Article

Edith Margaret Fowke

Published Online May 19, 2008

Last Edited March 4, 2015

An avid collector of folk song recordings and a prolific writer on Canadian folk music, Fowke was a founding member of the Canadian Folk Music Society, becoming editor of the Canadian Folk Music Journal in 1973.
Edith Fowke, writer
An avid collector of folk song recordings, Fowke was also a prolific writer on Canadian folk music (courtesy McClelland & Stewart).

Edith Margaret Fowke, née Fulton, folklorist, collector, writer, teacher (b at Lumsden, Sask 30 Apr 1913; d at Toronto 28 Mar 1996). After receiving an MA from the University of Saskatchewan, Fowke moved to Toronto and became interested in Ontario folklore, collecting and recording on her field trips throughout the southern part of the province many of the folk songs she presented weekly on CBC "Folk Song Time" (1950-63), "Folk Sounds" (1963-74), "Folklore and Folk Music" (1965) and "The Travelling Folk of the British Isles" (1967). From 1971 to 1993 she taught folklore at York U.

An avid collector of folk song recordings and a prolific writer on Canadian folk music, Fowke was a founding member of the Canadian Folk Music Society, becoming editor of the Canadian Folk Music Journal in 1973. Recent works include, as co-editor, Explorations in Canadian Folklore (1985), Tales Told in Canada (1986) and Legends Told in Canada (1994). In 1985-86 she was president of the Folklore Studies Assn.