Ellen Stekert

Stekert was born in New York City in 1935 and grew up in Great Neck on Long Island.{{cite web |title=Biography: Ellen Stekert |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ellen-stekert-mn0000183271 |website=Allmusic |access-date=26 October 2021}} She survived polio as a child. Stekert began performing folk music in high school.{{cite web |title=Songs of a New York Lumberjack |url=https://folkways.si.edu/ellen-stekert/songs-of-a-new-york-lumberjack/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian |publisher=Smithsonian |access-date=26 October 2021}}{{cite web |title=Rare Folk - Ellen Stekert "Ballads of Careless Love" |url=https://www.popsike.com/RARE-Folk-Ellen-Stekert-BALLADS-OF-CARELESS-LOVE/200184079284.html |website=Popsike |access-date=26 October 2021}}{{cite news |title=Ellen Stekert To Give Folksong Concert |url=https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=DIL19620207.2.16&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN---------- |access-date=26 October 2021 |work=The Daily Illini |date=7 February 1962}}

Stekert attended Cornell University, where she took classes taught by the folklorist Harold Thompson, whom she also assisted in teaching. As her interest in folklore grew, Stekert began doing fieldwork, collecting folksongs from traditional singers in upstate New York. The songs Stekert collected from Ezra "Fuzzy" Barhight, a retired lumberjack from Cohocton, New York, she recorded and released as Songs of a New York Lumberjack in 1958.{{Cite web |title=Songs of a New York Lumberjack |url=https://folkways.si.edu/ellen-stekert/songs-of-a-new-york-lumberjack/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian |access-date=2022-05-30 |website=folkways.si.edu |language=en-US}}

After graduating in philosophy at Cornell, Stekert began a master's degree in folklore at Indiana University.{{cite journal |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Neil V. |title=Judith Binkele McCulloh (1935–2014) |journal=Journal of American Folklore |date=1 January 2016 |volume=129 |issue=511 |pages=97–98 |doi=10.5406/jamerfolk.129.511.0097|s2cid=163826664 }} There she continued her fieldwork, collecting folk songs in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. On completion of her M.A., Stekert began research for a Ph.D. in folklore at Indiana. She completed her doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia in 1965.

Stekert's first teaching position was at Wayne State University in Detroit. There, Stekert built upon the pioneering work of Thelma G. James in the collection of urban folklore traditions.{{Cite web |last=Stekert |first=Ellen J. |title=The Wayne State University Folklore Archive: In Process |url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ffma/article/download/25574/31374/60502}}

From there, she moved to the University of Minnesota where she was based for the rest of her academic career.

Stekert served as president of the American Folklore Society for the year 1977.{{cite web |title=Past AFS Presidents |url=https://americanfolkloresociety.org/about/board/past-afs-presidents/ |access-date=26 October 2021 |publisher=American Folklore Society}}{{cite web |last1=Stekert |first1=Ellen |title=Crying Wolf - The Wolf as Symbol in Folklore |url=https://www.wolfsongalaska.org/chorus/node/193 |access-date=26 October 2021 |publisher=Wolf Song of Alaska}} She was also appointed Minnesota's state folklorist.

• Américo Paredes and Ellen Jane Stekert (eds.) The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition. Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press (1971){{cite book | editor-last= Paredes | editor-first=Américo | editor-last2=Stekert | editor-first2=Ellen Jane | title=The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition | publisher=Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press |location= Austin, Texas| date=1971 | isbn=0-292-70122-5 |oclc=209262 | page=}}

