Appalachian studies

Appalachian studies is the area studies field concerned with the Appalachian region of the United States.

Scholarship
Some of the first well-known Appalachian scholarship was done by Cratis D. Williams. His 1937 MA thesis in English from the University of Kentucky focused on 471 ballads and songs from eastern Kentucky and his 1961 PhD dissertation at New York University was called "The Southern Mountaineer in Fact and Fiction" with part of it appearing in The Appalachian Journal 1975-76.

Berea College president W.D. Weatherford received a Ford Foundation grant in 1957 to underwrite an exhaustive regional study, The Southern Appalachian Region: A Survey, published in 1962, which many see as the beginning of the modern Appalachian studies movement.

In 1966, West Virginia University librarian Robert F. Munn noted that "more nonsense has been written about the Southern Mountains than any comparable area in the United States." He also observed that there was "distressingly little in the way of useful primary and secondary materials" available for historical research on Appalachia".

Over the four decades since Munn's comments, a wealth of excellent Appalachian scholarship has been published. Appalachian Studies is interdisciplinary, as befits the study of a complex and diverse region and people. Appalachian Studies includes such disciplines as history, literature, anthropology, music, religion, economics, education, environment, folklore and folk customs, labor issues, women's issues, ethnicity, health care, community organizing, economic development, coal mining, tourism, art, demography, migration, and urban & rural planning. Appalachian scholarship has addressed – and continues to address – various issues within all of these academic disciplines.

Several academic journals are dedicated to Appalachian Studies, including Appalachian Journal, published by Appalachian State University, Journal of Appalachian Studies, published by the Appalachian Studies Association, Now & Then, published by East Tennessee State University, and Appalachian Heritage, published by Berea College.

Much of the scholarship and research about Appalachia is done by scholars who are members of the Appalachian Studies Association.

Academics
A number of colleges and universities in and around Appalachia offer courses and degrees in Appalachian Studies. These range from a Master of Arts in Appalachian Studies offered at Appalachian State University, Shepherd University, and East Tennessee State University, to undergraduate minors at a dozen schools. Many schools also have Appalachian Studies collections and archives in their libraries.

Brief bibliography
The following is a brief list of important books in the Appalachian Studies canon that would serve as a good introductory reading list. These titles were culled from a poll of members of the Steering Committee of the Appalachian Studies Association taken in the Spring of 2007.