Alexander Haggerty Krappe

Alexander Haggerty Krappe (6 July 1894 – 30 November 1947) was a folklorist and author. Along with Francis Peabody Magoun, he was the first translator of folktales collected by the Brothers Grimm into the English language. A.H Krappe is described as a folklorist, linguist, teacher, translator of scientific and other materials, a Roman philologist, a comparative mythologist, a classicist and Scandinavianist. Despite Krappe's contributions and academic writing, his work is largely ignored in the modern Folklore discipline as he staunchly denied the existence of American Folklore.

Alexander Haggerty Krappe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1884. His childhood was said to be unhappy, and after his parents divorced, he was taken back to Europe by his German-born father. Krappe received his education in the Leibniz und Siemen's Oberealschuel in Charlottenberg, Berlin. An accomplished student, he remained at the university until 1915 upon his decision to study modern languages. Thus Krappe spent 1915-1916 studying medieval history and Romance languages at the University of Berlin.

Krappe went on to enter the University of Iowa in Iowa City on a graduate fellowship, and received his M.A. with a major in French and a minor in Italian. The capstone of his M.A., his thesis was entitled "The Chronology of the old French Chanson de Geste." In January 1918, he began doctoral work at the University of Chicago on another graduate fellowship. In 1919, Krappe received a Ph.D. His work in university established his interest in epic and medieval literature.

In 1919, Krappe married Edith Smith, the daughter of Folklorist Grace Partridge Smith. Edith would go on to describe her husband as "brilliant, but deeply troubled and enigmatic man when all of the sources are combined, it is the picture that emerges."

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