In Henderson's response to his imagined detractors, the work of the folksong collector is justified by the work of the folk revivalist. The processes of ‘collection’ and ‘giving back’ are bound together. The folklorist, who collects, catalogues and studies songs and tales, works in an isolated, academic sphere. The revivalist, who creates circumstances whereby such songs and tales might be reintegrated into popular culture, works as a public campaigner and a cultural-political strategist. While Henderson was both a folklorist and a folk revivalist, and refused to draw a clear distinction between the two roles, his writings on folk culture can be easily separated into those he wrote principally as a folklorist and those principally as a revivalist. In an essay such as ‘Enemies of Folk-song’ (1955), Henderson describes the obstacles that need to be overcome if the folk revival is to take root. In an article like ‘The Green Man of Knowledge’ (1958) he transcribes a recently collected folk tale, and traces its tropes and motifs back through literary and folk traditions. In the quotation above Henderson concedes that his critics might reasonably ask why this ‘stuff’ is worth collecting at all. He does not explain that the study of folk culture gleans insights into social history, linguistics, literature, popular culture and the processes of cultural transmission, which might have vindicated the work in scholarly terms. Instead, Henderson declares his intention to ‘give it back [to] the Scottish people’ who, collectively, and over many generations, ‘made it’.

Though these dual roles – revivalist and folklorist – are inextricably linked, the distinction that can be traced in Henderson's writings provides a convenient structural framework through which to analyse his approaches to folk culture. First, there is Henderson's vision for the modern revival, which can be drawn both from his early writings, during the formative years of the movement, and from his attempts to provide a retrospective account of the whole movement, with all its mutations and permutations.