Hi, Jim.
I've already agreed with you regarding Phillips Barry's spin on 'lakes' and I think most academics who know anything about the period following Child's death would agree a lot of hot air was expended by his pupils and a lot of theories were put forward which are no longer acceptable.

The statements you highlight are unfortunate in the way they are expressed; 'sunk to the level' looks extremely patronising and insulting to us today, but a century ago most collectors and academics came from a much different background to the source singers. I'm not excusing this sort of statement, just trying to put it a little more in context.

The other statement 'memory not invention is the function of folk' also on the face of it looks very damning. He does say he is paraphrasing. Perhaps he should have inserted the words 'most of' after 'of'. In the majority of cases this is true in the English-speaking world, the majority repeat the song as they have heard it and their alterations are mostly accidental. We both know, you more than most, that a relative few source singers are more than capable of excellent 'invention'.