklore (1970)[22]
  • 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 (1972)[23]
  • Ellen J. Stekert, "The False Issue of Folklore vs. 'Fakelore': Was Paul Bunyan a Hoax?" Journal of Forest History (1986)[24]
  • Mary Jane Hennigar, Daniel Hoffman, and Ellen J. Stekert. “The First Paul Bunyan Story in Print [with Commentary].” Journal of Forest History (1986)[25]
  • Ellen J. Stekert, "Autobiography of a Woman Folklorist". Journal of American Folklore (1987)[10]
  • 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)[26]
  • Ellen Stekert, "Folk Song and Folk Music" in Encyclopedia of American Social History (Scribner, 1993)[27]
  • Ellen J. Stekert, "Cents and Nonsense in the Urban Folksong Movement: 1930–1966" in Transforming Tradition, ed. Neil V. Rosenberg (1993)[28]

Selected discography

As primary artist

Compilations and other appearances
  • Various Artists, Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 1: Songs For Cubs (Riverside Records, c. 1957): Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, "Paper of Pins/Jenny Jenkins"[33]
  • Various Artists, Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 2: Songs For Juniors (Riverside Records, c. 1957): Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, "River Brazos/Shule Aroon"[34]
  • Various Artists, Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 3: Songs For Seniors (Riverside Records, c. 1957): Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, "Must I Go Bound; The Cambric Shirt"[35]
  • Various Artists, Our Singing Heritage Volume I (Elektra, 1958): "The House Carpenter" and "Froggie went A-Courting"[36]
  • Various Artists, Songs Of The Civil War (Folkways Records, 1963): "The Cumberland And The Merrimac" and "Pat Murphy Of The Irish Brigade"[37]
  • Sarah Ogan Gunning, Girl Of Constant Sorrow (Folk-Legacy Records, 1965)[38]
  • Various Artists, O Love Is Teasin' (Anglo-American Mountain Balladry) (Elektra, 1984): "Froggie went A-Courting"[39]
  • 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"[40]
  • Various Artists, Constant Sorrow (Gems From The Elektra Vaults) (One Day Music, 2014): "Froggie went A-Courting"[41]
  • Various Artists, Classic English And Scottish Ballads From Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways, 2017): "The Two Sisters (Child No. 10)"[42]

