Thomas Cheney

Thomas Edward Cheney (1901–1993) was an American folklorist who made contributions to the field of Mormon folklore. As one of the first Mormon folklorists, he collected folk songs in Utah and Idaho and authored books and articles on Utah, Idaho, and Mormon folklore. He served as president of the Folklore Society of Utah from 1963 to 1964. Cheney also compiled songs for the American Folklore Society, which were published in 1968. Along with books on Mormon Folklore, Cheney wrote a book about J. Golden Kimball, which was considered controversial. He was also a professor of English at Brigham Young University (BYU) and taught courses in English Romantic literature, ballads, and Mormon folklore.

Early life Thomas E. Cheney was born in 1901 in Victor, Idaho. He also taught graduate seminars in Mormon folklore. Additionally, Cheney led students through projects collecting their own folklore material in his Introduction to Folklore course.

Folklore scholar Cheney was one of the first Mormon folklore scholars. A pioneer folklore scholar of Idaho and Utah, he collected and transcribed Utah and Intermountain Western folk songs. He served as a folklorist consultant for the 1965 album The Mormon Pioneers, which included 17 folk songs that he helped contribute.

Publications While teaching at BYU, Cheney continued to collect folk songs, eventually compiling 250 folk songs for the American Folklore Society. These folk songs were published in Mormon Songs from the Rocky Mountains (originally titled Songs of the Wasatch and Tetons) in 1968.

Cheney's subsequent book, The Golden Legacy: A Folk History of J. Golden Kimball, published in 1973, was controversial at BYU. This book revolved around the life of J. Golden Kimball, an LDS Church leader and member of the First Council of the Seventy, and contained a chapter with explicit language (which Kimball was known for using).

Cheney's final book, Voices from the Bottom of the Bowl: A Folk History of Teton Valley Idaho, 1823–1952, was published in 1991.

Journal articles Scandinavian Immigrant Stories (1959) Mormon Folk Song and the Fife Collection (1961) Facts and Folklore in the Story of John Wilkes Booth (1963) Imagination and the Soul's Immensity (1969)