The Texas Folklore Society is a non-profit organization formed in 1909. John Avery Lomax and Leonidas Warren Payne, Jr.

Leonidas Warren Payne, Jr.

Leonidas Warren Payne, Jr. was an American linguist and professor of English at the University of Texas. He was a co-founder of the Texas Folklore Society along with John Lomax, edited the first anthology of Texas literature, and was one of the first to recognize the talent of e.e...

, conceived the idea for the Society and served as its first officers.

The Society’s annual meetings have been held regularly since 1911, except for interruptions caused by the two world wars. Starting with its 1923 publication, edited by renowned folklorist J. Frank Dobie

J. Frank Dobie

James Frank Dobie was an American folklorist, writer, and newspaper columnist best known for many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural Texas during the days of the open range...

, the organization has published or sponsored at least one volume each year.

Since 1923, the Society’s publications have been edited by the Secretary-Editor, who also attends to the day-to-day business of the organization.

The Society was headquartered in Austin until 1971, when Francis Edward Abernethy became Secretary-Editor, and the group moved its offices to the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University is a public university located in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. Founded as a teachers' college in 1923, the university was named after one of Texas' founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part of the homestead of another Texas founding...

 in Nacogdoches.

Current and former Secretary-Editors:

• J. Frank Dobie
  J. Frank Dobie
  James Frank Dobie was an American folklorist, writer, and newspaper columnist best known for many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural Texas during the days of the open range...
  
  : 1923 -1943
• Mody C. Boatright: 1943-1964
• Wilson M. Hudson: 1964-1971
• Francis Edward Abernethy: 1971-2004
• Kenneth L. Untiedt: 2004-present

Membership open to anyone interested in folklore. According to Abernethy, “the Society's main purpose is to search for ways to preserve folklore without embalming it and to present a fairly well educated public with the treasures of their culture's folk life.”

Members include(d) Kenneth Davis, also a fellow with the West Texas Historical Association

West Texas Historical Association

The West Texas Historical Association is an organization of both academics and laypersons dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of the total history of West Texas, defined geographically as all Texas counties and portions of counties located west of Interstate 35.-Formation of the...

 and B W Aston

B W Aston

B W Aston was an American historian whose career embraced local and regional history as well as Latin American studies. From 1967-2001, he was a faculty member at Baptist-affiliated Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas.Aston was born in Fort Worth to Ernest Roy Aston and Mural Aston...

, a former member of the Hardin-Simmons University

Hardin-Simmons University

Hardin–Simmons University is a private Baptist university located in Abilene, Texas, United States.-History:Hardin–Simmons University was founded as Abilene Baptist College in 1891 by the Sweetwater Baptist Association and a group of cattlemen and pastors who sought to bring Christian higher...

 faculty in Abilene

Abilene, Texas

Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...

.

Source and external links

• http://www.texasfolkloresociety.org/History.html
• http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/lat1.html