Note on "Folk-Songs and Other Songs For Children," Jane Byrd Radcliffe-Whitehead, 1903.
"In America, if we except the negro and Indian melodies, some college songs, and a few others, we can hardly be said to have as yet any folk songs."
We know this to be wrong, but in 1903, collecting by Sharpe and others was only beginning. The rich store of folk songs found by Sharp, Brown, Randolph, Cox, Lomax and many others was not yet unearthed.

Although unaware of American folk songs, Jane Byrd Radcliffe-Whitehead is known for her research on carols; she brought many of them to public attention for the first time.