Ronald L. Baker was professor emeritus of English at Indiana State University, where he taught English and folklore courses from 1966 to 2006.

Hoosier author James Buchanan Elmore, lauded as “the bard of Alamo,” is well remembered for his local color writings, but until now there has been no comprehensive study of his homespun life as a farmer, sometime schoolteacher, or—more importantly—of his extensive contributions as a folk poet and regional ethnographer in the heartland. With this new volume, foremost authority on Indiana folklore Ronald Baker delivers the scholarly attention that Elmore’s life and work deserve. Elmore’s prose and poetry, Baker shows us, chronicle the substance of small town folklife in 19th- and early 20th-century Indiana, at a pivotal moment when agrarian communities grappled with the shifting social order that came along with industrialism and mass culture. Informative, insightful, and imminently readable, James Buchanan Elmore (1857-1942): Literary Ethnographer and Folk Poet will appeal to folklorists, historians, ethnologists, or anyone interested Midwestern literature and regionalism.

• List of FiguresForeword: Ronald L. Baker and the Folk Imagination, Simon J. BronnerPrefaceChapter One: Elmore’s Life in Alamo and Classmates at Alamo AcademyChapter Two: Elmore’s Works, Literary Influences, and CriticsChapter Three: Elmore’s Shift from Romance Toward Realism in ProseChapter Four: Elmore as a Literary EthnographerChapter Five: Elmore as a Folk PoetBibliographyAbout the Author

Ronald L. Baker was professor emeritus of English at Indiana State University, where he taught English and folklore courses from 1966 to 2006.

Hoosier author James Buchanan Elmore, lauded as “the bard of Alamo,” is well remembered for his local color writings, but until now there has been no comprehensive study of his homespun life as a farmer, sometime schoolteacher, or—more importantly—of his extensive contributions as a folk poet and regional ethnographer in the heartland. With this new volume, foremost authority on Indiana folklore Ronald Baker delivers the scholarly attention that Elmore’s life and work deserve. Elmore’s prose and poetry, Baker shows us, chronicle the substance of small town folklife in 19th- and early 20th-century Indiana, at a pivotal moment when agrarian communities grappled with the shifting social order that came along with industrialism and mass culture. Informative, insightful, and imminently readable, James Buchanan Elmore (1857-1942): Literary Ethnographer and Folk Poet will appeal to folklorists, historians, ethnologists, or anyone interested Midwestern literature and regionalism.

• List of FiguresForeword: Ronald L. Baker and the Folk Imagination, Simon J. BronnerPrefaceChapter One: Elmore’s Life in Alamo and Classmates at Alamo AcademyChapter Two: Elmore’s Works, Literary Influences, and CriticsChapter Three: Elmore’s Shift from Romance Toward Realism in ProseChapter Four: Elmore as a Literary EthnographerChapter Five: Elmore as a Folk PoetBibliographyAbout the Author

Ronald L. Baker was professor emeritus of English at Indiana State University, where he taught English and folklore courses from 1966 to 2006.

Hoosier author James Buchanan Elmore, lauded as “the bard of Alamo,” is well remembered for his local color writings, but until now there has been no comprehensive study of his homespun life as a farmer, sometime schoolteacher, or—more importantly—of his extensive contributions as a folk poet and regional ethnographer in the heartland. With this new volume, foremost authority on Indiana folklore Ronald Baker delivers the scholarly attention that Elmore’s life and work deserve. Elmore’s prose and poetry, Baker shows us, chronicle the substance of small town folklife in 19th- and early 20th-century Indiana, at a pivotal moment when agrarian communities grappled with the shifting social order that came along with industrialism and mass culture. Informative, insightful, and imminently readable, James Buchanan Elmore (1857-1942): Literary Ethnographer and Folk Poet will appeal to folklorists, historians, ethnologists, or anyone interested Midwestern literature and regionalism.

• List of FiguresForeword: Ronald L. Baker and the Folk Imagination, Simon J. BronnerPrefaceChapter One: Elmore’s Life in Alamo and Classmates at Alamo AcademyChapter Two: Elmore’s Works, Literary Influences, and CriticsChapter Three: Elmore’s Shift from Romance Toward Realism in ProseChapter Four: Elmore as a Literary EthnographerChapter Five: Elmore as a Folk PoetBibliographyAbout the Author