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published by Lehr, also the earlier portion.1 The unpublished materials consist of
manuscripl and tape collections deposited in MUNFLA. Colin Quigley surveyed the ballad
texts contained in these materials up to 1972;2 my own revising and updating of this survey
has brought forth a number of additional sources, including some collected by myself, and
some minor corrections.
12.1.1. Published Sources
Academic collecting and editing of Newfoundland song was pioneered by Elisabeth B.
Greenleaf, assisted by her musical expert and field companion, Grace Y. Mansfield. Their
collection, Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland, was first published in 1933 and
reprinted in facsimile in 1968. A Vassar College graduate, Greenleaf had first come (0
Newfoundland as a volunteer teacher of the Grenfell Mission Summer School in Sally's
Cove, on the West Coast in 1920. There, on the very first night of her arrival in the
community, she made the impressive discovery of "a real folksong, one handed down by
oral tradition," an event she vividly recorded in her private correspondence. 3 She followed
on this enthralling experience by transcribing the words and music of the songs she found
around. This became a major activity in addition to her teaching and was greatly facilitated
by her involvement in Ihe community. Back at Vassar after the summer, she was
encouraged to pursue her collecting in the province. Sponsored by Vassar, she returned to
Newfoundland in 1929, accompanied by Mansfield, a trained musicologist. Greenleafwas
herself musically competent, but her dedication to the project made her seek expert musical
assistance. When she first collecled by herself in 1920, she took down musical notations.
Even in 1929, she was slill collecting the songs by herself, laking the words down and
carrying the tunes in her mind. After the day, she would sing them back to Mansfield,
who transcribed the music, sang them and made the necessary alterations on the basis of
Greenleafs memory of the tunes.
Greenleafs Inlrodttction to her collection offers enlightening comments on
Newfoundland outpon life, the living culture of the songs--from fishing techniques to
1Except for the few unpublished versions gathered by Greenleaf. Karpeles, Peacock and
Leach, the earliest unpublished ballad records date back to 1966; they are deposited in
Memorial University Folklore and Language Archive, hereafter referred to as MUNFLA,
and catalogued as MUNFLA ms 66-24.
2Colin Quigley, "The Child Ballads as Found in Newfoundland: A Survey," CullUre &
Tradition 5 (1980): 16-31
30reenleaf xix; MUNFLA ms 82-189, p. 30 (7/7/1920, Sally's Cove, Bonne Bay).