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Anne Gilchrist (collector)

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Anne Geddes Gilchrist
O.B.E., F.S.A
Born8 December 1863
Manchester, England
Died24 July 1954
OccupationFolk song collector

Anne Geddes Gilchrist OBE FSA[1] (8 December 1863 – 24 July 1954)[2][3] was a British folk song collector.[4][5] Although less well-known than her London-based counterparts, her expertise was acknowledged by Cecil Sharp, Lucy Broadwood, and John Masefield.[4][6]

Life and work

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Anne Geddes Gilchrist was born in Manchester, to Scottish parents.[4] She had a musical upbringing and was related to Rev Neil Livingston, who compiled a psalter.[4] After meeting Sabine Baring-Gould she became involved with folk music and joined the editorial board of the Folk-Song Society in 1906.[4][7] She had an unusually good memory for hymn tunes, one of her areas of expertise.[4] Gilchrist is a neglected figure because she did not write any books.[4] Instead she contributed many scholarly articles to the Journal of the Folk-Song Society.[8]

In the very first edition of the Journal of the Folk-Song Society she wrote an article on the song Long Lankin. She reports that a woman in Northumberland used to frighten children by shouting "There's Long Lankin". Gilchrist collected songs from Scotland and the north-west of England.[4] This was particularly valuable, as few folk-song collections had been made from that part of England. Following the discovery of a medieval sculpted stone in Cumberland, she was admitted to the Society of Antiquaries in 1935, at the age of 70.[9][10] She was awarded the OBE in 1948 for her services to folk song and dance.[11] Her last scholarly article was written at the age of 79. Her papers are lodged in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Brice, Douglas (1967). The folk-carol of England. London: Jenkins.
  2. ^ "Folk Music Journal: Contents: volume 8 number 5 2005". 11 August 2007. Archived from the original on 11 August 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  3. ^ Hernández, Publicado por Hortensia. "Anne Geddes Gilchrist estudiosa del folclore y recopiladora de canciones". Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Plaut, Linda; Wolz, Lyn (1995). "Two Gardeners of Song: Exploiters or Preservers?". Appalachia and the Politics of Culture. Appalachian State University.
  5. ^ The women's forum : women in the arts in Scotland. Edinburgh: Chapman. 1994. ISBN 978-0-906772-59-1.
  6. ^ Brady, Erika (1999). A spiral way : how the phonograph changed ethnography. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-57806-173-0.
  7. ^ "Anne Geddes Gilchrist". English Folk Dance and Song Society. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  8. ^ Karpeles, Maud (1987). An introduction to English folk song. London; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-284015-8.
  9. ^ Dean-Smith, Margaret (1957). "The Work of Anne Geddes Gilchrist, O.B.E., F.S.A. 1863–1954". Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association. 84: 43–53. doi:10.1093/jrma/84.1.43. ISSN 0080-4452.
  10. ^ Dean-Smith, Margaret; Gilchrist, Anne Geddes (1957). "The Work of Anne Geddes Gilchrist, O. B. E., F. S. A. 1863-1954". Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association. 84: 43–53. doi:10.1093/jrma/84.1.43. ISSN 0080-4452. JSTOR 766073.
  11. ^ a b "Anne Geddes Gilchrist Papers". www.vwml.org. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
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