• Ellen Stekert, "Fairy Palace". Western Folklore (1959){{cite journal | last=Stekert | first=Ellen | title=Fairy Palace | journal=Western Folklore | publisher=JSTOR | volume=18 | issue=1 | year=1959 | issn=0043-373X | doi=10.2307/1496903 | page=50| jstor=1496903 }}
• Ellen Stekert, "The Hidden Informant." Midwest Folklore (1963){{cite journal | last=Stekert | first=Ellen | title=The Hidden Informant | journal=Midwest Folklore | publisher=Indiana University Press | volume=13 | issue=1 | year=1963 | pages=21–28 | issn=0544-0750 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4318009 | jstor=4318009 }}
• Ellen Stekert. “The Snake-Handling Sect of Harlan County, Kentucky: Its Influence on Folk Tradition.” Southern Folklore Quarterly (1963){{cite journal |last1=Stekert |first1=Ellen |date=December 1963 |title=The Snake-Handling Sect of Harlan County, Kentucky: Its Influence on Folk Tradition |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_southern-folklore-quarterly_1963-12_27_4/page/n1/mode/2up |journal=Southern Folklore Quarterly |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=316–321 |doi= |access-date=2023-08-13}}
• Ellen Stekert, "Four Pennsylvania Songs Learned Before 1900, From the Repertoire of Ezra V. Barhight" in Two Penny Ballads and Four Dollar Whiskey: A Pennsylvania Folklore Miscellany, ed. Robert H. Byington and Kenneth S. Goldstein (1966){{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/twopennyballadsf0000gold/page/n9/mode/2up | editor-last1=Byington | editor-first1=Robert H. | editor-last2=Goldstein | editor-first2=Kenneth S. | title=Two Penny Ballads and Four Dollar Whiskey: A Pennsylvania Folklore Miscellany | publisher=Pennsylvania Folklore Society | date=1993-01-01 | isbn= | pages=15–32 | chapter=Four Pennsylvania Songs Learned Before 1900, From the Repertoire of Ezra V. Barhight |last=Stekert |first=Ellen}}
• Ellen J. Stekert, "Foreword: The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition." Journal of American Folklore (1970){{cite journal | last=Stekert | first=Ellen J. | title=Foreword: The Urban Experience and Folk Tradition | journal=Journal of American Folklore | publisher=American Folklore Society | volume=83 | issue=328 | year=1970 | issn=0021-8715 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/539099 | page=iii–iv| jstor=539099 }}
• Ellen J. Stekert, "Focus for Conflict: Southern Mountain Medical Beliefs in Detroit". Journal of American Folklore (1970){{cite journal | last=Stekert | first=Ellen J. | title=Focus for Conflict: Southern Mountain Medical Beliefs in Detroit | journal=Journal of American Folklore | publisher=University of Illinois Press | volume=83 | issue=328 | year=1970 | pages=115–147 | issn=0021-8715 | doi=10.2307/539101 | jstor=539101 }}
• Richard M. Dorson, Ronald L. Baker, Robert H. Byington, George Carey, Robert A. Georges, Thomas A. Green, Ellen J. Stekert, Robert T. Teske, "The Academic Future of Folklore". Journal of American Folklore (1972){{cite journal | last1=Dorson | first1=Richard M. | last2=Baker | first2=Ronald L. | last3=Byington | first3=Robert H. | last4=Carey | first4=George | last5=Georges | first5=Robert A. | last6=Green | first6=Thomas A. | last7=Stekert | first7=Ellen J. | last8=Teske | first8=Robert T. | title=The Academic Future of Folklore | journal=Journal of American Folklore | publisher=University of Illinois Press | volume=85 | year=1972 | pages=104–125 | issn=0021-8715 | doi=10.2307/539353 | jstor=539353 }}
• Ellen J. Stekert, "The False Issue of Folklore vs. 'Fakelore': Was Paul Bunyan a Hoax?" Journal of Forest History (1986){{cite journal | last=Stekert | first=Ellen J. | title=The False Issue of Folklore vs. "Fakelore": Was Paul Bunyan A Hoax? | journal=Journal of Forest History | publisher=University of Chicago Press | volume=30 | issue=4 | date=1986-10-01 | issn=0094-5080 | doi=10.2307/4004733 | pages=180–181| jstor=4004733 | s2cid=163902042 }}
• Mary Jane Hennigar, Daniel Hoffman, and Ellen J. Stekert. “The First Paul Bunyan Story in Print [with Commentary].” Journal of Forest History (1986){{cite journal | last1=Hennigar | first1=Mary Jane |last2=Hoffman |first2=Daniel |last3=Stekert |first3=Ellen J. | title=The First Paul Bunyan Story in Print | journal=Journal of Forest History | publisher=University of Chicago Press | volume=30 | issue=4 | date=1986-10-01 | issn=0094-5080 | doi=10.2307/4004730 | pages=175–177| jstor=4004730 | s2cid=163432546 }}
• Ellen J. Stekert, "Autobiography of a Woman Folklorist". Journal of American Folklore (1987){{cite journal | last=Stekert | first=Ellen J. | title=Autobiography of a Woman Folklorist | journal=Journal of American Folklore | publisher=University of Illinois Press | volume=100 | issue=398 | year=1987 | pages=579–585 | issn=0021-8715 | doi=10.2307/540915 | jstor=540915 }}
• Ellen J. Stekert and Luz María Umpierre, "Deviance and Power: Malleable Realities in Manuel Puig‘s Use of Folklore and Cinematic Sources in Kiss of the Spider Woman." Cincinnati Romance Review (1992){{cite journal |last1=Stekert |first1=Ellen J. |last2=Umpierre |first2=Luz María |date=1992 |title=Deviance and Power: Malleable Realities in Manuel Puig's Use of Folklore and Cinematic Sources in Kiss of the Spider Woman |url=https://brynmawr.academia.edu/LuzMariaUmpierre/CurriculumVitae |journal=Cincinnati Romance Review |volume= |issue=11 |pages=155–65 |doi= |access-date=2023-08-15}}
• Ellen Stekert, "Folk Song and Folk Music" in Encyclopedia of American Social History (Scribner, 1993){{cite book |last= |first= |author-link= |date=1993 |title=Encyclopedia of American Social History |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofam0003unse_i0r3/page/n7/mode/2up |location=New York |publisher=Scribner |chapter=Folk Song and Folk Music |pages=1743–1756 |isbn= |editor-last1= Kupiec Cayton |editor-first1=Mary |editor-last2=Gorn |editor-first2=Elliott J. |editor-last3=Williams |editor-first3=Peter W. |access-date=2023-08-12}}
• Ellen J. Stekert, "Cents and Nonsense in the Urban Folksong Movement: 1930–1966" in Transforming Tradition, ed. Neil V. Rosenberg (1993){{cite book | editor-last=Rosenberg | editor-first=Neil V. | title=Transforming Tradition | publisher=Urbana: University of Illinois Press | date=1993-01-01 | isbn=978-0-252-01982-1 | pages=84–106 | chapter=Cents and Nonsense in the Urban Folksong Movement: 1930–1966 |last=Stekert |first=Ellen J.}}

