Henry Marvin Belden

Henry Marvin Belden (1865-1954) was an American Folklorist and pioneer collector of folksongs and ballads from Missouri.

Early life and education Belden was born in Wilton, Connecticut. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and taught at a private training school for West Point candidates before undertaking graduate work in English at Johns Hopkins University in 1889.

During his doctoral research, Belden spent a year teaching at the University of Nebraska, where he met Willa Cather and Louise Pound (who also became a ballad scholar) and a year studying at the University of Strasbourg.

Career In 1895 Belden was appointed an assistant professor of English at the University of Missouri.

In January 1903, a club - later called the English Club - was begun at the university, initially with an interest in performing literary works: this developed into a group more focused on collecting the folksong and ballads of Missouri. Belden became an active member of the club, encouraging his fellow members to collect songs locally and publishing an article resulting from their initial efforts in the Journal of American Folklore in 1906.

The English Club was reconstituted into the Missouri Folk-Lore Society in December 1906, with Belden as its Secretary. The books contained over 600 variants of roughly 280 ballads and songs, gathered by over 100 collectors - most of them students from the University of Missouri.

Influence Belden has been hailed as "a pioneer in his study of broadside and Native American balladry". He used his presidential address to argue against the theory of the communal origin of ballads, as argued by scholars such as Francis Barton Gummere.

Selected publications Belden, H. M. (1905). Ranordine, Rinordine, Rinor. The Journal of American Folklore, 18(71), 322–322.

Belden, H. M. (1906). Old-Country Ballads in Missouri. I. The Journal of American Folklore, 19(74), 231–240.

Belden, H. M. (1906). Old-Country Ballads in Missouri. II. The Journal of American Folklore, 19(75), 281–299.

Belden, H. M. (1907). Old-Country Ballads in Missouri. “Geordie.” The Journal of American Folklore, 20(79), 319–320.

Belden, H. M. (1911). The Relation of Balladry to Folk-Lore. The Journal of American Folklore, 24(91), 1–13.

Belden, H. M. (1912). Balladry in America. The Journal of American Folklore, 25(95), 1–23.

Belden, H. M. (1910). Three Old Ballads from Missouri. The Journal of American Folklore, 23(90), 429–431.

Belden, H.M., ed. (1940). Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society. University of Missouri Studies Vol. 15, No. 1. Columbia: University of Missouri. Ballads and songs collected by the Missouri folk-lore society. Columbia, MO. OCLC 906137854 (Reprint, with foreword by Edward Weatherly. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1955, 1973.)

Belden, Henry M., and Arthur Palmer Hudson, eds. (1952). The Frank C.Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore. Vol. 3. Durham, NC: Duke University Press