Folk and Ethnic Music in Wisconsin

An Annotated Bibliograhpy

• “101 Years of Yodeling.” Time, 26 August 1946, 21
  On centennial festivities in New Glarus which included yodeling and alphorn performances.
• Andresen, Bob. “Leonard Finseth: Scandinavian-American Folk Fiddler.” Sound Post (Winter 1992): 10–12
  Discusses Finseth’s performance heritage, style, influences and activities. Photos.
• Andresen, Robert. “Traditional Music: The Real Story of Ethnic Music and How it Evolved in Minnesota and Wisconsin.” Minnesota Monthly 12 (October 1978): 9–13
  Historical survey of prominent regional ethnic music traditions and important practitioners. Photos include Otto Rindlisbacher.
• Baader, Mary Lenore. “The Music of Early Wisconsin.” Master’s thesis, Catholic University of America, 1967.
  Attempts to place in cultural context the songs of Wisconsin’s Menominee, Winnebago, and Chippewa Indians. Includes analysis. Also surveys the songs of the voyageurs and lumberjacks. Aim of the study is to promote use of Wisconsin’s musical heritage in the schools.
• Benson, Robert Lee. “Indian Music in Selected Northern Wisconsin Counties.” seminar paper, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, 1973.
  “This study revealed that written Indian music is not authentic Indian music ... only recorded Indian music will be authentic.”
• Bohlman, Philip V. “The Folk Songs of Charles Bannen: The Interaction of Music and History in Southwestern Wisconsin.” Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters 68 (1980): 167–87
  Examines the eclectic musical tradition of singer/farmer Charles Bannen (born 1900) and his musical reshaping of folk, popular, and other styles for performance purposes. Includes an autobiographical section by Bannen who describes his musical environment and influences. Photo.
• ______. “Hymnody in the Rural German-American Community of the Upper Midwest.” The Hymn 35 (1984): 158–64
  Nineteenth-century German immigrants adopted Lutheran musical reforms in the United States from those that were taking place in Germany. The use of hymns helped to assimilate diverse German groups. Hymnody played a cultural role in both the community and home, and assisted in the elimination of regional and dialect differences in successive generations of German-Americans. Illustrated.
• ______. “Music in the Culture of German-Americans in North-Central Wisconsin.” Master’s thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1980.
  “Primarily, this study has examined the ways in which the musical life of German immigrants to north-central Wisconsin has become institutionalized and therefore functions both as an emblem of ethnicity for German immigrants and as one of a number of catalysts which facilitate the conversion of a German-European cultural outlook to a pluralistic German-Americanness persisting in the rural German-American communities of northern Wisconsin.”
• ______. “Prolegomena to the Classification of German-American Music.” Yearbook of German-American Studies 20 (1985): 33–48
  Examines German-American music in the context of “a series of descriptive categories that define processes of musical change.” Folk music gathered in Wisconsin provides illustration. City of Bonduel figures in the discussion.
• Cornelius, Richard, and Terence J. O’Grady. “Reclaiming a Tradition: The Soaring Eagles of Oneida.” Ethnomusicology 31 (1987): 261–72
  “In the late 1960s, the Soaring Eagle Survival School was instituted on the Oneida Reservation near Green Bay, Wisconsin. One of the avowed purposes of the school was the transmission of traditional Iroquois culture, including musical culture, to young people of high school age.” Traditional culture awareness is furthered through the Oneida Soaring Eagle Drum, a group whose playing and singing centers around a large drum.
• Curtis, Wardon Allan. “‘The Light Fantastic’ in the Central West: Country Dances of Many Nationalities in Wisconsin.” Century Magazine 73 (1907): 570–79.
  Discusses rural dances in Wisconsin noting the ethnic, cultural, and musical characteristics peculiar to the Irish, Germans, Swiss, and Norwegians. Illustrated. This article is also available in Leary, Wisconsin Folklore.
• Densmore, Frances. Chippewa Music - II. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 53. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1913.
  Densmore recorded 340 songs of the Chippewa tribes in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Songs are placed in cultural context, classified by types, transcribed into western notation, and analyzed. Photos.
• ______. Menominee Music. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 102. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1932; reprint, New York: Da Capo, 1972.
