Accession Number: 4
Katherine Jackson French Ballad Collection, 1980
.4 linear ft.
Online Catalog Record (BANC)

Overview
History
Series Description
Series I - Correspondence and Miscellaneous
Series II - Ballad Manuscripts
Series III - Manuscript of “A Fortnight in Ballad Country”
Series IV - Biographical Information

Access and Use

Provenance: The ballads in the Katherine Jackson French collection were given to Berea College in the early 1950s as a centennial gift by Ms. French. There are no restrictions placed on this collection other than federal copyright regulations.

Preferred Citation: Katherine French Ballad Collection, Berea College Special Collections & Archives, Berea, Ky.

Related Archives

• Appalachian Ballad and Folk Music Collection, SAA 18
• G.R. Combs Ballad Collection, SAA 105
• Talitha Ethel Powell McClure Ballad Collection, SAA 32
• The James Watt Raine Ballad Collection, SAA 6
• John F. Smith Ballad Collection, SAA 5

Series Description
1 Manuscript Box

This series includes correspondence from French to Berea College’s president, William Frost, concerning the publication of the ballad manuscript: English-Scottish Ballads from the Hills of Kentucky. Also included is a letter from Professor Gummere, Haverford College, Pennsylvania, addressed to French. Some miscellaneous notes and a few news photographs of mountain people conclude this series.

Box 1

1. Correspondence, October 24, 1910-May 17, 1916
2. Miscellaneous notes

Collected and edited by Katherine Jackson French, four manuscript versions of English-Scottish Ballads from the Hills of Kentucky are contained in this series. Some musical notations, handwritten, are included and a short description precedes most of the ballads, which are often followed by a variant of the same ballad. The ballads in each of the manuscripts are listed in alphabetical order and alternate titles by which the ballads are also known are enclosed in brackets.

Box 1 continued

3. Ballad Manuscript - version 1

• Barbara Allen’s Cruelty, or The Young Man’s Tragedy
• The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington
• Confession of Edward W. Hawkins
• The Douglas Tragedy [Fair Ellender]
• Edward [The Waxford Girl and The Miller Boys are derived from this ballad]
• Fair Margaret and Sweet William
• The House Carpenter, or The Old, Salt Sea [from The Demon Lover]
• Lady Gay [from The Wife of Usher's Well]
• Little Hugh, or The Jew's daughter
• Little Willie, The Twa Brothers
• Lord Bateman, or The Turkish Lady, or Young Beichan and Susie Pye
• Lord Daniel’s Wife
• Lord Lovely
• The Lord of the Old Country (The Twa Sisters)
• Lord Randall
• Lord Thomas
• Lord Vanner's Wife [from The Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard; also a model for Lord Daniel’s wife]
• Loving Henry [modeled after Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight]
• McAfee’s Confession [modeled after McPherson’s Farewell, or Lord Maxwell’s Goodnight]
• The Mill Dam of Binorie [or The Lord of the Old Country, which is derived from the Twa Sisters]
• Pretty Polly [May Colvin]
• The Serving Maid
• Six Pretty, Fair Maids
• The Wealthy Merchant of London [from The Merchant’s Daughter of Bristow]
• The Wealthy Young Farmer [The Golden Glove, or The Squire of Tamworth]
• William and Ellender [a variant of Loving Henry]
• William Hall

4. Ballad Manuscript - version 2

• Barbara Allen [words and musical notation]
• Barbara Ellen - Bonny Barbara Allen
• The Beggar Girl - The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington
• Edward
• Fair Ellender - Earl Brand - The Green Willow Tree - The Golden Vanitee
• The Greenwood Side - The Cruel Mother
• The House Carpenter [musical notation only]
• The House Carpenter - The Daemon Lover
• It Rains a Mist - Sir Hugh
• Jackaro, [or] The Wealthy Merchant of London - The Merchant’s Daughter of Bristow
• The Jew’s Daughter [words and musical notation]
• The Jew’s Daughter - Sir Hugh
• A Lady and a Lady Gay [words and musical notation -- in two fragments]
• Lady Gay - The Wife of Usher’s Well
• Lady Marg’et and Sweet William; Fair Margaret and Sweet William
• Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [words and musical notation]; Little Willie - The Twa Brothers
• The Lover’s Farewell - The lass of Roch Royal
• Lord Bateman [words and musical notation
• Lord Bateman - Young Beichan and Susie Pye
• Lord Lovely - Lord Lovel
• Lord of the Old Country [words and musical notation]
• The Lord of the Old Country - The Twa Sisters
• Lord Randal [musical notation and words]
• Lord Thomas [musical notation only]
• Lord Thomas [words and musical notation]
• Lord Thomas - Lord Thomas and Fair Annet
• Lord Vanner’s Wife - Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard
• Pretty Peggy, O - The Trooper and the Maid
• Pretty Polly - Lady Isabel and The Elf-Knight Child - The Three Crows - The Three Ravens
• A Wealthy Young Farmer [words and musical notation]
• The Wealthy Young Farmer [words and musical notation]
• The Wealthy Young Farmer, or The Lady and The Glove
• William and Ellender - Young Hunting

