Duncan Emrich was born on April 11, 1908, in Mardin, Turkey. His parents, Richard and Jeannette Emrich, were both missionaries stationed in Turkey. At the onset of World War I, and the widespread massacres occurring within the area, the family was forced to flee. They returned to the United States and settled in New England where Emrich attended Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts. Emrich received his B.A. from Brown University, an M.A. from Columbia University, and in 1934 he received a Doctor en Letras in medieval Spanish and Arabic from the University of Madrid (Spain). In 1937, he earned his Ph.D. from Harvard under the direction of George Lyman Kittredge. Emrich furthered his studies by conducting postdoctoral studies at the Sorbonne, University of Paris; University of Aix-en-Provence; University of Nancy; University of Cologne; and Escuela de Estudios Arabes in Granada, Spain.

Emrich’s teaching career began in at Columbia University, where he taught English from 1937-1940. He then moved to Denver, Colorado, and became the assistant professor of English at the University of Denver from 1940-1942. It was at this institution that Emrich’s passion for folklore materialized. Upon his arrival at the University of Denver, Emrich spent most of his time in the campus library where he became interested in Old West mining camp lore, the focus of many of his future writings. In addition, it was in the Blood saloon in Virginia City, Nevada, where he heard a miner bellow "Who shot Maggie in the freckle?" that he gained the inspiration to write his first ballad of the same name.

In 1942, Emrich left his teaching position and enrolled in the Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He emerged as a lieutenant with an assignment to the U.S. Army military intelligence unit in Washington D.C., serving in England, France, and Germany. Shortly thereafter, Emrich won the Croix de Guerre for his service in France. Emrich then achieved the rank of major after being assigned as the official American historian to General Eisenhower where he was commissioned to write a contemporary account of the war in Europe.

After the war, Emrich settled in Washington D.C., and from 1945-1955, was head of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress and chief of the Folklore Section. During his tenure at the Library, Emrich was awarded a Guggenheim (1948-1950) and a Fulbright Fellowship (1952-1953). As a Fulbright lecturer to Italy, Emrich travelled to the universities of Rome, Naples, Messina, and Palermo lecturing on American civilization. From 1953-1955 Emrich hosted a weekly radio show on folklore called "Weekend" on the National Broadcasting Co. The show brought national attention to the Library of Congress where folk sayings, proverbs, tongue twisters and the like were discussed, shared and contributed by radio listeners. The radio show generated a large amount of handwritten correspondence from listeners including children.

Emrich was also instrumental in the growth of the American Folklore Society in Washington and the Junior Folklore Club where membership began from age ten and up. In 1955 Emrich resigned from the Library of Congress to become the cultural affairs officer with the American Embassies in Greece, India, and Togo. In 1966, after returning from Africa, he worked with the U.S. Information Agency in Washington D.C. until 1969, when he returned to teaching as an adjunct professor of American folklore at American University.

In his determination to deliver folklore to the public, Emrich hosted a series of annual lectures at American University. To support this venture he established the American Folklore Fund. Emrich’s genuine interest in folklore resonated in the work he contributed to the field. He viewed folklore as a combination of tradition, history, and antique curiosities. According to his lifelong friend Horace Beck, "at a time when nationalism was against the norm Emrich believed in it. He believed that folklore was to be collected, preserved and enjoyed not only by scholars but by the general public." This school of thought can be seen in the works Emrich produced. He authored and co-authored a series of published and unpublished books, articles, and poems, including American Folk Poetry and the Whim Wham Book .

He received numerous prizes from both Brown and Harvard Universities and, in 1970, his book entitled The Nonsense Book received six awards. Hodgepodge Book was named Outstanding Children's Book by the New York Times Book Review in 1972. His Folklore on the American Land was used as an introductory text for American folklore studies.

At the time of his death Emrich was working, ironically, on a book entitled, The Book of Death . Emrich died on August 23, 1977.