Ruth Crawford Seeger

Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901–1953) was an American composer and folk-music scholar. In the 1920s and early 1930s, in Chicago and then New York, she was a leading member of the group of composers known as the ultramoderns, and in 1930 she became the first woman composer to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her String Quartet of 1931 is her best-known work. After marrying the musicologist Charles Seeger she turned largely to American folk song, transcribing field recordings with John and Alan Lomax and publishing collections such as American Folk Songs for Children (1948). Her children Mike and Peggy Seeger and her stepson Pete Seeger became central figures in the folk revival.