Max Hunter

Max Franklin Hunter (July 2, 1921 – November 6, 1999) was an American folklorist who, while working as a travelling salesman, compiled an archive of nearly 1,600 folk songs from the Ozarks region of the southern United States between 1956 and 1976.

Life and career Hunter was born on July 2, 1921, to a family with deep roots in the Ozarks. His archival philosophy was to make absolutely no changes to the songs he collected, even to correct obvious errors.

In 1972, he gave his audio tapes to the Springfield-Greene County Library, ignoring the advice of friends who urged him to give them to an academic institution where he worried the songs would get buried. From 1998 to 2001, the archive was digitized by Missouri State University. Many of his recordings are now on file at the Library of Congress and other institutions.

Although he quit smoking later in his life, he died of emphysema on November 6, 1999, at the age of 78.