Dena Epstein

Dena Julia Polacheck Epstein (30 November 1916 – 14 November 2013) was an American music librarian, author, and musicologist.

Early life Epstein was born in Milwaukee to William Polacheck After spending a period as a homemaker, she returned to the University of Chicago in 1964 as the Assistant Music Librarian, in which position she served for 22 years. was awarded the Chicago Folklore Prize and the Simkins Prize of the Southern Historical Association. Among other findings, Epstein demonstrated that the banjo emerged from the African slave tradition rather than rural white culture, a revelation that "shattered myths and sparked a remarkable revival of black string band music". Epstein received two National Endowment for the Humanities grants for her research, which was included in several musicology journals. She also published Music Publishing in Chicago Before 1871 (1969) and I Came a Stranger: The Story of a Hull-house Girl (1989),

Legacy Epstein served as president of the Music Library Association (MLA) from 1977 to 1979, and was awarded the association's highest citation in 1986. MLA adjudicates a research award named after Epstein. Her interview regarding her mother and conditions in the Near West Side Neighborhood at the turn of the 19th century appears on Disc 3: Battle for Chicago.