Vance Randolph | |
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 Randolph in 1933 | |
| Born | (1892-02-23)February 23, 1892 Pittsburg, Kansas |
| Died | November 1, 1980(1980-11-01) (aged 88) |
| Resting place | Fayetteville National Cemetery[1] |
| Occupation | Writer,folklorist |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1927–80 |
| Genre | folklore |
Vance Randolph (February 23, 1892 – November 1, 1980) was afolklorist who studied the folklore of theOzarks in particular. He wrote a number of books on the Ozarks, as well asLittle Blue Books and juvenile fiction.
Randolph was born inPittsburg, Kansas in 1892, the son of a lawyer and a teacher. Despite being born in a privileged home, Randolph dropped out of high school to work on left-leaning publications. This did not stop him from attending college and he graduated from what is nowPittsburg State University in 1914. He pursued graduate work atClark University and received a Master of Arts degree inpsychology. He later dedicated his bookOzark Superstitions (1947) to the memory of his Clark mentorG. Stanley Hall. In 1917, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and served until the next year when he was given a disability discharge never serving overseas.[2]
In 1927, Randolph had his first article published in theJournal of American Folklore, based on work on Ozark dialect and folk beliefs. The dialect work led to multiple publications throughout the 1920s and 1930s inAmerican Speech and Dialect Notes.
He moved toPineville,McDonald County, Missouri in 1919. He never moved away from the Ozarks and remained in the Ozark Mountains from 1920 until his death. He made a living by writing for sporting and outdoor publications. While writing, Randolph used pseudonyms, but never for his work on the Ozark culture.
Randolph also wrote about non-folklore aspects of Ozark society, such as music. HisOzark Mountain Folks (1932) describes the creation of a distinctivechurch choir singing style created by a corps of uncredentialled, itinerant choral instructors.
Pissing in the Snow and Other Ozark Folktales (1976) was a national bestseller. He published over a dozen works on Ozark folklore. In 1949 he and the poetJohn Gould Fletcher founded the Ozark Folklore Society.
In 1951, he received an honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Arkansas. A longtime member ofThe Missouri Folklore Society, he was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Folklore Society in 1978.
He met his first wife in McDonald County, Marie Wardlaw Wilbur and married in 1919. He married his second wife,Mary Celestia Parler in 1962.
Randolph died in 1980 inFayetteville, Arkansas aged 88.
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