The University Museum

DAVID SENEFF MCINTOSH:

RESEARCHER OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS FOLK MUSIC

The late David Seneff McIntosh sought out and recorded the everyday music of Southern Illinoisans in the mid-1950s. Professor McIntosh was born in 1897 in Steelville, Illinois, into a musical family. He received his bachelor's degree in music education from Northwestern University in the 1920s, and it was there that he met his wife Eva, whom he married in 1924. He came to Southern Illinois University Carbondale (then Southern Illinois Normal University) as a faculty member in 1928, and while working in the Department of Music obtained his master's degree from the State University of Iowa in 1935. Professor McIntosh served as chair of the Department of Music for 18 years. He retired from SIUC in 1965. It was during his early years in Carbondale that he developed an interest in Southern Illinois folk music and began researching the genre.

Professor and Mrs. McIntosh worked as a team collecting the songs and stories of Southern Illinoisans beginning in the 1930s. They often involved students in their work. First using paper and pencil, and later taking advantage of electric recording devices, they documented the tunes and tales from individuals in 140 different towns and villages in the lower 32 counties of Illinois. The McIntoshs donated these recordings to the SIUC University Museum for research purposes in 1971. Their findings were presented in a number of books and articles over the years, most notably the 1974 volume published by the Southern Illinois University Press titled Folk songs and singing games of the Illinois Ozarks.

Professor McIntosh passed away in 1979. In an interview three years after his death, Eva McIntosh noted that both she and Professor McIntosh enjoyed interacting with people, and reached out to students and community members alike who shared their interest in the folk music of the region. Through sound recordings and publications that document the songs and stories of Southern Illinoisans over fifty years ago, the work of David McIntosh continues to teach us still.

1971. Collection Of Folk Music Presented To SIU Museum. The Metropolis News. 6 May 1971.
1982. Interview with Eva Honnold McIntosh, 27 May 1982. From the archives of the University Museum, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

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