Helen Hartness Flanders -- Ballad Collector, Poet, Scholar, Musician

Born in Springfield, Vermont in 1890, daughter of Governor James Hartness and wife of U.S. Senator Ralph E. Flanders, Helen Hartness Flanders became an internationally recognized ballad collector and authority on folk music. Among her many endeavors, she wrote nine books (the first, Vermont Folk Songs and Ballads), lectured with local singers and developed the Flanders Ballad Collection. This treasure containing thousands of folk songs preserved in the oral tradition, as well as books and manuscripts, was donated to Middlebury College in 1941. The College awarded Mrs. Flanders an honorary Master of Arts degree for her work in the field of folk music. She died in Springfield in 1972.