One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
Vermont's Archive of Folk Songs
Helen Hartness Flanders, taken in the 1940s
Listen
7:13
Listen
Helen Hartness Flanders recording Phyllis Burditt of Springfield, Vermont.
(
/
)
What started out as a short project collecting folk songs, turned into something much bigger. For Helen Hartness Flanders, it became a 35-year passion. Starting early in the 20th century, she began traveling along the side roads and through the small towns of Vermont looking to record folk songs. Lost and Found Sound takes a look at her work.
Until Flanders came along, most of the songs had been passed on by ear from the old to the young. But with the new popularity of radio, young people were less likely to play music or sing the old songs.
Mrs. Flanders -- everyone called her that -- eventually collected over 4,000 songs. She was a wealthy philanthropist and U.S. Senator’s wife. But she was known for her persistence and charm. She was able to get dozens of reticent and often poor New Englanders to sing for her. Many of the songs are old English ballads. Others were written in Vermont. They cover everything from love to train wrecks to a community event called a "pairing bee," when people would gather to pair apples.
The Helen Hartness Flanders folk song collection came to be housed at the Middlebury College library in Middlebury, Vermont. Vermont Public Radio’s Nina Keck delved into the Helen Hartness Flanders collection and shares some of Mrs. Flanders’ prized recordings with us.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDA1OTI3MjQ5MDEyODUwMTE2MzM1YzNmZA004))
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
