Western States Folklore Society

What Western States Folklore Society does

Western States Folklore Society (WSFS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scholarly membership organization founded in 1941 in Berkeley, California, originally as the California Folklore Society and renamed in 2004 to reflect its broader Western US scope. The society's primary mission is to advance the study of regional, national, and international folklore and folklife through publication, conferences, and professional community-building. It is governed by an elected board of directors and operates on a volunteer-driven model with no parent company or external ownership. The society maintains a continuous 80+ year operating history with the Western Folklore journal reaching its 85th volume as of Spring 2026, and a current leadership including President Dr. Lisa Gabbert (Utah State University), Vice President Jared Schmidt (Coquille Indian Tribe), Treasurer Anthony Buccitelli, and Secretary Sandra Mizumoto Posey.

The organization's product portfolio centers on three core offerings: (1) Western Folklore, a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal published continuously since 1942 and indexed in Historical Abstracts, Music Index, Humanities Index, and JSTOR; (2) the Annual Meeting, a conference held each April that rotates among Western US universities, with the 2026 edition co-hosted with the Association of Western States Folklorists at the University of Oregon (April 16-18, 2026); and (3) a tiered membership program (Regular, Student, Retiree, Limited Income, Joint, Lifetime) at $30-$600 per year for domestic members and $50-$70 for international members, providing journal access, conference discounts, JSTOR archive access via AFS dual membership, and student travel stipends of $200 each. Supporting offerings include the Archer Taylor Memorial Lecture Series (established 1978) and the Elliott Oring Student Travel Stipend.

Revenue is generated from four streams: recurring membership dues, annual meeting registration fees, tax-deductible donations (one-time, monthly, or yearly), and institutional journal subscriptions. Distribution is conducted through a self-serve website (westernfolklore.org), US mail-in membership, the JSTOR archive (from 1994 with a one-year moving wall), and a partnership channel via the American Folklore Society. The society relies on digital channels including a refreshed 2025 website, email newsletter, and a Facebook group for member engagement, while academic networks and conference referrals drive acquisition.

Name

Western States Folklore Society

Legal name

Western States Folklore Society

Website

https://westernfolklore.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1941

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Western States Folklore Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scholarly society founded in 1941 that publishes the quarterly Western Folklore journal, hosts an annual conference, and serves folklorists, folklore students, academic institutions, and folklore enthusiasts across the Western United States and internationally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scholarly Membership Society

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Scholarly Society & Association Publishing (EDAGAFAK)

Keywords

• Folklore scholarship
• Academic journal publishing
• Annual scholarly conference
• Professional membership society
• Peer-reviewed publication

Headquarters

HQ city

Salt Lake City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees provide the primary revenue stream. Membership includes Regular, Student, Retiree, Limited Income, Joint, and Lifetime options for both domestic and international members. Members receive the quarterly Western Folklore journal and access to members-only content.
2. Annual Meeting Registration: Fees collected from attendees of the annual conference, including regular members ($45), non-members ($70), student members ($25), and discounted rates for retired and limited income members. Abstracts and presentations are submitted after ticket purchase.
3. Donations: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, WSFS accepts tax-deductible donations to fund student scholarships, journal publication, and annual conferences. Donations can be one-time, monthly, or yearly with preset amounts ($10, $25, $50, $100, $200) or custom amounts.
4. Institutional Subscriptions: Institutions can subscribe to receive the Western Folklore publication. Managed through the Business Manager for institutional access.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Western States Folklore Society is a nonprofit scholarly membership organization that promotes the study of folklore through a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal (Western Folklore), an annual conference held each April, tiered membership programs, the Archer Taylor Lecture Series, and student travel stipends. Members and institutional subscribers access content through a website portal, US mail, and JSTOR archive integration.

