Title: Franz Rickaby Papers, 1918-2012

ID: OGLMC698

Primary Creator: Rickaby, Franz L. (1889-1925)

Extent: 0.25 Linear Feet

Date Acquired: 12/07/1981. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Music, University of North Dakota - Faculty, University of North Dakota - Theater

Languages: English

Franz Lee Rickaby was born 15 December 1889 in Rogers, Arkansas, the oldest child of Thomas and Dora Mohrweis Rickaby. His father was a musician and taught music to all of the children. The family moved to Taylorville, Illinois, in 1896 and then, several years later, nearby to the state capital of Springfield. Rickaby attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, graduating in 1916. He met his future wife, Lillian Katar, at Knox. Rickaby continued his education at Harvard University, obtaining a M.A. in English in 1917. After he and Lillian were married that summer, he accepted an offer from professor Frederick Koch to come to the University of North Dakota (UND) as an instructor in English and to direct the theater group, established in 1910 under Koch as The Sock and Buskin Society. Rickaby changed the name of the group to Dacotah Playmakers in December 1917.

Apart from his teaching and directing responsibilities at UND, Rickaby wrote the school fight song It's for you, North Dakota, U. and penned several plays. He is also known for his work as a folklorist and gained notoriety for his trek in 1919 from Charlevoix, Michigan, to Grand Forks documenting lumberjack songs in the northern regions of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This work became the basis for Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy first published in 1926. Diagnosed with rheumatic fever in 1917, Rickaby moved to Claremont, California, for health reasons and began teaching at Pomona College in 1923. His health continued to decline and he died 18 May 1925 in nearby Loma Linda. Rickaby was survived by his wife and one son.

Music
University of North Dakota - Faculty
University of North Dakota - Theater

Repository: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections

Accruals: Additional materials were deposited in 1983 (83-1218) and by Rickaby's granddaughter, Gretchen Dykstra

Access Restrictions: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.

Acquisition Source: Original materials were part of the UND biographical file

Acquisition Method: Donation (81-868)

Related Materials:

OGLMC 175: Olger B. Burtness Papers

OGLMC 685: Frederick H. Koch Papers

OGLMC 1155: Sara Edna Hesketh Papers

Franz Rickaby Collection at the Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Related Publications:

Rickaby, Franz, and Lillian Rickaby. The Christmas Spirit: A Poetic Fantasy in Two Acts. Grand Forks, ND: The Normanden Publishing Company, 1921.

Rickaby, Franz, and Lillian Rickaby. Waiting at the Church: A Farce in One Act. Boston, MA: Walter H. Baker Company, 1923.

Rickaby, Franz. Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926.

Rickaby, Franz, Gretchen Dykstra, and James P. Leary. Pinery Boys: Songs and Songcatching in the Lumberjack Era. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2017.

Preferred Citation: (Description of Item). Franz Rickaby Papers. OGLMC 698. Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.