  Densmore provides a historical background on the Menominees prior to a description of their instruments and a comparison of their songs to those of other tribes. The main body of the text is devoted to melodic transcription and individual analyses of songs which are grouped by type and placed in cultural context. The fieldwork was done at Keshena, Neopit, and Zoar. Photos.
• ______. “Music of the Winnebago and Menominee Indians of Wisconsin.” In Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1928, 189–98. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1929.
  Several dances and ceremonies were attended by the author who recorded songs and interviewed participants. Customs and traditions were noted. These investigations took place near the cities of Black River Falls, Tomah, Millston, Keshena, and Zoar. Photos.
• ______. “Music of the Winnebago, Chippewa, and Pueblo Indians.” In Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1930, 217–24. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1931.
  Densmore recorded songs and flute music in the vicinity of Tomah and Pittsville. Attended a dance and celebration at Grand Portage, Minnesota. Witnessed two pageants at Kilbourn attended by Indians from many tribes. Describes events and customs associated with burial ceremony. Photos.
• ______. “Music of the Winnebago Indians.” In Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1927, 183–88. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1928.
  Account of the author’s journey to the cities of Black River Falls, Galesville, and Trempeleau where she investigated and recorded feast and ceremonial songs. Photos.
• ______. “Winnebago Music,” 1940, Bureau of American Ethnology, Catalogue of Manuscripts, no. 3261.
  Analysis and discussion of Winnebago songs collected primarily in Wisconsin between 1927 and 1939. The unpublished manuscript is at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C. A copy is available at Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Documentation of Traditional Music in Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. Ashland, WI: Northland College, 1980
  A final project report. Documents the project’s goals and procedures. Notes its personnel and music informants. Includes copies of newspaper articles on the area’s folk music activities. Photos and illustrations.
• Ebert, Isabel J. “The Wanigan Song Book.” In Wisconsin Folklore, ed. James P. Leary, 200–18. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998.
• Ethnic Music in Northern Wisconsin and Michigan: A Final Project Report. Ashland, WI: Special Student Programs, Northland College, 1981.
  With funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the project sought to “document traditional music in northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.” Includes lists of project personnel and informants as well as copies of newspaper articles documenting the project’s activities. Photos and illustrations.
• Gallman, Matthew. “Matti Pelto: Finnish-American Button Accordion Player.” Midwestern Journal of Language and Folklore 8 (Spring 1982): 43–47
• Greene, Daniel W. “‘Fiddle and I’: The Story of Franz Rickaby.” Journal of American Folklore 81 (1968): 316–36.
  Although not a Wisconsin musician, Rickaby is notable as a folksong collector. His Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy (Harvard, 1926) includes numerous songs gathered in Wisconsin. This article presents his biography.
• Greene, Victor. A Passion for Polka: Old-Time Ethnic Music in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
  Includes numerous references to Wisconsin’s ethnic music and performers, including Romy Gosz and Lawrence Duchow.
• Hoeschen, Kevin Francis. “The Norwegian Hardanger Violin in the Upper Midwest: Documentation and Interpretation of an Immigrant Music Tradition.” Master’s thesis, University of Minnesota, 1989.
  Studies the hardanger violin tradition as transplanted to the upper Midwest by Norwegian immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Includes a biographical dictionary of known Midwestern “spelemenn” (hardanger violin players). Provides extensive transcriptions of interviews. Photos.
• Hofmann, Charles. “American Indian Music in Wisconsin, Summer 1946.” Journal of American Folklore 60 (1947): 289–93.
  During 1946 the author spent several weeks in Wisconsin Dells recording songs sung by representatives from five different American Indian groups. Singers between the ages of 60 and 80 retained the “old manner” of singing, apparently uninfluenced by western music. A selection of these songs was issued on commercial recordings.
• Holte, Paul. “The Song Goes On.” Wisconsin Trails 24 (March/April 1983): 43–45.
  Profiles members of central Wisconsin’s Traditional Music Society. Photos.
• Keil, Charles. “Slovenian Style in Milwaukee.” In Folk Music and Modern Sound, ed. William Ferris and Mary L. Hunt, Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1982, 32–59.
  In a city heavily populated by Germans and Poles, Milwaukee’s polka bands embraced the Slovenian style introduced by Frankie Yankovic after World War II. Includes interviews with Jimmy Maupin and Louis Bashell.
