John C. Campbell Folk School

Olive Dame Campbell, a ballad researcher who inspired the character of Lily Penleric in the 2000 film "Songcatcher", created the John C. Campbell Folk School in 1925 to honor her late husband. John, like Olive, spent years interviewing Appalachian artisans and collecting oral histories. Olive researched Scots-Irish ballads in Appalachia, and John advocated for educational reform in rural towns.