Margaret MacArthur grew up hearing traditional music, first in the mountains of northern Arizona where her forester step-father was cruising timber for the Forest Service in the Tonto National Forest, later in southern Missouri where he was raising seedlings for the Mark Twain National Forest, then in Southern California where he was raising guayule rubber plants during the war.

After marrying John MacArthur, she moved to Vermont in 1948. She began collecting songs both in Vermont and in western Kentucky where her parents had settled. Living in the 200 year old farmhouse in Marlboro furthered her interest in old ways and old songs. After meeting Helen Hartness Flanders, she became closely connected to the Flanders Collection of Vermont and New England material. In 1962 Moe Asch of Folkways issued her first recording, Folksongs of Vermont. Since then she has recorded ten albums, some of which feature songs of Arizona, where she was an artist in residence in schools for many winters..

She toured nationally and internationally, and was featured at many festivals, including Inverness, University of Chicago, Mariposa, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Old Songs, Champlain, Eistedfod at University of Southern Massachusetts, Louisville, Fox Hollow, Southern Acoustic Music, and Pine Mountain, Cranberry, Black Swamp, and Memphis Dulcimer Festivals

Margaret passed away on May 23, 2006. Her official obituary can be found here.

TheVermont Arts Council, in 2002, gave her an Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.

Yankee Magazine, July & August 2001, selected her CD Vermont Ballads & Broadsides as one of The Yankee Top 40 of all time.

On Vermont Day May 1, 1997, at the invitation of Senator James Jeffords, Margaret MacArthur performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

In 1988 she received a commendation from the American Association of State and Local History, an honor from the California Traditional Music Society, and the Eistedfod Award from the University of Southern Massachusetts, North Dartmouth.

The 1985 University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Art Biennial Committee named her a "New England Living Art Treasure."

She received the Midsummer Festival Award in Montpelier,Vermont, in 1984, and a Citation of Recognition from the Vermont Council of the Arts in 1973.

Song Writing Commissions:
            Sisters of Mercy, celebrating their 125 years in Vermont, 2000
            Green Mountain Folklore Society, celebrating their 50th year,1998
            The Divided House on the Prairie, a song to accompany readings by Peavey/             Smith,1996

Reviews: 
            A refreshing reminder of how evocative and entertaining folk music can be.             Spellbinding....a fine singer.
                                                    Bob Blackman, Michigan Folk Notes

She's a champion of simpler times and rural places as well as a collector of heartfelt poems and curious tales....but whatever their source or subject matter, MacArthur imbued them with warmth and tunefulness.
                                                     Mike Joyce, Washington Post

She has made a contribution in the preservation and popularity of American folk music that has proved no less than mighty.
                                                     Colin Irwin,Melody Maker, London

Painting at top: MacArthur Farmhouse in Marlboro, Vermont by Don Wenig of Patagonia, Arizona