• Kurath, Gertrude P. “Menomini Indian Dance Songs in a Changing Culture.” Midwest Folklore 9 (Spring 1959): 31–38.
  Discusses religious songs and dances, social and show dances, and points to current changes and influences. Musical examples. This article is also available in Leary, Wisconsin Folklore.
• LaRonge, Philip V. S. “The Folksong and Folkmusic Traditions of the Chippewa-Flambeau Region in Northwestern Wisconsin: A Historical Approach.” master’s thesis, Wayne State University, 1979.
  This volume was unavailable for inspection.
• Leary, James P. A Beginning Fieldworker’s Guide to European Ethnic Music in Northern Wisconsin. s.l.: North Country Press, 1981
  Establishes guidelines and procedures for individuals pursuing information on Wisconsin’s ethnic music heritage. “And, while tailored to a distinct region, it is hoped that the general principles set down here might be applied to other regions and cultures.” Photos.
• ______. “Czech Polka Styles in the U.S.: From America’s Dairyland to the Lone Star State.” In Czech Music in Texas: A Sesquicentennial Symposium, ed. Clinton Machann, 79–95. College Station, TX: Komensky Press, 1988
  Surveys Czech musical styles in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Texas.
• ______. “Early Life Centered Around Bohemian Hall, Brass Band.” The Folk Life of the Upper Midwest 4 (Summer 1988): 4, 3
  Relates the activities of early twentieth century immigrants at Ashland’s Bohemian Hall.” Notes dances and performances by the Bohemian Brass Band led by Martin Stangle.
• ______. “Ethnic Country Music on Superior’s South Shore.” JEMF Quarterly 19 (1983): 219–230.
  “The presence of country music as a subsidiary but essential element in old time music can be explained by examining the region’s historical and musicological evolution.” Photos.
• ______. “Ethnic Music of the North Country: The Ashland Area.” North Country Folk 1 (March 1981): 4–8
  Relates the ethnic music experiences of immigrants’ descendants in the Ashland area. Exposure to other styles of music resulted in the region’s “old time” music becoming more eclectic. Photos.
• ______. “Ethnic Music of the North Country: The Musical Traditions of Moquah’s Slovaks.” North Country Folk 1 (September 1981): 4–7
  Investigates the Slovak music traditions at house parties and weddings in the Moquah area, primarily during the 1910s to the 1930s. Photos.
• ______. “Ethnic Music of the North Country: The Peasant Songs of Jerry Novak.” North Country Folk 1 (June 1981): 4–7, 30
  Brief biography and discussion of songs sung by Novak (born 1895). “These songs took hold of Jerry not only because they were oft-performed in his hearing, but also because they touched upon deep-seated themes that recurred in his parents’ conversations, in the foreign newspapers that he read avidly, and in his own memories of Bohemia.” Photos.
• ______. “Fieldwork Forgotten, or, Alan Lomax Goes North.” Midwestern Folklore 27, no.2 (Fall 2001): 5–20
• ______. “The German Concertina in the Upper Midwest.” In Land Without Nightingales: Music in the Making of German-America, ed. Philip V. Bohlman and Otto Holzapfel, 191–232. Madison: Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies, 2002.
• ______. In Tune with Tradition: Wisconsin Folk Musical Instruments. Cedarburg, WI: Cedarburg Cultural Center, 1990
  Exhibition catalog. Essay on traditions in Wisconsin folk instrument making. Background sketches on makers and their instruments. Photos.
• ______. “Joua Bee Xiong, Hmong Musician.” In Wisconsin Folklore, ed. James P. Leary, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998, 292– 304.
• ______. “O Cheesehead, Where Art Thou? Alan Lomax and Wisconsin’s Folk Music.” Wisconsin Academy Review 50, no. 4 (Fall 2004): 23–29
• ______. “Old Time Music in Northern Wisconsin.” American Music 2 (Spring 1984): 71–87
  A discussion of old time music is presented through a “historical and cultural examination of the occasions or contexts for the genre’s appearance, the composition of its audience, the musical repertoire it encompasses, dance forms, the backgrounds of musicians, instrumentation, and the dynamics of performance.” Covers the period 1920s to present.
• ______. Polka Music, Ethnic Music: A Report on Wisconsin’s Polka Traditions. Bulletin no. 1. Mount Horeb, WI: Wisconsin Folk Museum, 1991.
