Natalie Curtis Burlin (1875-1921) was an American ethnomusicologist who began the movement to transcribe the traditional songs of Native American tribes. She also published a four-volume collection of African American spirituals. Her work helped preserve the folk songs of both groups.

Born Natalie Curtis in New York City on April 26, 1875, Burlin attended the prestigious National Conservatory of Music there, intending to become a concert pianist. She also studied in France and Germany with some of the best-known musicians of her day, including Arthur Friedheim, Anton Seidl, and Ferruccio Busoni.

Fascinated by Native American Music

While visiting Arizona in 1900, Burlin abandoned her plans for a concert career. The Native American culture she discovered there, and particularly its music, so entranced her that she decided to focus exclusively on transcribing, collecting, and preserving the tribes' songs and stories. Given the state of Native American culture at the time, she was...