Irene Whitfield Holmes

Irene Whitfield Holmes died in Lafayette, Louisiana on 10 May 1993, aged 92.

For these approximate divisions, Whitfield followed Professor James Broussard of Louisiana State University, who described three 'forms' of French: Louisiana-French, Acadian, and 'Negro-French' or Creole. Whitfield's collection has been described as 'still the best available' and remains 'the most significant printed collection of Louisiana French songs.' In a subsequent 1969 edition of the work, Whitfield added additional songs and descriptions of her experiences gathering them.

Whitfield married Lloyde Neil Holmes in 1940, and was sometimes referred to as Mrs. Lloyde Neil Holmes. She was a celebrated educator, and member of a number of organisations.

Whitfield became a collector and compiler of Louisiana folk songs. As Patricia Petnik has written, in describing French language folk music, 'genre existed in the eye of the beholder'. In her preface to 1939's Louisiana French folk songs, Whitfield wrote that the songs were 'so varied that a rigid classification is practically impossible,' but 'for the sake of grouping' were 'roughly classed according to the type of French used in them'.

Whitfield attended Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), graduating in 1919. She obtained her master's degree from Louisiana State University, and her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1924.

Irene Whitfield Holmes (née Irène Thérèse Whitfield; 26 October 1900 – 10 May 1993) was an American ethnomusicologist, educator, and a significant collector of Cajun, Creole, and Louisiana French folk songs.