5. Ballad Manuscript - Version 3

• The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington
• Barbara Allen [words and musical notation]
• Barbara Allen’s Cruelty, or The Young Man’s Tragedy [another version is known as Bonny Barbara Allen]
• Confession of Edward W. Hawkins
• The Douglas Tragedy [or Fair Ellender]
• Edward [model for The Waxford Girl and The Miller Boy]
• Fair Margaret and Sweet William
• Fair Margaret and Sweet William (Old English) [words and musical notation]
• The House Carpenter [words and musical notation]
• The House Carpenter, or The Old, Salt Sea [from The Demon Lover]
• The Jew’s Daughter [words and musical notation]
• A Lady and a Lady Gay [words and musical notation]
• Lady Gay [from The Wife of Usher’s Well]
• Little Hugh, or The Jew’s Daughter
• Little Willie - The Twa Brothers
• Loving Henry, Or William Ellender [modeled after Lady Isabel and The Elf Knight]
• Lord Bateman [words and musical notation]
• Lord Bateman [Original is Young Beichan and Susie Pye or The Turkish Lady]
• Lord Bateman, or The Turkish Lady [derived from Young Beichan and Susie Pye]
• Lord Daniel’s Wife [variant of Lord Vanner’s Wife]
• Lord Lovely
• Lord of the Old Country [musical notation only]
• The Lord of the Old Country (The Twa Sisters)
• Lord Randall
• Lord Randall [words and musical notation]
• Lord Thomas
• Thomas (Old English Version) [words and musical notation]
• Lord Vanner’s Wife [from Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard]
• McAfee’s Confession [modeled after McPherson’s Farewell, or Lord Maxwell’s Goodnight]
• Pretty Polly [modeled after May Colvin]
• The Serving Maid
• The Serving Maid [words and musical notation]
• Six Pretty, Fair Maids
• The Wealthy Merchant of London [from The Merchant’s Daughter of Bristow]
• The Wealthy Young Farmer [from The Golden Glove, or The Squire of Tamworth]
• A Wealthy Young Farmer [words and musical notation]
• William Ellender
• William Hall [modeled after The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington]

6. Ballad Manuscript - Version 4

• The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington [model for William Hall]
• Barbara Allen’s Cruelty, or the Young Man’s Tragedy [another version is entitled Bonny Barbara Allen]
• Confession of Edward W. Hawkins
• The Douglas Tragedy
• Edward [model for The Waxford Girl and The Miller Boy]
• Fair Margaret and Sweet William
• The House Carpenter, or The Old, Salt Sea [from the Demon Lover]
• Little Hugh, or The Jew’s Daughter
• Loving Henry, or William and Ellender
• Lord Bateman [Originally Young Beichman and Susie Pye, or The Young Turkish Lady]
• Lord Bateman, or The Young Turkish Lady [from Young Beichan and Susie Pye]
• Lord Daniel’s Wife [a variation of Lord Vanner's Wife]
• Lord Lovely
• The Lord of the Old Country (The Twa Sisters)
• Lord Randall
• Lord Thomas
• Lord Vanner’s Wife (from Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard) [another variation is Lord Daniel’sWife]
• McAfee’s Confession [modeled after McPherson’s Farewell, or Lord Maxwell’s Goodnight]
• Pretty Polly [modeled after May Colvin]
• The Serving Maid
• Six Pretty, Fair Maids [a variation of Pretty Polly]
• The Twa Brothers, or Little Willie, The Twa Brothers
• The Wealthy Merchant of London [from The Merchant's Daughter of Bristow]
• The Wealthy Young Farmer [variation of The Golden Glove, or The Squire of Tamworth]
• William and Ellender [a variation of Loving Henry]
• William Hall [modeled after the Bailiff's Daughter]

A corrected copy, in manuscript form, of “A Fortnight in Ballad Country” by French is included in this series, as are several typed copies. The article, in published form, is also included in this series from the magazine Mountain Life and Work, 1955 (#3): 30-40.

Box 1 continued

7. Manuscript - “A Fortnight in Ballad Country”

This series includes a brief biography of French typed on the reverse side of a handwritten letter from French to Elisabeth Peck, college historian. A few of the historian’s notes pertaining to French’s ballad collecting are located here, as is a manuscript copy of “Berea’s Ballad Collectors: James Watt Raine, John F. Smith, Katherine Jackson French, and Gladys Jameson,” by Sidney Saylor Farr, dated 1980, which includes a short biography of French.

Box 1 continued

8. Biographical Material

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