Gordon, Robert Winslow

Robert Winslow Gordon was one of the first and foremost authorities on American folksong. Gordon was born on September 2, 1888 in Bangor, Maine. He was the eighth descendant in a direct line from Alexander Gordon, a Scotsman who came to the colonies as a political prisoner in 1652.

In 1906 Gordon attended Harvard University on scholarship to the English Department. By 1912 he was teaching within that department and he then began his research into folk poetry. Gordon's initial course work was in the ballad, but curiosity soon led him to the collection of folksongs in his spare time. He began experimenting with cylinder recordings, an uncommon practice even among established folk scholars of the time.

In 1918 Gordon accepted a position as Assistant Professor of English at the University of California at Berkeley. While at Berkeley he became editor of the "Old Songs" department of a pulp publication called Adventurer Magazine . This position allowed Gordon to collect and record a vast array of folksong material from regions spanning the entire United States. These he presented to the public with historical and critical commentary. This mingling of the popular and academic spheres was unappreciated by Gordon's Berkeley peers. However, some scholars hold this to be the finest work published in American folk song of the time.

In 1924 Gordon returned to Harvard and made plans to embark upon a field trip more extensive than any that had yet been taken in the study of folk song. He proposed to begin in Asheville, North Carolina travelling through the United States and into Canada, and ending in Newfoundland. Gordon set out in 1925 but financial and personal considerations, combined with the overwhelming amount of material that he found in and about the Asheville area, severely limited the original scope of his vision. However, it was in Asheville that he collected an array of material concerning the folksong "Dixie" among others. This was the first of many trips Gordon would make into the southern states for the collection of folk song.

Between 1925 and 1928 Gordon left the constraints and responsibilities of the university behind him and moved his family to Darien, Georgia. In Darien he conducted extensive fieldwork and supported his household through his work with Adventurer, and as a roving correspondent for The New York Times . It was here that Gordon found the time to engage in theoretical work that he felt university life had denied him. His work at this time involved the context for development and performance of Negro folksongs, chants, shouts, spirituals, and chanteys.

In 1928 Gordon established the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress. This was the first national center devoted to American Folk Culture. Gordon held this position for five years during which time he continued his collection and recording in the south. By the time Gordon parted ways with the ACLS, the archive contained some 8,000 texts with music for some 700 titles, all indexed. During this period Gordon also did research and gave testimony on the behalf of Victor Records in a claim of authorship suit brought against that company concerning "Old 97." This case came before the court in 1933. At this point Gordon was recognized as an authority in his field.

From 1934 until his retirement in 1958, Gordon worked for the Department of the Interior, the English Department of George Washington University, and the Navy Department, engaging his passion for folklore in his spare time. He collaborated with many others in his field, published a number of articles, and held lectures and discussions at local social clubs in the Washington D.C. area. After his retirement Gordon moved in with his daughter and her husband in McLean Virginia. He died on March 26, 1961 at the age of 71.

From the guide to the Robert W. Gordon collection, ca. 1906-1939, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries)