Podcast Summary:

Podcast: New Books Network – New Books in Music
Episode: Christopher Lynch, "Formulating Foster: Stephen C. Foster and the Creation of a National Musical Myth"
Host: Kristin Turner
Guest: Christopher Lynch
Date: January 19, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Kristin Turner interviews musicologist Christopher Lynch about his new book, "Formulating Foster: Stephen C. Foster and the Creation of a National Musical Myth" (Oxford University Press, 2025). The conversation delves deep into Lynch's investigation of how the image and legacy of Stephen Foster, a 19th-century composer known for songs like "Old Folks at Home" and "My Old Kentucky Home," have been constructed, curated, and mythologized over time. The book combines elements of biography, archival sourcebook, reception history, and scholarly reflection to challenge widely accepted narratives about Foster’s politics, artistry, and cultural significance.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Genesis of the Project and Lynch’s Approach

(03:02–05:38)

• Lynch was drawn to Foster not through initial scholarly interest but by working at the University of Pittsburgh Library System, which houses Foster’s archive. He began to notice discrepancies between long-standing Foster myths and archival evidence.
• Quote:

  "The book sort of grew out of that recognition that there were materials in the archive that were telling a different story than the one that I had been telling my students for so many years and that we have all believed for so many years." – Christopher Lynch (05:24)

2. Why This Book Isn’t a Traditional Biography

(06:07–08:57)

• Lynch actively avoided writing a conventional biography. He critiqued the "Beethoven Syndrome," where a small body of works and anecdotes are used to tell a circular, self-reinforcing—often mythic—story about a subject.
• Foster’s reputation centers on a handful of sentimental minstrel songs, fueling narratives about his presumed sympathy and universality.
• Quote:

  "They sort of created this circular logic... It creates this circular logic that sort of discourages looking outside the songs for any additional evidence. And that's what I really wanted to break up." – Christopher Lynch (07:48)

3. Periodizing the "Foster Myth"

(09:41–15:04)

• Lynch divides posthumous Foster reception into three periods:

  • Immediately after death (1864–1890):
    • No single myth. Remembrances conflicted, Foster’s name often forgotten even as his songs lingered.
  • Revival & Myth-Making (c. 1890–1914):
    • Foster's songs enter public domain, Civil War commemorations, and the efforts of his brother Morrison Foster elevate him as a symbol of North-South reconciliation.
    • The myth of Foster as a national, unifying figure emerges.
  • Universalism vs. Resistance (post-1914):
    • Sparked by NAACP protests in Boston against the use of racially derogatory Foster lyrics in schools, leading to an intensified promotion of Foster’s supposed universalism.

• Quote:

  "The myth of Foster that had emerged earlier really took off after this as sort of a rebuttal to the NAACP... the language of the universalism of his music really taking off in that time period." – Christopher Lynch (13:56)

4. Ambiguity in Foster’s Songs

(16:11–18:49)

• Foster’s skill (or “genius”) was constructing ambivalent lyrics—allowing his songs to appeal across political divides.
• Example: "Old Folks at Home" could be interpreted as sentimental longing for family or as nostalgia for slavery, depending on a listener’s perspective.
• Quote:

  "He was able to write these songs that could mean one thing to one person and something else to somebody else. And I really think he did it deliberately." – Christopher Lynch (17:11)

5. Commercial Motivations and Popularity

(18:49–23:54)

• Foster was a professional songwriter dependent on song sales—not a performer or music teacher like his contemporaries.
• He worked with publishers in both the North and South and was encouraged to make his work broadly appealing.
• The popularity of his songs (and the growth of the Foster myth) accelerated as his works entered the public domain.
• Notable moment:
  • Foster’s friend John Mann recalls Foster's intent with the song "Under the Willow She’s Sleeping":

    "He said, ah, but this is where the poetry lies. I wrote it so that she could be understood as dead, as asleep, or as both." (22:54)

6. Universalism & Its Limits—What Foster Omitted

(23:54–26:09)

• The book challenges the narrative of Foster as a purely universal, democratic artist by examining songs that didn’t circulate (often more partisan or explicitly political).
• Foster’s unpublished, partisan songs were much clearer in support of Democratic, sometimes pro-slavery or pro-states-rights perspectives.

