Folklorist, teacher, and collector of North Carolina folklore. Born in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Brown made his home in Durham, North Carolina, after earning an A.B. degree in 1893 from the University of Nashville, Tennessee, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in 1902 and 1908, respectively, from the University of Chicago. At Trinity College (now Duke University), he began a lifelong career as professor of English and also taught classes in folklore. An energetic organizer, he responded to the urging of John Lomax, president of the American Folklore Society, to establish a local group to collect, preserve, and publish North Carolina folklore. At its first meeting in 1913, the North Carolina Folklore Society elected Brown secretary-treasurer, a post he held until he died. From its beginning, the society planned to publish a collection of North Carolina folklore under Brown’s supervision, and Brown inspired numerous contributors to help him amass a state collection that remains one of the largest of its kind. He himself traveled extensively throughout the state recording folksongs. The publication of The Frank C.Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore (19521964) did not occur until after his death. Brown had firmly resisted publication, often citing incompleteness even though the collection reached gargantuan proportions—more than 38,000 items from more than 650 contributors. With Professor Newman Ivey White as general editor, and a distinguished team of specialized editors, Duke University Press posthumously published the seven-volume collection that bears Brown’s name. It reflects genres considered important at the time but omits many folklore forms current in the state. All materials related to the Brown Collection are deposited in Duke University’s Perkins Library. Beverly Patterson
References
White, Newman Ivey. 1952. General Introduction. The Frank C.Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore. Vol. 1. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.