And, just to complicate matters, Child did not 'collect' any folksongs or ballads, in the sense of going out and learning them from what we call 'source' singers; but published a scholarly collection of versions that had already appeared in print in a limited number of (to him 'canonical'!?) previous such scholarly collections. He didn't survive to see it published, which was done by his colleague Kittredge, who, in his Introduction, claimed that the work contained 'probably all the significant mass of the available material' [from memory -- words to that effect anyhow] -- a somewhat, to us, quaint remark, that is said to have inspired Gavin Greig to go travelling in Scotland and learn, from source singers, a vast quantity or variants unknown to Child.

The point of this post is to stress that, as well as 'folk' itself', the terms 'collector' and 'collection' should also be used with some care and circumspection within this context.

~Michael~