References
  1. von Bernewitz, Robert. "Ellen Stekert - Folklorist, Folk Singer and Educator". Musicguy 247. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  2. Poppick, Laura. "Ellen Stekert: Trailblazer". REI. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  3. Aloi, Daniel. "Peter Yarrow '59 leads 'Rompin' good time in Bailey". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  4. "Folklorist Ellen Stekert performs and shares stories from folklore". PRX. WTIP. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  5. "Faculty". University of Minnesota. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  6. "Biography: Ellen Stekert". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  7. "Songs of a New York Lumberjack". Smithsonian. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  8. "Rare Folk - Ellen Stekert "Ballads of Careless Love"". Popsike. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  9. "Ellen Stekert To Give Folksong Concert". The Daily Illini. 7 February 1962. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  10. Stekert, Ellen J. (1987). "Autobiography of a Woman Folklorist". Journal of American Folklore. University of Illinois Press. 100 (398): 579–585. doi:10.2307/540915. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 540915.
  11. "Songs of a New York Lumberjack". folkways.si.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  12. Rosenberg, Neil V. (1 January 2016). "Judith Binkele McCulloh (1935–2014)". Journal of American Folklore. 129 (511): 97–98. doi:10.5406/jamerfolk.129.511.0097. S2CID 163826664.
  13. Stekert, Ellen J. "The Wayne State University Folklore Archive: In Process".
  14. "Past AFS Presidents". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  15. Stekert, Ellen. "Crying Wolf - The Wolf as Symbol in Folklore". Wolf Song of Alaska. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  16. Paredes, Américo; Stekert, Ellen Jane, eds. (1971). The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition. Austin, Texas: Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70122-5. OCLC 209262.
  17. Stekert, Ellen (1959). "Fairy Palace". Western Folklore. JSTOR. 18 (1): 50. doi:10.2307/1496903. ISSN 0043-373X. JSTOR 1496903.
  18. Stekert, Ellen (1963). "The Hidden Informant". Midwest Folklore. Indiana University Press. 13 (1): 21–28. ISSN 0544-0750. JSTOR 4318009.
  19. Stekert, Ellen (December 1963). "The Snake-Handling Sect of Harlan County, Kentucky: Its Influence on Folk Tradition". Southern Folklore Quarterly. 27 (4): 316–321. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  20. Stekert, Ellen (1993-01-01). "Four Pennsylvania Songs Learned Before 1900, From the Repertoire of Ezra V. Barhight". In Byington, Robert H.; Goldstein, Kenneth S. (eds.). Two Penny Ballads and Four Dollar Whiskey: A Pennsylvania Folklore Miscellany. Pennsylvania Folklore Society. p. 15-32.
  21. Stekert, Ellen J. (1970). "Foreword: The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition". Journal of American Folklore. American Folklore Society. 83 (328): iii–iv. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 539099.
  22. Stekert, Ellen J. (1970). "Focus for Conflict: Southern Mountain Medical Beliefs in Detroit". Journal of American Folklore. University of Illinois Press. 83 (328): 115–147. doi:10.2307/539101. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 539101.
  23. Dorson, Richard M.; Baker, Ronald L.; Byington, Robert H.; Carey, George; Georges, Robert A.; Green, Thomas A.; Stekert, Ellen J.; Teske, Robert T. (1972). "The Academic Future of Folklore". Journal of American Folklore. University of Illinois Press. 85: 104–125. doi:10.2307/539353. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 539353.
  24. Stekert, Ellen J. (1986-10-01). "The False Issue of Folklore vs. "Fakelore": Was Paul Bunyan A Hoax?". Journal of Forest History. University of Chicago Press. 30 (4): 180–181. doi:10.2307/4004733. ISSN 0094-5080. JSTOR 4004733. S2CID 163902042.
  25. Hennigar, Mary Jane; Hoffman, Daniel; Stekert, Ellen J. (1986-10-01). "The First Paul Bunyan Story in Print". Journal of Forest History. University of Chicago Press. 30 (4): 175–177. doi:10.2307/4004730. ISSN 0094-5080. JSTOR 4004730. S2CID 163432546.
  26. Stekert, Ellen J.; Umpierre, Luz María (1992). "Deviance and Power: Malleable Realities in Manuel Puig's Use of Folklore and Cinematic Sources in Kiss of the Spider Woman" (11): 155–65. Retrieved 2023-08-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  27. Kupiec Cayton, Mary; Gorn, Elliott J.; Williams, Peter W., eds. (1993). "Folk Song and Folk Music". Encyclopedia of American Social History. New York: Scribner. p. 1743-1756. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  28. Stekert, Ellen J. (1993-01-01). "Cents and Nonsense in the Urban Folksong Movement: 1930–1966". In Rosenberg, Neil V. (ed.). Transforming Tradition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 84-106. ISBN 978-0-252-01982-1.
  29. "Ellen Stekert - Ozark Mountain Folk Songs Volume One". Discogs. 19 October 2022. OCLC 32895997. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  30. "Ellen Stekert - Ballads Of Careless Love". Discogs. OCLC 7332222. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  31. "Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert - Traditional American Love Songs". Discogs. OCLC 53818536. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  32. "Ellen Stekert - Songs Of A New York Lumberjack". Discogs. OCLC 50921919. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  33. "Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 1: Songs For Cubs". Discogs. 18 September 2022. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  34. "Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 2: Songs For Juniors". Discogs. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  35. "Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 3: Songs For Seniors". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  36. "Various – Our Singing Heritage Volume I". Discogs. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  37. "Various – Songs Of The Civil War". Discogs. 1963. OCLC 3281938. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  38. "Sarah Ogan Gunning – Girl Of Constant Sorrow". Discogs. 1965. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  39. "Various – O Love Is Teasin' (Anglo-American Mountain Balladry)". Discogs. 1984. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  40. "Various – The Riverside Folklore Series Volume Three: Singing the New Traditions: Songs, Singers, and Instrumentalists of the Folk Revival". Discogs. 1996. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  41. "Various – Constant Sorrow (Gems From The Elektra Vaults)". Discogs. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  42. "Various – Classic English And Scottish Ballads From Smithsonian Folkways". Discogs. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
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