April 30, 1949

The Ozark Folklore Society was founded at an informal meeting convened by poet John Gould Fletcher, who was then serving as artist-in-residence at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County). The meeting was held in the study of folklorist Vance Randolph in Eureka Springs (Carroll County). Fletcher was named president, and Randolph vice president. The society went dormant in about 1960 despite its membership of nearly 300. Since that time, with the deaths of many of the original members and supporters of the society, work in Ozark and popular culture has been subsumed into the activities of UA’s Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies.