Stone

The professorship, established by an endowment from the Laura Boulton Foundation, honors Laura Boulton (1899-1980), a scholar who recorded and annotated a notable collection of music recordings and musical instruments, many of which are housed at the Archives of Traditional Music and the Mathers Museum of World Cultures. Other recordings are held by Columbia University, Harvard University and the Library of Congress.

Boulton made her first trip to Africa in 1929 under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History. She subsequently made close to 20 trips to the continent of Africa, pioneering the recording and research of music from around the world. She made a significant impact on the study of ethnomusicology, contributing to the creations of ethnomusicology departments in major universities.

Stone has researched the music of West Africa for the past 30 years. Focusing on the music of the Kpelle people of Liberia, she has authored numerous books and articles in addition to contributing to audio, CD-ROM and digital video projects. Most recently, she edited the Africa volume of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, which was awarded the Dartmouth Medal in 2003.

She has served as president of the Society for Ethnomusicology and the Liberia Studies Association. She is presently chair of the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and Director of the Ethnomusicology Institute.

 

Stone collaborated with colleagues Patrick McNaughton, John Hanson, dele jegede and Brian Winchester on the CD-ROM Five Windows of Africa (left). She served as editor of the Africa volume of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, which received the Dartmouth Medal last year.