Annabel Morris Buchanan


Annabel Morris Buchanan was an American composer and folklorist. The author of the book Folk Hymns of America as well as myriad journal articles, Buchanan helped found the White Top Folk Festival, which promoted music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains. Buchanan's documenting practices are credited for preserving many folk songs that might have otherwise gone on unrecorded.

Biography

Early life

Annabel Buchanan was born Annabel Morris on October 22, 1888 in Groesbeck, Texas. Her father, William Caruthers Morris, worked for a local newspaper before becoming a minister in the Presbyterian Church; her mother, Anna Virginia Foster Morris, was a teacher. In 1901, Annabel moved with her family to Maury County, Tennessee. In 1906, she graduated with honors from the Landon Conservatory in Dallas and began to teach music at Halsell College in Vinita, Oklahoma and the Stonewall Jackson Institute in Abingdon, Virginia. In 1912, Annabel married John Preston Buchanan, a lawyer who would eventually serve as a member of the Virginia Senate, representing the state's 1st district.