ABSTRACT

Early in the twentieth century, folk song collecting 'in the field' began in earnest in the south-east and north-east regions of the United States, and gradually spread westward, generating a broad picture of the traditional folk music of that era. Hence there is great motivation to use whatever other sources are available to characterize the nature of oral folk song tradition in the nineteenth century. The Civil War conveniently divides the nineteenth century into two parts, not just historically and politically but also socially and culturally. Technology thus contributed to the evanescence of street literature, and the results can be seen in the relative paucity of surviving examples of post-bellum, compared with ante-bellum, productions. Not all of the songs were old; among the recent ones, those of Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart, pioneers of American musical theatre, were most in demand.