Knott, Sarah Gertrude

Knott, Sarah Gertrude (1895–1984) folk festival director; born in Kevil, Ky. She attended drama schools in Pittsburgh and Chicago and organized community theater groups in North Carolina (where she had worked under Frederick Koch and Paul Green) and St. Louis. She was the founding director of the National Folk Festival, the first of which was held in St. Louis in 1934; until her retirement in 1970, she was the moving force behind the showcase of American folk culture which she also developed into an international festival. She participated in the creation of many other organizations and events that presented the folk cultures of the U.S.A. and foreign lands.