Hi, Sourdough - The People's Songbook was published in 1948, and I believe it was last printed in the 1960's. Editor was Waldemar Halle, consultant editor Herbert Haufrecht. The associate editors were big names, Alan Lomax, Earl Robinson, Pete Seeger, and Irwin Silber.
Silver edited a second book called Lift Every Voice! The Second People's Songbook, published in 1953. In 1961, Silber edited a book called Reprints from the People's Songs Bulletin, 1946-49. All these books had a distinctive common format, and the same format is seen in many books that came from Oak Publications in the 1950's and 1960's. I think the format must have come from early issues of Sing Out! Am I correct?
-Joe Offer-