  Traces the development of the Bohemian/Czech, German, Slovenian, and Polish polka traditions in Wisconsin. Cites important practitioners and salient characteristics of each style.
• ______. “Polka Music in a Polka State.” In Wisconsin Folklore, ed. James P. Leary, 268–283. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998.
• ______. “Sawdust and Devils — Indian Fiddling in the Western Great Lakes Region.” In Medicine Fiddle, ed. James P. Leary, 30–35. A Humanities Discussion Guide. n.p.: Northern Michigan University, 1992
  Notes the dearth of scholarship devoted to the Indian fiddling tradition. Identifies Wisconsin practitioners. Volume serves as a guide to the film Medicine Fiddle. Additional Wisconsin-related information is scattered throughout the booklet. Photos.
• Leary, James P., ed. Wisconsin Folklore. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998
• ______. The Wisconsin Patchwork: A Companion to the Radio Programs Based on the Field Recordings of Helene Stratman-Thomas. Madison: Department of Continuing Education in the Arts, 1987
  “Supplemental commentaries and references” intended to amplify the information found in a series of thirteen radio broadcasts each featuring a different Wisconsin folk music topic.
• ______. Yodeling in Dairyland: A History of Swiss Music in Wisconsin. Mount Horeb, WI: Wisconsin Folk Museum, 1991
  Emphasis on the Swiss music traditions in the Green County communities of New Glarus and Monroe. Volume also contains the autobiography of Swiss-American musician Rudy Burkhalter (born 1911).
• Leary, James P., and Richard March. Down Home Dairyland: A Listener’s Guide. Madison: Wisconsin Arts Board, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Wisconsin Folk Museum., 1996.
  This is a collection of forty essays that support and enhance the series of ethnic music radio programs developed by the authors for Wisconsin Public Radio from 1989–1992. The topics covered are wide-ranging: Native Sounds, Anglo-Euro Fusion, Polka Heaven, Instruments and Infrastructure, Sacred Traditions, Newcomers, and Recorded Legacy. Photos.
• ______. “Dutchman Bands: Genre, Ethnicity, and Pluralism in the Upper Midwest.” In Creative Ethnicity, ed. Stephen Stern and John Allan Cicala, Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1991, 21–43.
  “Dutchman bands exemplify a sometimes bewildering interplay of ethnicity and pluralism shaped by regional and national forces across five generations.” Whoopee John Wilfahrt and Brian Brueggen are cited as examples. Photos.
• ______. “Farm, Forest, and Factory: Songs of Midwestern Labor.” In Songs About Work, ed. Archie Green, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1993, 253–286.
• March, Richard. “The Down Home Dairyland Saga.” In Celebrating America’s Cultural Diversity, ed. Laura Costello, 24–29. Washington, D.C.: National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, 1993
  On the origins and continuing development of the public radio series, “Down Home Dairyland.” Series explores Wisconsin and Upper Midwestern ethnic music.
• ______. “Polkamania.” Wisconsin Trails 30 (July/August 1989): 41–45
  “Wisconsin’s old-time polka music and dancing is enjoying a robust revival.” Includes a list of polka clubs and festivals. Photos.
• Martin, Phil. Across the Fields: Fiddle Tunes and Button Accordion Melodies. Dodgeville, WI: Folklore Village Farm, 1982
  A companion booklet to the LP recording with the same title. Describes the evolution of Norwegian-American music in the upper Midwest, other ethnic influences which shaped it, and its use in social and recreational settings. Includes melodic lines as well as discussion of the music and performers on the recording. Many photos.
• ______. Farmhouse Fiddlers: Music & Dance Traditions in the Rural Midwest. Mount Horeb, WI: Midwest Traditions, 1994.
  Interviews with Wisconsin fiddlers form the foundation of this book. The author tells the story of “homemade music-making for country dances,” a common practice in “Midwestern farm neighborhoods throughout the early 1900s.”
• ______. “The Hardanger Fiddle in Wisconsin.” Ocooch Mountain News 5 (August 1979): 10–11
  Discusses fiddle maker Andreas Quisling and his performer-wife Andrea. Notes the use of the fiddle for dances. Photo.
• ______. “Hardanger Fiddlers.” Ocooch Mountain News 6 (January/February 1980): 10–11
  Notes the Hardanger Violinist Association of America and its contest held in Wisconsin in the 1910s–1920s. Names Wisconsin performers and instrument makers. Accounts for the decline of the hardanger fiddle tradition in the United States. Photos.
