Rourke, Constance

Rourke, Constance (Mayfield)

(1885–1941) historian, folklorist; born in Cleveland, Ohio. Educated at Vassar College where she then taught (1910–15), after 1915 she was an independent scholar based in Grand Rapids, Mich. She published pioneering cultural studies on the relationship between American folk traditions and art, which, while flawed, are regarded as still insightful, particularly her classic American Humor (1931), Charles Sheeler (1938), and The Roots of American Culture (1942).