• Ellen Stekert, Ozark Mountain Folk Songs Volume One (Stinson Records, c. 1955){{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/12193326-Ellen-Stekert-Ozark-Mountain-Folk-Songs-Volume-One |title=Ellen Stekert - Ozark Mountain Folk Songs Volume One |last= |first= |date= 19 October 2022|website=Discogs |publisher= |oclc=32895997 |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Ellen Stekert, Ballads Of Careless Love (Cornell Recording Society, 1956){{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/14957325-Ellen-Stekert-Ballads-Of-Careless-Love |title=Ellen Stekert - Ballads Of Careless Love |last= |first= |date= |website=Discogs |publisher= |oclc=7332222 |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, Traditional American Love Songs (Riverside Records, 1957){{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/master/1758563-Milton-Okun-And-Ellen-Stekert-Traditional-American-Love-Songs |title=Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert - Traditional American Love Songs |last= |first= |date= |website=Discogs |publisher= |oclc=53818536 |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Ellen Stekert, Songs Of A New York Lumberjack (Folkways Records, 1958){{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/7935502-Ellen-Stekert-Songs-Of-A-New-York-Lumberjack |title=Ellen Stekert - Songs Of A New York Lumberjack |last= |first= |date= |website=Discogs |publisher= |oclc=50921919 |access-date=2023-07-14}}