Product overview

Western States Folklore Society operates as a scholarly membership organization offering a portfolio of products and services centered on folklore scholarship. The core offerings include the Western Folklore journal (a peer-reviewed quarterly publication), the Annual Meeting (an academic conference held each April), and various membership tiers providing access to publications and events. Supporting offerings include the Archer Taylor Lecture Series (an annual invitational lecture by distinguished folklorists) and the Elliott Oring Student Travel Stipend (student travel awards for conference presenters).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Western Folklore Journal Peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal covering regional, national, and international folklore and folklife studies; published in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall issues since 1942.
• Annual Meeting Annual academic conference held each April rotating among colleges and universities throughout the western United States, bringing together folklorists to present papers, network, and discuss folklore scholarship.
• Membership Program Society membership with tiered options (Regular, Student, Retiree, Limited Income, Joint, Lifetime) for domestic and international members, providing access to the quarterly Western Folklore journal, annual meetings, voting rights, and members-only content on a calendar-year basis.
• Institutional Subscription Subscription to the Western Folklore journal for universities, colleges, libraries, historical societies, and folk art museums, managed through the Business Manager for institutional access.
• Archer Taylor Lecture Series Invitational lecture series featuring notable folklorists delivering an annual lecture during the WSFS Annual Meeting, established in 1978 in honor of Archer Taylor.
• Elliott Oring Student Travel Stipend Travel awards of $200 each awarded annually to students presenting papers at the WSFS Annual Meeting to help defray conference expenses.

Quantifiable outcome

• Four student travel stipends of $200 each awarded annually to help students defray conference expenses

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Association of Western States Folklorists (AWSF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAWSF co-hosts the annual meeting with WSFS. The 2026 Annual Meeting at University of Oregon is a joint meeting between the two organizations. This partnership combines their respective activities and presentations in Eugene to support folklore scholars and professionals.
• University of OregoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost institution for the 2026 Annual Meeting in Eugene, Oregon, April 16-18, 2026. The University's Folklore Studies program partners with WSFS to host the conference venue and related events.
• Gender Institute for Teaching and Advocacy at MSU DenverminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-sponsor of the Special Lecture in Honor of Norine Dresser, delivered by James R. Dow on German Folklore During the Time of National Socialism.
• American Folklore Society (AFS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWSFS members can obtain dual membership with AFS for discounted JSTOR access to Western Folklore back issues and other folklore journals including the Journal of American Folklore and Folklore.
• Western Folklife CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWhile the Western Folklife Center (based in Elko, Nevada, founded 1980) is a separate organization, WSFS features articles about its programs. The WFC produces the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and engages in folklife documentation relevant to WSFS's scholarly interests.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Association of Western States Folklorists: AWSF is a regional folklore practitioners' organization that co-hosts the WSFS Annual Meeting. It serves a closely overlapping (mostly public folklorists and applied practitioners) membership in the same Western US geography, making it the closest operational peer.
• American Folklore Society: The American Folklore Society is the primary national scholarly society for folklore studies in the US, publishing the Journal of American Folklore. WSFS already has a dual-membership partnership with AFS, and the two directly overlap on member segments (academic folklorists) and journal offerings.
• Medieval Academy of America: Medieval Academy publishes Speculum and is a small humanities scholarly society with tiered membership, peer-reviewed journal, and annual meeting. It is a structural analog (small academic society model) but in a different humanities discipline.
• Oral History Association: OHA is a scholarly membership society publishing the Oral History Review and hosting an annual meeting. It is structurally analogous to WSFS — a small humanities scholarly society with peer-reviewed journal, annual conference, and tiered membership — serving an adjacent but overlapping academic audience.
• Society for Ethnomusicology: SEM publishes Ethnomusicology journal and hosts an annual meeting, serving academic ethnomusicologists. It is structurally and operationally analogous to WSFS and competes for overlapping scholars who work at the folklore/music/culture intersection.

Broad incumbents

• American Anthropological Association: AAA is the large, established disciplinary society for anthropology that publishes multiple journals and hosts a major annual meeting. Many academic folklorists hold AAA memberships and publish in anthropology journals, making AAA a broader incumbent in the same scholarly ecosystem.
• American Folklore Society (Journal of American Folklore): The Journal of American Folklore (published by AFS) is the senior folklore journal and the primary competing publication venue for folklorists who might otherwise submit to Western Folklore. It is broader in scope and is the historical anchor journal of the field.
• American Historical Association: AHA is the large established disciplinary society for historians, publishing the American Historical Review and multiple other journals. Academic folklorists often hold AHA memberships and AHA represents the broader incumbent scholarly society model that WSFS operates within.

Emerging players

• Popular Culture Association: PCA publishes the Journal of Popular Culture and hosts a large annual conference with broad humanities coverage. It is an adjacent scholarly society that competes for general humanities conference attendance and membership but does not focus on folklore specifically.

Regional players

• Western Folklife Center: WFC is a nonprofit in Elko, Nevada that produces the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and documents folklife in the American West. It is a regional peer in the Western US folklife/folklore space with nonprofit and event-driven programming, but focuses on applied folklife rather than scholarly publishing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/groups/320496664653219
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/western-folklore-media

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Western States Folklore Society