Frances Densmore

Frances Densmore (May 21, 1867-June 5, 1957) was an ethnographer, musician, and writer. She studied at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and then moved to Boston to study with composers at Harvard University. Densmore became a student of Native American music and culture and began working with the Smithsonian Institution’s Bureau of American Ethnography to record nearly 2,500 songs of the Sioux, Yuma, Cocopa, Yaqui, Pawnee, Northern Ute, and various other tribes.

Densmore’s literary work includes fourteen bulletins made for the Smithsonian that are book length. These bulletins explain Densmore’s recordings and differences in tribal music repertoire. Her work includes: The American Indians and Their Music, Dakota and Ojibwe People in Minnesota, and many more.

More information on Frances Densmore from the Minnesota Historical Society.