while many researchers viewed folklore as a relic from the past, botkin and other new deal folklorists insisted that american folklore played a vibrant role in the present, drawing on shared experience and promoting a democratic culture. botkin served as the head of the archive of american folk song of the library of congress (formerly held by john lomax and alan lomax) between 1942 and 1945. he became a board member of people's songs inc., a forerunner to sing out!, during the mid '40s. at that time botkin left his government post to devote full-time to writing. during the '40s and '50s he compiled and edited a series of books on folklore, including "a treasury of american folklore" (1944), "a treasury of new england folklore" (1947), "a treasury of southern folklore" (1949), "a treasury of western folklore" (1951), "a treasury of railroad folklore" (with alvin f. harlow, 1953), "a treasury of mississippi river folklore" (1955), and "a civil war treasury of tales, legends and folklore" (1960).