Irene Whitfield Holmes

Irene Whitfield Holmes (née Irène Thérèse Whitfield; 26 October 1900 – 10 May 1993) was an American ethnomusicologist, educator,

Life Irène Thérèse Whitfield was born in Rayne, Louisiana, the second child of seven girls and three boys. whose father homesteaded the farm next to her father's.

Whitfield attended Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), graduating in 1919. As Patricia Petnik has written, in describing French language folk music, 'genre existed in the eye of the beholder'. Alan Lomax, with whom Irene Therese Whitfield collaborated in collecting folk songs in southern Louisiana. Daniel Kingman has described Whitfield's conception of the 'layering' of French language folk music in southern Louisiana, arising from various racial and cultural communities who have settled in the region. He writes that: Whitfield has identified three distinct layers: that of the Louisiana-French, the settlers and their descendants who came either directly from France or indirectly with a stopover of a few generations in the Caribbean; that of the Acadians, or Cajuns, refugees from Acadia (now Nova Scotia), who were welcomed into Louisiana and given land by the Spanish rulers after their expulsion from Canada in the mid-eighteenth century; and... those of African descent. and remains 'the most significant printed collection of Louisiana French songs.' In a subsequent 1969 edition of the work, Whitfield added additional songs and descriptions of her experiences gathering them.

Whitfield influenced Michael Doucet, who came across an article of her while researching in the archives at Louisiana State University. Doucet was introduced to Whitfield by his great-aunt, and Whitfield encouraged him to seek out the still living 'Cajun legends' in the area, as well as giving Doucet his first Amédé Ardoin records.

Whitfield married Lloyde Neil Holmes in 1940, and was sometimes referred to as Mrs. Lloyde Neil Holmes. She was a celebrated educator, and member of a number of organisations.

Irene Whitfield Holmes died in Lafayette, Louisiana on 10 May 1993, aged 92.