Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue: The Past and Present in Tradition -- 1. The Problem of Tradition -- Folklore and the Study of Tradition -- Folk and Tradition in Popular Discourse -- Tradition in Scholarly Discourse -- Tradition in the Press -- The Politics of Tradition -- The Character of Tradition -- 2. Folklore and Ideology during the Gilded Age -- Museums in the Advance of Civilization -- Folklore at the Fair -- The Ideology of Evolution -- Black Folklore and "Progress of the Race" -- Relativism and the Diversity of American Culture -- 3. The English Connection, from Cultural Survivals to Cultural Studies -- Rationality and Morality -- Function and the Role of Tradition -- Analyzing Tradition across the Atlantic -- The Problem of Childhood -- The Folklore of Modernism -- 4. The Americanization of the Brothers Grimm -- The German Grimms -- The English Grimms -- The American Grimms -- The Academic Grimms -- 5. Martha Warren Beckwith and the Rise of Academic Authority -- 6. Alfred Shoemaker and the Discovery of American Folklife -- The Ethnic Connection -- The Celebration of Decorative and Preindustrial Arts -- The Community Emphasis -- The Emergence of Folklife -- The Creation of the First Department of Folklore -- After Shoemaker: The Public Face of Folklife -- 7. Henry W. Shoemaker and the Fable of Public Folklore -- Writing Traditions -- Publicizing Traditions -- Creating a Public Folklore for the State -- Professionalism and Authenticity -- Revision of the Historical Narrative -- 8. Richard Dorson and the Great Debates -- The Fakelore Debate -- The Applied Folklore Debate -- The Nationalism Debate -- Discipline from Discourse -- 9. Displaying American Tradition in Folk Arts -- Natives and Immigrants in Folkloristic Presentation -- Modernism and Nationalism in the Art World -- "Circles" and "Treasures" of Folk Art.

Art and the Elevation of Tradition -- Praxis and the Representation of Action -- Epilogue. The Future of Tradition -- Bibliographic Essay -- Expressions and Performers -- Identities and Communities -- Settings and Contexts -- Guides, Histories, Bibliographies, and Internet Sources -- Premise and Promise -- Notes -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter 8 -- Chapter 9 -- Bibliographic Essay -- References -- Index.