• ______. “Hoppwaltzes & Homebrew: Traditional Norwegian-American Music from Wisconsin.” Sing Out 31 (July/August/September 1985): 26–34
  “In 1979, photographer Lewis Koch and I began a documentary fieldwork project to document traditional Norwegian-American fiddle and button accordion music of Wisconsin.” Includes some song transcriptions. Photos. A version of this article is also available in Leary, Wisconsin Folklore.
• ______. “The Lively Art of Old-Time Fiddling.” The Sons of Norway Viking 79 (May 1982): 148–149, 161
  Notes the Old-Time Music Project headed by Philip Martin to document Norwegian-American fiddlers. Includes anecdotes and background on the tradition. Photos.
• ______. “The Tunes of Yesteryear.” The Sons of Norway Viking 82 (July 1985): 232–235
  Focuses on the Wisconsin Folklife Center’s interest in documenting Norwegian-American music by seeking out older performers and recording them. Notes performers in Blair. Photos.
• Miksche, Jim. Fiddling in America, and How Selmer Oren Played a Part. Class paper, Scandinavian American Folklore [University of Wisconsin-Madison], 2003.
  An overview of Scandinavian fiddling in American followed by a look at Norwegian-American fiddler Selmer Oren (1909–1996) from Stoughton, Wisconsin. Includes transcripts of interviews with Ruth Oren, daughter of Selmer. Photos and slides. [Available in the Wisconsin Music Archives of the Mills Music Library, ML3551 M548 2003].
• Miller, Ellen Votaw. “Our Singing Pioneers.” Wisconsin Academy Review 28 (June 1982): 34–36
  A look at Wisconsin folksong texts. Photos.
• O’Donnell, Brian. “Leizime Brusoe: Wisconsin Northwoods Fiddler.” The Old-Time Herald, 9, no. 1 (Fall 2003): 14–17.
  This article discusses the career of champion fiddler Leizime Brusoe (1870–1949) of Rhinelander. Brusoe was born in Ontario and moved to the U.S. in 1891. He was recorded by Sidney Robertson in 1937 and Helene Stratman-Thomas in 1940 and 1941. Includes titles in his repertoire. Photos.
• O’Grady, Terence. “The Singing Societies of Oneida.” American Music 9 (Spring 1991): 67–91
  Traces the hymn singing traditions of the Oneida Indians who settled near Green Bay. Photos.
• Osborn, Emily. “Bernard Johnson: Richland County’s Old-Time Fiddler.” Ocooch Mountain News 5 (October 1979): 4–5
  Discusses how Johnson learned to play the fiddle and his fifty years of fiddling for local events. Photos.
• Peters, Harry, ed. Folk Songs Out of Wisconsin. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1977
  This volume contains a sampling of the folksongs gathered in Wisconsin by Franz Rickaby (1920s), Sidney Robertson (1930s), Asher Treat (1930s), and Helene Stratman-Thomas (1940s). It is included in this bibliography because of its introductory essay on folksong types and subjects, and their links to the social and historical fabric of Wisconsin. Biographical information on the collectors is included. Lengthy excerpts from the journals of Rickaby and Stratman-Thomas provide a colorful backdrop to the activity of folksong collecting. Many Photos.
• Plummer, Beverly. “Roy Calkins and his Wisconsin Lumberjack Band.” Wisconsin Tales and Trails 10 (Summer 1969): 10–12
  A mix of historical information on music as performed in Wisconsin’s lumbering camps and its contemporary re-creation by Ray Calkins. Describes instruments made by Calkins. Photos.
• Rickaby, Franz. Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926
  Includes texts, melodic lines, and discussion of fifty folksongs gathered in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Lengthy introductory article describes the evolution of folksong in lumber camps and notes the compositional activity of Wausau resident, Billy Allen.
• Rogers, Sally. “Songs from Midwestern Hearts: Midwestern Songwriters, Part II.” North Country Folk 1 (September 1981): 22–23
  Profiles folksinger/songwriter Claudia Schmidt.
• Roller, Peter. “Black Gospel Music in Milwaukee.” In Wisconsin Folklore, ed. James P. Leary, 284–291. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998.
