Ronald M. James

Ronald M. James (born 1955) is an American folklorist and historian from Reno, Nevada. He lectured on history and folklore at the University of Nevada, Reno from 1979 until 2011, and was head of the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office from 1983 until 2012. James has published numerous books and articles on history and folklore.

Early life and education Ronald M. James was born at St. Mary's Hospital in Reno, Nevada, in 1955. His father, who was a police officer, died when James was a child. He played in the rock band Jericho while attending Reno High School. and was an I.T.T fellow studying folklore from 1981 until 1982. While studying in Dublin, he taught himself the local brogue because he felt that his American accent separated him from the locals. In 1984, he married Susan, with whom he has a son named Reed. Between 2004 and 2013, James was chairman of the National Historic Landmarks Committee. He was appointed to the National Park System Advisory Board as historian and folklorist in 2010. In 2014, he published A Short History of Virginia City with Susan A. James. James is also a contributor to R/AskHistorians.

The Folklore of Cornwall He wrote the The Folklore of Cornwall: The Oral Tradition of a Celtic Nation in 2018. The book is a study of 19th century Cornish folklore, focusing on both its unique features and its interconnections with other cultures. Elissa Henken, in the Journal of Folklore Research Reviews, called it "a gift to Cornish studies, an easy-to-read, scholarly work, which provides historic and theoretic perspective along with its valuable body of cultural information." Writing for the The Irish Times, Seaghan Mac an tSionnaigh called it "an apt introduction both to Cornwall and to folklore". The book was a finalist for The Folklore Society's 2019 Katharine Briggs Award.

Monumental Lies In 2023, James published Monumental Lies: Early Nevada Folklore of the Wild West. He credited his college mentor Sven S. Liljeblad with influencing the book. Mark Maynard of the Nevada Historical Society praised the book, writing that "The hard work the author has done to find, categorize, and make sense of these localized stories is too important to be ignored."

Legacy James was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 2014, In 2016, he was elected a bard of the Gorsedh Kernow, for his contributions to the study of Cornish folklore and immigration.

The "Ronald M. James Papers" in the special collections department of the University of Nevada, Reno contains research materials from five books written by James between 1992 and 2019. These books largely deal with Nevada history, including the history of the Comstock Lode.