In 1916 Stith Thompson, then secretary, oversaw the publication of the Society's first volume, for which Kittredge wrote the preface. This volume was entitled Publication No. I, and was reprinted in 1935 as Round the Levee. In 1923 J. Frank Dobie took over as secretary-editor, and in the following twenty years of his tenure edited an impressive collection of Texas and Mexican border lore in sixteen numbered volumes. Ever since Publication No. II was issued in 1923, the Society has sent out a book annually to its members, although some have not been numbered publications of its own.

The tradition established by J. Frank Dobie was continued by Mody C. Boatright when he assumed the office of secretary-editor in 1943. He had assisted Dobie in editing Dobie's last five volumes. Harry Ransom also participated in editing the last four. Boatright served for twenty years and produced fifteen volumes. He was succeeded by Wilson M. Hudson, who had been associate editor since 1951.

In 1971 the Society's office was moved to the Stephen F. Austin State University campus in Nacogdoches, and Francis Edward Abernethy became the Secretary-Editor. Abernethy edited fifteen volumes of the PTFS and wrote a three-volume history of the Texas Folklore Society: Volume I (1909 - 1943); Volume II (1943-1971); and Volume III (1971 - 2000).