The Missouri Folklore Society
The Missouri Folklore Society was organized December 15, 1906, “to encourage the collection, preservation and study of folklore in the widest sense, including customs, institutions, beliefs, signs, legends, language, literature, musical arts, and folk arts and crafts of all ethnic groups throughout the State of Missouri.” We continue to support the cultivation and study of the folkgroups and folkways of our state — and beyond.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The 2026 annual meeting of the Missouri Folklore Society will be November 5-7, at the magnificent Elfindale Mansion in Springfield. For questions, email mofolklore@gmail.com Members are strongly encouraged to recruit friends, especially educators.
Have a proposal or presentation you’d like to submit for 2026? Fill out our call for participation form here:
MFS 2026 Call for Participation
Click here for the printable registration form to attend the meeting
Note: We’d really like you to have it to us by October 31 so that we have an accurate headcount, especially for meals — but you can also register at the door.
New or renewing member? Click here for a printable form
Click here for the full list of presentations from last year’s meeting.
You can follow us on:
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/missourifolklore
Instagram — The Missouri Folklore Society (@missourifolklore)
YouTube — Missouri Folklore Society – YouTube
Got a folklore- or folklife-related event for our newsletter? Want to contribute to our collections here, or ask a question of our knowledgeable members? Contact the webmaster: adavis@truman.edu You can also write PO Box 1757, Columbia MO 65205
The Missouri Folklore Society Newsletter (appears Fall and Spring)
Contents of the Missouri Folklore Society Journal (MFSJ issues/articles are archived at https://www.hathitrust.org/)
MFSJ Volume 42 is now available: a monograph by Van Tegtmeier on sexism in videogaming communities.
MFSJ, special triple issue, Volumes 43-45, Henry Belden’s Folksongs Collected by the Missouri Folklore Society (1940; 2nd ed 1955, rpt 1966).
The Society gives special thanks to the heroic labors of Tessa Allen!
Click here to download the .docx version;
Click here to download the .pdf fascimile.
The collections below are coming soon (bear with us while we rebuild resources after our migration):
Missouri Folklore Studies: an online collection of documentary and analytical papers
Links of special interest to Missouri folklorists
Our members’ links: their products and services, collections, scholarship, remembrances and testimonies
For students: the Schroeder Prize in Folklore