Research

Bodleian Broadside Ballads

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The good news: https://bibsoc.org.uk/councils-choice-for-november-2025/?fbclid=IwY2xjawN1UKFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETA4UnlNa09mVjVTNEg0eWFsAR4J3ihpab-Fz0hsO4uRq-4RXN8pwp2on-1vt9emqILTZJwPbuF-ZJroEmyvjg_aem_1xct88nzNOuse2GC0oIkLw Steve Roud has come up with some sound advice on using the new version: The latest news on the Bodleian Broadsides site is very encouraging, but this is only the first step. As you will see, the catalogue is accessible, but the images are not yet there. The old ones were … Read more

Songs for Ramblers and Songs by the Way

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Dr Abbi Flint has recently published and article on the connections between rambling, paths, and folk-song in the journal Folklore, including material touched on in her presentation at the Spring Conference in Sheffield. It is open access and free to download.Flint, A. (2025). Songs for Ramblers and Songs by the Way: Paths and Trails as Vernacular Contexts for … Read more

TSF Oral histories project: Documenting post-war folk song studies

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We are launching a major project to document and preserve the research and collection activity of the post-war generation, starting with recording interviews with major researchers, collectors and traditional singers. The recordings will be transcribed and made available to current and future researchers. If anyone has any recordings that they would be willing to share … Read more

The Play Observatory

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Julia Bishop has written to share information about a project that she is involved in –  ‘A National Observatory of Children’s Play Experiences During COVID-19’, about materials available online and opportunities for participation. Dear Colleagues and Friends,We are excited to announce the availability of our resource packs for the Play Observatory. As you may recall from … Read more

Murdered Sweetheart Ballads

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Tom Pettitt has written with news of a great piece of work on murdered sweetheart ballads:‘I was wondering if the Newsletter might be an appropriate place to report that my work on the Murdered Sweetheart Ballads has provisionally culminated in a ca 300pp. ‘Internet Paper’, “The English Murdered Sweetheart Ballads: A Discursive Catalogue”, accessible online … Read more

New article on the TSF website

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It is some while since we had any new articles submitted for the TSF Website so we are pleased that Lewis Jones, one of the people who have contributed in the past, has sent in an article about Lucy Broadwood and West Gallery Choirs which makes fascinating reading. You can find it on www.tradsong.org – go to … Read more

Songs the Whalemen Sang

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A new project that I have been working on has led to me looking at the history of some lesser known songs. While many of these appeared on undated broadsides, I was struck by how often the Traditional Ballad Index directed me to the journals of the old whalers for the earliest confirmed date of … Read more

Tune Analysis – Gapped Scales

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There has been a very interesting discussion taking place on the ‘Tradsong’ group about Gapped Scales and modality in folk tunes. I thought that Members might like to have access to the conversation as an ‘omnibus’ document. You can download it here.   

The ‘Single Gloucester’ project

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Gwilym Davis has sent me a note reporting that the ‘Single Gloucester’ project, which seeks to digitise and put online all the songs collected in Gloucestershire is now going fll steam after obtaining the funding that had been hoped for. Gwilym writes: Single Gloucester, a folk archive project developed by Gloucester Traditions, has been awarded … Read more

The Full English Project

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Probably the biggest news of the year (Decade? Century?) is the launch of the Full English project. There are three main elements to the project. There is an extensive educational programme for both adults and children, of which one of the components is the series of ‘Folk Song in England’ workshops being led by Steve … Read more