Elizabeth Bristol Greenleaf (1895–1980) was an American collector of folk songs. She was among the first people to collect both the words and the music of the folk songs of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

, and (together with the

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

Grace Yarrow Mansfield) compiled the definitive collection of them.Anita Best
Elisabeth Greenleaf fonds
at

Memorial University Memorial University of Newfoundland, or MUN (), is a Public university, public research university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook ...

Department of Folklore
PDF
as of 2025.

Early life and education

Elisabeth Bristol was born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, the daughter of Charles Lawrence Bristol and Ellen Gallup Bristol. Her mother was a teacher, and her father was a zoology professor at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. She graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

in 1917.

Career

After college, Bristol worked for the Food Administration from 1917 to 1918. In 1920 she volunteered to teach for the

Grenfell Mission The Grenfell Mission was a philanthropic organization that provided medical and social services to people in rural communities of northern Newfoundland and Labrador. It was founded by Sir Wilfred Grenfell in 1892 as a branch of The Royal National ...

summer school at Sally's Cove, near

Bonne Bay Bonne Bay is a bay in Newfoundland, Canada. It is located on the western coast of Newfoundland and separates the Great Northern Peninsula from the rest of the island. It is a part of Gros Morne National Park. It is separated into two section ...

on the west coast of Newfoundland. There she heard traditional singing for the first time and began to write down the songs she heard. In 1921 she returned to Newfoundland to teach for a summer, and again in 1929 with a musicologist, Grace Yarrow Mansfield, as part of the Vassar College Folklore Expedition to Newfoundland. They made an extensive collection of folk songs and tunes, published in 1933 by

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

as ''Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland''. "This was the first scholarly publication of a collection of Newfoundland folk songs and one of the first North American collections to give the tunes equal emphasis with the texts." The book, reprinted in 1968, remains a definitive source of the songs of Newfoundland. Greenleaf spoke to campus and community groups about Newfoundland folk music. In her later years, she welcomed young musicians and singers including

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

and

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit "Society's Child, Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" an ...

to her home in

Westerly, Rhode Island Westerly is a New England town, town on the Coast, southwestern coastline of Washington County, Rhode Island, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, first settled by English colonists in 1661, and incorporated as a List of municipalitie ...

, to learn the songs she collected.

Publications

* ''Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland'' (1933, with Grace Yarrow Mansfield)

Personal life

Bristol married biology professor William Eben Greenleaf in 1921. They had a son, William. Her husband died in 1959, and she died in 1980, in her eighties, in Rhode Island. Her grandson Christopher Marmon Greenleaf is artistic advisor for a music series.

References

External links

Scrapbook of Elizabeth Bristol Greenleaf

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenleaf, Elizabeth Bristol 1895 births 1980 deaths People from New York (state) Vassar College alumni 20th-century American educators American folk-song collectors 20th-century American musicians