Olive Dame Campbell -A woman way ahead of her time
Olive’s Early Life
Olive Dame Campbell was a woman ahead of the times she lived in. She was the daughter of the headmaster of a private school so her upbringing was such that her own education was of paramount importance. Olive graduated from Tufts College in 1900 at a time when most women did not pursue higher education. After graduation she taught literature for several years. While sailing abroad she me John C. Campbell and by the end of the journey they were engaged.
Both Campbells had a strong sense of mission to educate those they felt deserved the experience. Upon receiving a large grant to study the Appalachian culture with the goal of raising the education standards, they traveled by horseback and covered wagon to the backwoods of Western North Carolina. Their four years of research taught the Campbells a lot about the people, who were thought of by outsiders as hopelessly backward. The Campbells saw the people much differently and admired their resilience to survive in a hard scrabble and harsh environmen, along with their artistic traditions of music and dancing traditions.
Founding The Folk School
Steeped in the value of education, based upon her own background, she was well aware of the difference it made in people’s lives. In that part of the mountains only the “promising” children were sent to school, others deemed “not so special” had no formal education at all. Newly widowed Olive Campbell traveled to Scandinavia to observe their “folk school” traditions in a warm and non-competitive teaching environment that emphasized the joy of learning.. Her experience led her to envision a similar type of teaching experience back in Appalachia.
Olive’s own interest in weaving led to the first teaching class for women in the area. She invited a famous weaving instructor from Chicago, and enlisted several women to attend the teaching sessions with her. Olive began to envision way to teach the women how to creat homespun crafts as a cottage industry, that they could do in their homes while tending to children and the daily chores. Her vision was welcomed and still is in play to this very day.. The camaraderie of that first class still happens to this day as students from many parts of the county journey to the Folk School to learn black smithing, wild food foraging, metal work, book binding, weaving and many more.
Olive’s musical background gave her the awareness that the music she was hearing people play had deep roots in the British Isles and many were little changed from the originals. She began collecting the songs (thus “Songcatcher”) and attempted to capture the attention of musical scholars. However it wasn’t until a famous British musical historian Cecil j. Sharp joined her in her research that the music became “legitimized” .Together they published English Folk Songs From The Southern Appalachians.
The Blacksmithing Shop at John C Campbell Folk School
The folk school operates year round and there are very comfortable lodging facilities, some located in the middle of the livestock or farming fields. You could awaken to the soothing sound of morning cattle calls.
Check out what classes are coming up at the school. Current schedule