• Skinner, Alanson. “Songs of the Menomini Medicine Ceremony.” American Anthropologist, n.s., 27 (April 1925): 290–314
  “This collection of songs was obtained by the writer in June, 1919, on the Menomini Reservation near Keshena, Wisconsin, and was recorded on a series of phonograph records.” The author provides texts, translations, and commentary on the songs.
• Spener, David, comp. Wisconsin Field Recordings in the Archive of Folk Culture. Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, Archive of Folk Culture, 1982
  Discography of folk music recorded in the state. Arranged by AFS number. Includes cylinder recordings.
• Starr, Mary Agnes. Pea Soup and Johnny Cake. Madison: Red Mountain Publishing House, 1981
  The author’s account of her career as a folklorist. Her work centered on French-Canadian folk traditions, principally in Wisconsin, but encompassed activities throughout the Midwest and Louisiana. She gave presentations on Wisconsin folksong and helped establish the Wisconsin Archive of Folk Music at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Photos.
• ______. “Traditions et Folklore Français du Wisconsin.” French Folklore Bulletin no. 56 (Winter 1957): 1–8
  Examples of a study by Starr, originally presented elsewhere, on early French folklore in Wisconsin. Includes a discussion of song. Notes early collectors of French song in the state as well as recordings done by Helene Stratman-Thomas and others. Several song texts are appended. Text of article alternates between French and English.
• Stratman-Thomas, Helene. “Folk Music in Wisconsin.” Badger Folklore 1 (April 1948): 8–9
  A brief summary. Addresses how folksong came to Wisconsin and mentions a University of Wisconsin-Madison project to gather it. Expresses hope that the Wisconsin Centennial will provide incentive to gather more.
• Stuttgen, Joanne S. “Kentucky Folksong in Northern Wisconsin: Evolution of the Folksong Tradition in Four Generations of Jacobs Women.” master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 1987
  Visits the family of Pearl Jacobs Borusky, folksinger from the Antigo area, to investigate the evolution of folksong by successive generations of women in the same family. Author explores the following concerns: “1) Self-concept of each Jacobs woman; 2) function of the songs; 3) relationship of songs to singer; 4) impact of outside interest upon the tradition.” The songs, originally brought to the region in the early twentieth century by transplanted Kentuckians, were first documented by Ascher Treat. Includes song transcriptions and an index to songs collected by Stuttgen and Treat.
• Stuttgen, Joanne Raetz. “Kentucky Folksong in Northern Wisconsin: Evolution of the Folksong Tradition in Four Generations of Jacobs Women.” Southern Folklore 48 (1991): 275–289
  Concise presentation of the author’s thesis. See entry above.
• Topping, Brett. “The Sidney Robertson Cowell Collection.” Folklife Center News 3 (July 1980): 4–5, 8
  Surveys the career of this folklorist whose fieldwork activities included important stints in Wisconsin in the 1930s and 1950s. Photos.
• Treat, Asher. “Kentucky Folksong in Northern Wisconsin.” Journal of American Folk- Lore 52 (January–March 1939): 1–51
  In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many families migrated from Kentucky to areas like Antigo in northern Wisconsin. The Jacobs Family of Carter County, Kentucky was one such family. The author describes the circumstances surrounding his gathering of folksongs, sung primarily by Pearly Jacobs Borusky and Mrs. M. G. Jacobs, in the 1930s near Bryant, WI. The isolation of the Jacobs family suggests the songs are free of contamination and faithfully represent them as sung in Kentucky in the last century. Fifty-six songs are printed along with singer, date, background, and concordance to the works of folksong collector Cecil Sharp. This article is also available in Leary, Wisconsin Folklore.
• Vennum, Thomas. The Ojibwa Dance Drum: Its History and Construction. Smithsonian Folklife Studies Number 2. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982
  Features Ojibwa tribes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Companion volume to the film The Drummaker. Photos and illustrations.
• Watroba, Matt. “Lou & Peter Berryman: Wisconsin Song Art.” Sing Out! 45, no. 3 (Fall 2001): 68–70.
  Profiles the careers of the Berrymans.
• Yadgar, Obie. “Music for an Old World.” Milwaukee Magazine 3 (December 1979): 45–46, 48
  Emphasis given to ethnic music and folk instruments at the Milwaukee Public Museum’s European Village exhibit.