| LC control no. | n 89656953 |
|---|---|
| Descriptive conventions | rda |
| Personal name heading | Thomas, Jean, 1881-1982 |
| Variant(s) | Thomas, Jeannette Bell, 1881-1982 Traipsin' Woman Bell, Jeanette Mary Francis de Assisi Aloysius Narcissus Garfield, 1881-1982 |
| See also | Founder of: American Folk Song Festival (1934 : Ashland, Ky.) |
| Associated country | United States |
| Located | Ashland (Ky.) Greenwich Village (New York, N.Y.) Logan (W. Va.) New York (N.Y.) |
| Birth date | 1881-11-14 |
| Death date | 1982-12-07 |
| Place of birth | Ashland (Ky.) |
| Place of death | Ashland (Ky.) |
| Field of activity | Folk festivals--Appalachian Mountains |
| Affiliation | University of Louisville |
| Profession or occupation | Folklorists Authors Law reporters |
| Found in | nuc89-56714: Her Ballad makin' in the mountains ... [MI] 1939 (hdg. on MH rept.: Thomas, Jean, 1881- ; usage: Jean Thomas) LCCN 40-4082 (hdg: Thomas, Mrs. Jeannette (Bell) 1881- ; usage: Jean Thomas) Wikipedia, Mar. 2, 2011 (Jean Thomas; Jean Bell Thomas; b. Jeanette Mary Francis de Assisi Aloysius Narcissus Garfield Bell, Nov. 14, 1881, Ashland, Ky.; d. Dec. 7, 1982; American folk festival promoter, author and photographer who specialized in the music, crafts, and language patterns of the Appalachian region of the United States) Kentucky encyclopedia, ©1992: pages 879-880 (Jean (Bell) Thomas, folk festival promoter and author. Became interested in mountain music as a young girl. As a court stenographer following the circuit in eastern Kentucky she had opportunity to gather original mountain folklore and was called "the Traipsin' Woman". Spent thirteen years writing in Greenwich Village. Upon her marriage, she and her husband moved to Logan, West Virginia. After their divorce she returned to New York City. Heard James William Day, a blind fiddler playing in front of the court house in Rowan County, Ky. and signed him to a management contract, billed him as Jilson Settles, the "Singin' Fiddler from Lost Hope Hollow" and used him as the subject of her first book. Worked as a consultant for the National Broadcasting Company's Dorothy Gordon, she staged a folk festival in the backyard of her Ashland, Ky. home. This grew into the American Folk Song Festival which first occurred on June 12, 1932 and continued under her management until 1972 with a pause between 1943 and 1948. The performers continued the event in Grayson, Ky. as the Kentucky Folk Song Festival. Died in Ashland, Ky. and her home was turned into the Jean Thomas Museum, opening in 1979, though the collections later found a home at the Music Library at the University of Louisville.) |
| Associated language | eng |
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