Helen Hartness Flanders

Helen Hartness Flanders , a native of the U.S. state of Vermont, was an internationally recognized ballad collector and an authority on the folk music found in New England and the British Isles. At the initiative of the Vermont Commission on Country Life, Flanders commenced a threedecade career capturing traditional songs that were sung in New Englandsongs that, in many cases, traced their origin to the British Isles. The timing of her life work was critical, coming as it did when people were turning away from traditional music in favor of listening to the radio. Today her nearly 4,500 field recordings, transcriptions and analyses are housed at the Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont and have been a resource for scholars and folk singers, since the establishment of the collection in 1941.

Flanders was born in Springfield, Vermont. Her father was James Hartness, inventor, industrialist, and oneterm Governor of Vermont, who headed the Jones and Lamson Machine Tool Company in that town. She graduated from the Dana Hall School in 1909, where she sang in the glee club and was a member of the school French club. In 1911 she married Ralph Flanders, a noted American mechanical engineer, industrialist and Republican U.S. Senator from Vermont. She and her husband maintained homes in Springfield and Washington, DC where they entertained friends who included Dorothy Canfield Fisher and Robert Frost. They had three children Elizabeth, , Anna , and James . Elizabeth helped her mother from time to time with collecting and transcribing tunes. In addition to her writings on traditional ballads, Flanders published two small volumes of poetry and one childrens play. She traveled with her husband to the British Isles, Europe and Australia on various occasions.

Source: Wikipedia