Since Nelson's information on Child - 
http://www.contemplator.com/history/childbio.html
- posted on the ballad list by J L (Speranza) - is largely taken from 
my articles on Child (in BALLADS INTO BOOKS), let me  comment 
on some of the questions raised.


> > I love the heat, and will do some web search to see what else I find
> > about F J Child, 
for more info, you might want to look at Tom Cheesman's and David 
Atkinson's "Child Ballad Study Guide" (again: in BALLADS INTO 
BOOKS). It includes a Discography and info on Online Resources 
as I'm now pretty much intrigued why a man from the
> > USA spent his life in a furrin country collecting and especially
> > numbering ditties which must have been all furrin to him. I'll also
> > try and find out if his ancestors were either from England or
> > Scotland.

Child was born in Boston but his parents were of English extraction. 

 I'm sure there must be tons of info of him. 

Not as much as you would expect, esp. not on Child's life.

Who could be
> > the ENGLISHMAN or ENGLISHWOMAN to compare to him in the study of
> > England's balladry? C Sharp I don't think because his passion was
> > folkSONG. Lloyd I don't think either. Wm Chappell? Kidson? Goss?

Percy's collection was Child's great inspiration and model (see my 
article "From Percy to Child") and Journal of Folklore Research 
1994.
> > 
> 
> Child was at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for most of
> his career, and is buried in Great Barrington, MA (imagine the shock
> of two gravehounds who stopped in on the way to a weekend trad music
> festival in the area and discovered this grave!).  His work at Harvard
> is the principle reason that (I'm told, at least) the Harvard library
> has the largest collection of broadsides in the world. 

And not only that: Child is directly responsible for creating one of 
the best and most comprehensive libraries in the world at Harvard. 
He was on the library committee for decades! The recent SIEF 
publication BRIDGING THE CULTURAL DIVIDE contains an article 
on this aspect of Child's life and study.  

 Several of us> have wondered if there's a good biography of him 
around.
  Can anyone comment?

No, there is not. Linda Morley started many years ago but had to 
give up--not least because Child's handwriting is VERY difficult to 
read. I have written Child's entry for the New DNB (forthcoming 
2002) and have worked on apects of Child's life for some time now. 
If you are interested I can certainly give you more info on this but 
for his biography (which I eventually hope to do) you need to wait, 
I'm afraid. 
> 
> The Anglo connection is strong in many parts of the US, particularly
> New England (note the name).  However, the real irony is that many of
> the British ballads Child was so laboriously documenting were, as
> Sharp discovered, alive and well here in the US!
Child has often been scolded for not doing field-research. This is, 
however, another myth surrending the man and his work. He 
collected many ballads (without music though) from his own native 
country.
> 
> As to the British analog, I'd have to consider it Percy - not from the
> sense of scholarhip, but from the standpoint of the effect on
> collecting and publicizing the material.
> 
> -Don Duncan
>  Cambridge, MA

Sigi Rieuwerts
Mainz, Germany



PS: Sorry, for advertising my own work again, but I have been 
asked by several of you how to get a copy of BALLADS INTO 
BOOKS: THE LEGACIES OF FRANCIS JAMES CHILD since it is 
no longer listed on Peter Lang's website. I rang Peter Lang 
Publishers and they told me that there are still copies available. Just 
visit Peter Lang's homepage at www.peterlang.ch. and click 
"customer service" for help. You can also ring/fax Peter Lang 
offices in Bern, Berlin, Frankfurt, New York, Paris, Vienna, London 
etc. ...in case of query.

Sigrid Rieuwerts
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Englische Philologie
Jakob-Welder-Weg 18
55099 Mainz
Germany

[log in to unmask]
Tel:+49-6131-3925113


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