Editor's Introduction
 
Vance Randoph's four-volume collection Ozark Folksongs, published between 1946 and 1950 by the State Historical Society of Missouri, was widely recognized after its appearance as one of the most significant American folksong collections in print, and the passage of time has done nothing to tarnish that accolade.

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Introduction
 Until recent years there were people living in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas who were singularly isolated from the outside world and knew almost nothing of the advances of civilization.