Henry W. Shoemaker - First State Folklorist

First State Folklorist

In 1924, he cofounded the Pennsylvania Folklore Society with Bishop J.H. Darlington, and he was its president from 1930 until 1957. From 1924 to 1932, he published a series of monographs for the society. While he was minister to Bulgaria from 1930 to 1933, he took notice of Bulgaria's official efforts to preserve its folklore that he thought could be applied to the United States.

Upon his return to the United States, he began a daily column for the Altoona Tribune, which he had purchased in 1912, in which he covered regional folklore and history and called for cultural conservation efforts. He had an opportunity to develop his plans when he was appointed state archivist of Pennsylvania from 1937 to 1948 and director of the State Museum in Harrisburg from 1939 to 1940. In the posts, he called for the state to sponsor collection and preservation of folklore in addition to keeping the state's documentary record.

After the archives, museum, and historical commission merged to form the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission following World War II, he oversaw the creation of the Division of Folklore in the commission in 1948 and took the position of the nation's first state folklorist. Over forty states now have comparable positions. In the post, Shoemaker sponsored publications, meetings, festivals, and exhibits, although he entered into bitter disputes with academic folklorists in Pennsylvania over his popularized presentations of folklore.

Shoemaker left the post in 1956, retiring to Restless Oaks. Shoemaker died shortly thereafter near his McElhattan home in 1958. Many of his papers are located in repositories at the Pennsylvania State University, State Archives of Pennsylvania, and Juniata College (where a Shoemaker Gallery is named after him).