Jane C. Beck

Jane C. Beck (born 1941) is an American folklorist and oral historian. She is Executive Director Emeritus and founder of the Vermont Folklife Center

Beck attended St. Timothy's School in Maryland and then Middlebury College, Vermont. At Middlebury College, she read American Literature and met her future husband, Professor Horace Beck.

Career Beck began work as state folklorist for Vermont in 1978. The role was created through the Vermont Council on the Arts.

Beck founded the Vermont Folklife Center as a private non-profit organization in 1983.

After retirement, Beck published Daisy Turner's Kin: An African American Family Saga (2015). Daisy Turner was the daughter of freed African American slaves and the book relates four generations of oral history from her family. It was based on interviews Beck carried out with Turner, beginning in 1983 when Turner was 100 years old. Beck traveled to Virginia, West Africa, and England to research the family history of Turner for the book. Her Presidential address was titled 'Talking Stock' and reflected on her 35 years as a member of the AFS. It drew on interviews with 100 fellow members of the Society.

Selected publications Beck, Jane C. (1970). "The White Lady of Great Britain and Ireland". Folklore. 81 (4): 292–306. . Beck, Jane C. (1972). "The Giant Beaver: A Prehistoric Memory?". Ethnohistory. 19 (2): 109–122. . . Beck, Jane C. (1973). "'Dream Messages' from the Dead". Journal of the Folklore Institute. 10 (3): 173–186. . . Beck, Jane C. (1975). "The West Indian Supernatural World: Belief Integration in a Pluralistic Society". The Journal of American Folklore. 88 (349): 235–244. . . Beck, Jane C. (1976). "The Implied Obeah Man". Western Folklore. 35 (1): 23–33. . . Beck, Jane C (1979). To Windward of the Land: The Occult World of Alexander Charles. Bloomington; London: Indiana Univ. Pr. . Beck, Jane C (1982). Always in Season: Folk Art and Traditional Culture in Vermont. Montpelier, Vt.: Vermont Council on the Arts. . . Beck, Jane C (1995). Vermont recollections: sifting memories through the interview process. Orono: Maine Folklife Center. . . Beck, Jane C (1985). Legacy of the Lake: A Study Guide to Folklore of the Lake Champlain Region. Montpelier, Vt.: Vermont Folklife Center. Beck, Jane C (1988). The General Store in Vermont: An Oral History. Middlebury, Vt.: Vermont Folklife Center. . Beck, Jane C. (1997). "Taking Stock: 1996 American Folklore Society Presidential Address". The Journal of American Folklore. 110 (436): 123–139. . . Beck, Jane C. (2015). Daisy Turner's Kin: An African American Family Saga. Urbana. . . Gerzina, Gretchen; Beck, Jane C.; Kolovos, Andy; Chambliss, Julian C.; Veitch, Ezra; Bennett, Marek. (2021). Turner family stories : from enslavement in Virginia to freedom in Vermont. Middlebury, VT. . .