May Justus (1898-1989) grew up mostly in Del Rio, Tennessee, a tiny community in Cocke County, now at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, though her father, a teacher, moved their family for a few years to teach in Chattahoochee, across the North Carolina line nearby and now completely within the Park. May Justus received her teaching certification from the University of Tennessee, where she met her lifelong partner, Vera McCampbell, also a teacher. In 1931, Dr. Lillian Johnson recruited May Justus and Vera McCampbell, to come to Monteagle Mountain in Tennessee to teach school. The following year, she invited Don West and Myles Horton to the mountain to found the Highlander Research and Education Center a prominent retreat center for progressive social activism. May Justus write dozens of highly-regarded children's books. The Peddler's Pack, first published in 1957, stands as a compilation of mountain folklore that is both pioneering and authoritative.
The Complete Peddler's Pack by May Justus. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, a 1967 reprint of a 1957 release. 87 pages with an index and illustrations by Jean Tamburine. Hardback in dust jacket.