The intellectual and political problems I have with MacColl pale into insignificance compared with the problems which the early collectors throw up.

There's no point in going into them here, or to take issue with the elitism and nationalism and neo-Darwinism which many of these collectors displayed. But, as with MacColl, their pronunciations were products of their time. That doesn't mean we should reject everything they said out of hand. But neither does it mean we shouldn't be critical. The point is, not to destroy the past, but to critically analyse it and to come up with new and better explanations.

And it's worth remembering that, without the pioneering efforts of these people, we would have virtually no idea of the extraordinary crock of riches which their efforts garnered.