Nationality American Children Nicholas Halpert | Name Herbert Halpert | |
Born August 23, 1911 ( 1911-08-23 ) New York, United States Occupation anthropologist, folklorist Spouse(s) Violetta Maloney Halpert Died December 29, 2000, St. John's, Canada Books Folktales of Newfoundland (RLE Folklore): The Resilience of the Oral Tradition Education Indiana University (1942), Columbia University Awards Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, US & Canada | ||
Herbert Halpert (August 23, 1911 – December 29, 2000) was an American anthropologist and folklorist, specialised in the collection and study of both folk song and narrative.
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Biography
Herbert Norman Halpert's interest in folklore emerged in his adolescence and remain throughout his life. Consistent with his choice, earned an M.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University, where he studied with Ruth Benedict and George Herzog, and a Ph.D. in English from Indiana University, under the guidance of Stith Thompson. Both dissertations were based on field studies of American folklore.
During World War II, Halpert served in the Alaskan Division of the Air Transport Command of the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the conflict, he became Professor and Head of the Department of English at Murray State College, in Kentucky, where he encouraged his students to collect local traditions. Between 1956-1960, he became Dean and Professor of English and Sociology at Blackburn College, in Illinois. In 1960, he was also Visiting Professor at the University of Arkansas and in the following year he moved to New York City, where he lived until 1962, teaching at the State University of New York.
In the autumn of 1962, Halpert became Associate Professor of English at the Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), where in 1968, he founded the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA) and developed most of the work in folklore that became internationally renowned.