J. Russell Reaver (1915-2002)

Joseph Russell Reaver was born on August 4, 1915, in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. His family came from a long line of Pennsylvania Dutch and Quakers, whose folk culture inspired Reaver's lifelong appreciation for folklore as a vibrant component of community life. He grew up hearing the folktales, dialect, and musical traditions of southeastern Pennsylvania, and he maintained this appreciation for folklore as an essential part of everyday life by researching and writing about Florida folklife during his tenure as a professor at Florida State University. A pioneering scholar of folklore, Reaver's contributions include important writings on legends and other narrative genres as well as contributions to public folklore as a founder of state folklore societies and the Florida Folk Festival.