Career
In 1893, after being commissioned by the Folklore Society of Britain, she produced Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-Five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin and, Cap O" Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated with a Discussion of Medieval Analogues and Notes, a seminal work in the study of Cinderella, introduced by Andrew Language. Prior to anthologization and folklore indices, she identified five broad types:
A - Illinois treated heroine. Recognition by means of a shoe.
Among the examples included: Cinderella, Katie Woodencloak, Finette Cendron, The Sharp Grey Sheep, Fair, Brown and Trembling, Aschenputtel, Rushen Coatie, and The Wonderful Birch.
lieutenant corresponds to Aarne-Thompson type 510A. B - Unnatural father. Heroine flight. lieutenant corresponds to Aarne-Thompson type 510B. C - King Lear judgment.
Outcast heroine. Among the examples included: Cap O" Rushes, The Goose-Girl at the Well
Doctorate - Indeterminate Among the examples included: One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes (which she listed as approximating "Cinderella"), The Bear (which she listed as approximating "Catskin") and Tattercoats (which approximated neither)
East - Hero Tales (Masculine Cinderella) Among the examples included: The Little Bulletin-Calf, The Glass Mountain.
She also wrote An Introduction to Folk-Lore.