Profile: Folklorist John Lomax

John Lomax was one of the most notable American folklorists and musicologists. Born in Mississippi and raised on a Texas farm, Lomax co-founded the Texas Folklore Society, focusing it partly on discovering the folk music of the Mexican-American and African-American populations of Texas. Later, he also archived thousands of recordings for the Archive of American Folk Song at the U.S. Library of Congress, along with his son Alan.

The Lomaxes' journeys across the American south, their field recordings and the discovery of artists like Leadbelly are just a few of the accomplishments that made John Lomax's life so notable. Learn more about this man, to whom we can now in part credit the preservation of songs like "Goodnight Irene" and "Home on the Range."

image © MacMillan, 1941