Densmore, Frances, 1867-1957

Variant names
Dates:
Birth 1867-05-21
Death 1957-06-05
Birth 1867
Death 1975
Americans
English

Biographical notes:

Frances Theresa Densmore was born on May 21, 1867 in Red Wing, Minnesota. She studied at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music from 1884 to 1887. Her professional interest in the music of Native Americans dates from the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1905, she made her first visit to the Minnesota tribes and in 1907 began to record Indian music under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology. During her fifty years with the Bureau, she recorded nearly 2,500 songs of some thirty Indian tribes and authored numerous anthropological and musicological studies. Densmore died on June 5, 1957.

From the description of Papers, 1886-1904. (Oberlin College Library). WorldCat record id: 27115991

Frances Theresa Densmore was born in Red Wing, Minnesota on May 21, 1867, the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Adelaide (Greenland) Densmore.

Densmore studied music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (1884-1886) and at Harvard University (1889-1890). In 1893 she began studying the music of American Indian peoples and eventually became an authority in American Indian ethnomusicology. Working with the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution, and other organizations, she recorded the music of many Indian tribes in the United States. Densmore died in Red Wing on June 5, 1957.

From the guide to the Frances Densmore papers., 1926-1939., (Minnesota Historical Society)

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Subjects:

  • Religion
  • Banks and banking
  • Banks and banking
  • Belgian
  • Belgians
  • Dakota Indians
  • Dakota Indians
  • Frontier and pioneer life
  • Frontier and pioneer life
  • Names, Geographical
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  • Ojibwa Indians
  • Ojibwa Indians
  • Banks and banking
  • Dakota Indians
  • Frontier and pioneer life
  • Names, Geographical
  • Germans
  • Indian mythology
  • Indians of North America
  • Ojibwa Indians
  • Ojibwa Indians
  • Ojibwa Indians
  • Ojibwa Indians
  • Ojibwa Indians
  • Ojibwa Indians
  • Ojibwa Indians
  • Ojibwa Indians

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not available for this record

Places:

  • Goodhue County (Minn.) (as recorded)
  • Minnesota--Red Wing (as recorded)
  • United States (as recorded)
  • North America (as recorded)
  • Red Wing (Minn.) (as recorded)
  • Minnesota (as recorded)
  • White Earth Indian Reservation (Minn.). (as recorded)
  • Minnesota (as recorded)
  • White Earth Indian Reservation (Minn.) (as recorded)
  • Goodhue County (Minn.). (as recorded)
  • Red Wing (Minn.). (as recorded)
  • United States (as recorded)

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