• Various Artists, Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 1: Songs For Cubs (Riverside Records, c. 1957): Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, "Paper of Pins/Jenny Jenkins"{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/10799429-Various-Everybody-Sing-American-Folk-Songs-Specially-Selected-For-Children-Volume-1-Songs-For-Cubs- |title=Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 1: Songs For Cubs |last= |first= |date= 18 September 2022|website=Discogs |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Various Artists, Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 2: Songs For Juniors (Riverside Records, c. 1957): Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, "River Brazos/Shule Aroon"{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/10799489-Various-Everybody-Sing-American-Folk-Songs-Specially-Selected-For-Children-Volume-2-Songs-For-Junior |title=Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 2: Songs For Juniors |last= |first= |date= 2 May 2022|website=Discogs |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Various Artists, Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 3: Songs For Seniors (Riverside Records, c. 1957): Milton Okun and Ellen Stekert, "Must I Go Bound; The Cambric Shirt"{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/lp_everybody-sing-volume-3-songs-for-senio_various-bascomb-lamar-lunsford-bob-gibson |title=Everybody Sing! American Folk Songs Specially Selected For Children, Volume 3: Songs For Seniors |last= |first= |date= |website=Internet Archive |publisher= |access-date=2023-08-11}}
• Various Artists, Our Singing Heritage Volume I (Elektra, 1958): "The House Carpenter" and "Froggie went A-Courting"{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/master/3050435-Various-Our-Singing-Heritage-Volume-I |title=Various – Our Singing Heritage Volume I |last= |first= |date= |website=Discogs |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Various Artists, Songs Of The Civil War (Folkways Records, 1963): "The Cumberland And The Merrimac" and "Pat Murphy Of The Irish Brigade"{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/master/563872-Various-Songs-Of-The-Civil-War |title=Various – Songs Of The Civil War |last= |first= |date= 1963|website=Discogs |publisher= |oclc=3281938 |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Sarah Ogan Gunning, Girl Of Constant Sorrow (Folk-Legacy Records, 1965){{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/11000899-Sarah-Ogan-Gunning-Girl-Of-Constant-Sorrow |title=Sarah Ogan Gunning – Girl Of Constant Sorrow |last= |first= |date= 1965|website=Discogs |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Various Artists, O Love Is Teasin' (Anglo-American Mountain Balladry) (Elektra, 1984): "Froggie went A-Courting"{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/master/1191977-Various-O-Love-Is-Teasin-Anglo-American-Mountain-Balladry |title=Various – O Love Is Teasin' (Anglo-American Mountain Balladry) |last= |first= |date= 1984|website=Discogs |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Various Artists, The Riverside Folklore Series Volume Three: Singing the New Traditions: Songs, Singers, and Instrumentalists of the Folk Revival (Riverside Records, 1996): Milt Okun and Ellen Stekert, "The Cambric Shirt (Child #2)", "Must I Go Bound", "The Brazos River", "Trouble"{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/16295315-Various-The-Riverside-Folklore-Series-Volume-Three-Singing-the-New-Traditions-Songs-Singers-and-Inst |title=Various – The Riverside Folklore Series Volume Three: Singing the New Traditions: Songs, Singers, and Instrumentalists of the Folk Revival |last= |first= |date= 1996|website=Discogs |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Various Artists, Constant Sorrow (Gems From The Elektra Vaults) (One Day Music, 2014): "Froggie went A-Courting"{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/7268378-Various-Constant-Sorrow-Gems-From-The-Elektra-Vaults |title=Various – Constant Sorrow (Gems From The Elektra Vaults) |last= |first= |date= |website=Discogs |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-14}}
• Various Artists, Classic English And Scottish Ballads From Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways, 2017): "The Two Sisters (Child No. 10)"{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/10447863-Various-Classic-English-And-Scottish-Ballads-From-Smithsonian-Folkways |title=Various – Classic English And Scottish Ballads From Smithsonian Folkways |last= |first= |date= |website=Discogs |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-14}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.ellenstekert.com Official website]
• {{Instagram | ellenstekert | Ellen Stekert }}
• [https://ampers.org/mn-art-culture-history/folklorist-ellen-stekert-performs-and-shares-stories-from-folklore/ Folklorist Ellen Stekert Performs and Shares Stories from Folklore], AMPERS

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Category:Living people

Category:University of Minnesota faculty

Category:1935 births

Category:People from Great Neck, New York

Category:Educators from Minneapolis

Category:Singers from Minneapolis

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:American folk-song collectors

Category:American folk musicians

Category:Presidents of the American Folklore Society

Category:Polio survivors

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