Botkin, B. A.

Botkin, B. A. (Benjamin Albert)

(1901–75) folklorist; born in Boston, Mass. He taught at the University of Oklahoma (1921–40), was folklore editor of the Federal Writers' Project (1938–39), and headed the Library of Congress folk song archive (1942–45) before becoming a freelance writer. A collector of folklore, stories, and ballads from throughout the U.S.A., he published many anthologies, including Treasury of American Folklore (1944) and Lay My Burden Down (1945), a landmark folk history of slavery.