Richard Chase (folklorist)

Richard Thomas Chase[1][2] (February 15, 1904 – February 1988), an American folklorist, was an authority on English-American folklore. He was born near Huntsville, Alabama, and graduated from Antioch College in 1929.

Chase compiled and edited several books of folktales and folk games (especially Appalachian), including:

• Grandfather Tales: American-English Folk Tales (1948), ISBN 9780618346912
• Hullabaloo, and Other Singing Folk Games (1949) and The Jack Tales
• The Jack Tales: told by RM Ward and his kindred in the Beech Mountain section of Western North Carolina and by other descendants of Council Harmon (1803-1896) elsewhere in the southern mountains; with three tales from Wise County, Virginia. ISBN 0395066948
• Old Songs and Singing Games ISBN 0486228797
• The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus ISBN 0618154299
• American Folktales and Songs and other examples of English-American traditions as preserved in the Appalachian Mountains and elsewhere in the United States. ISBN 0486226921
• various spoken word recordings including Richard Chase Tells Three Grandfather Tales.

Chase lived in California from 1964-1975 and was a regular at the Southern Renaissance Pleasure Faire created by Ron and Phyllis Patterson, in Ventura, CA, where he is remembered for holding court under a large oak tree. He introduced English Country Dancing to the faire, bringing a group of his students from Claremont College. Chase had one daughter, Ann Gay Chase Applegate.[3][4]