7. Selection and Value of Primary Sources

(26:09–33:42)

• Lynch includes primary reminiscences only by people who claimed to know Foster—regardless of how contradictory or dubious. Seeing the contradictions presents a more complex, human Foster.
• He discusses the interplay between different remembrances: for example, John Mann’s account directly rebuts earlier, misleading claims by Robert Peebles Nevin (influenced by Morrison Foster).
• Quote:

  "The complicated nature of it and the contradictions actually, in a way, get us closer to probably who the real Foster was." – Christopher Lynch (27:57)

8. The Role of Myth-Makers and Archive Collectors

(33:42–39:54)

• The shaping of Foster’s image owes much to people like Morrison Foster (his brother) and Josiah Lilly, Lilly Pharmaceutical heir, who sought to establish Foster as a musical founding father.
• Howard Vincent Milligan's biography of Foster was motivated as a rebuttal to NAACP criticism, further perpetuating the myth.
• Lilly’s archive systematically excluded negative portrayals, downplayed Foster’s ties to minstrelsy or racism, and omitted clippings from Black newspapers or related to the 1914 NAACP challenge.

9. Archival Silences and Manipulation of Memory

(39:54–48:46)

• John Tasker Howard, commissioned to write a "definitive" biography, faced heavy censorship from the Foster family and Lilly—certain family secrets (e.g., possible mixed-race relatives, alcoholism, undisclosed letters about Foster’s final years) were kept out of the archive and thus history.
• Quote:

  "Howard was controlled, was limited, and he wrote about the control... But he wrote about how he was controlled and the narrative was manipulated. So we at least know that it was manipulated." – Christopher Lynch (45:48)

• Host Kristin Turner emphasizes how, before searchable newspaper databases, such selective collecting could wholly shape how figures like Foster were remembered.

10. The “Hot Button” Issues: Foster’s Racial Politics and Sexuality

(48:46–55:38)

• Lynch reveals the Foster family’s slaveholding past, a fact long omitted or hidden in the public narrative.
• On rumors of Foster's queerness: Very little evidence exists, and existing rumors are based on stereotype or circumstantial interpretation. Lynch notes ambiguous phrasings in Howard's biography that raise the possibility Howard knew more.
• Lynch warns against the pitfalls of projecting current-day desires or identitarian hopes onto historical figures, just as past biographers shaped Foster’s image to fit their own times.
• Quote:

  "I think it's another trap to fall into that biographers often do is to try to pin down their subject. This is who he was. This is what he believed. I think we get closer to the real Stephen Foster by reading all of these contradictory reports of his life." – Christopher Lynch (52:40)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the enduring ambiguity of Foster’s songs:

  "He was writing it to mean this, that, the other, everything, whatever. He was opening up the meanings so that they would speak to listeners in different ways." – Christopher Lynch (22:09)

• On the necessity of contradictory sources:

  "The complicated nature of it and the contradictions actually, in a way, get us closer to probably who the real Foster was." – Christopher Lynch (27:57)

• On archival silence and bias:

  "You walk into that archive and you see these thousands of clippings and you just think, wow, this is everything. It's real easy to sort of fall into that trap. But...certainly in the case of the Foster archive, it's not true." – Christopher Lynch (47:49)

• On the ethics and limitations of historical interpretation:

  "I think we run into trouble when... we sort of project that onto Stephen Foster as the image of Stephen Foster, that is who he was. In the example of Foster's writing patriotic or universal songs, perhaps sometimes he did, he did a lot more than that too. And I think we do really foster in history an injustice ultimately when we look at it too narrowly." – Christopher Lynch (56:19)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction to the book’s approach – 03:02
• The circular logic of Foster biography – 06:07
• Three periods of Foster myth-making – 09:41
• NAACP’s challenge and its impact – 13:56
• Ambiguity in Foster’s lyrics – 17:11
• Commercial motivations, primary sources – 18:49, 26:32
• Josiah Lilly’s role in shaping myth, archives – 34:39
• Archival silences and Howard’s whistleblowing – 39:54
• Access, digital tools, and the shifting archive – 47:32
• Foster’s politics and sexuality, limits of knowing – 48:46, 50:10, 52:40
• Conclusion and Lynch’s ongoing projects – 56:53

Conclusion

Christopher Lynch’s "Formulating Foster" reframes the legacy of Stephen Foster, uncovering the forces—archivists, family members, and national mythmakers—that have shaped, sanitized, and at times suppressed aspects of Foster’s life and music. Through a meticulous, source-based methodology that highlights contradiction, ambiguity, and archival silence, Lynch encourages readers to abandon fixed narratives in favor of a complex, multifaceted understanding. The episode concludes with a preview of Lynch’s current and upcoming research, including work on Charles Henry Pace, and a reminder to approach musical and historical figures with a critical, curious eye.