Digital Commons Network^™

Bell, William Langston "Will," B. 1992 (Fa 1296), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1296. Student folk studies project titled “Games in the Minton Residence Hall of Western Kentucky University,” which includes games collected from Honors College students at the university. Interviews may include game descriptions and rules, and informant name and location. The digital files are stored in the Sound Archives.

Mchugh, Walter (Fa 1297), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1297. Project titled “Weather Sayings and Ghost Stories,” which includes weather sayings and ghosts stories collected from WKU students and a faculty member in Warren County, Kentucky by WKU folk studies student Walter McHugh. Sheets may include saying, story, and informant name and location.

Hart County Foodways (Fa 1291), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1291. Collection of projects conducted by students for Dr. Ann Ferrell's 2018 fieldwork class. Projects address traditional and contemporary foodways practices throughout Hart County, Kentucky.

Mccartt-Jackson, Sarah, B. 1982 (Fa 1290), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1290. Student collection titled “’Clogging’s Just Clogging’: The Richard McHargue Cloggers and Approaches to Vernacular Percussive Dance Study” in which Sarah McCartt-Jackson conducts an interview with Richard McHargue, a clogging instructor from Richmond, Kentucky. The interview contains McHargue’s early dancing memories, clogging terms, and opinions about the contemporary state of clogging. The collection also contains a partial transcript, fieldnotes, interview questions, content index, photographs, and the recorded audio interview on CD.

Odum, Daisy Dean, 1877-1969 (Sc 3426), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3426. Letter, 19 August 1961, to WKU faculty member Frances Richards from Daisy Odum. She recounts a ghost story from DeKalb County, Tennessee, involving her nephew and the reaction of his horse to the sight of a spectral figure.

Pendleton, Kenneth (Fa 1295), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1295. Student folk studies project titled “Traditional Farm Implements,” which includes traditional farm implements collected in Warren County, Kentucky. Sheets may include tool description and use, photograph, and informant name and location.

Brown, Chloe Jo, B. 1991 (Fa 1289), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1289. Student collection titled “Dale Cross: The Art of Flintknapping” in which Chloe Brown examines the commercial, historical, and cultural factors that have influenced the production of arrowheads. Brown interviews Dale Cross, a flintknapper from Burkesville, Kentucky who is renowned for his artistic skills. The paper addresses Cross’ personal aesthetics, flintknapping processes, and his business-related endeavors. The collection includes an academic paper, a transcription, CDs containing the recorded audio interview and photographs, and one of Cross’ arrowheads.

Jameson, Jennifer Michelle, B. 1987 (Fa 1288), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1288. Student paper titled “Finding the Folkways of a Forensic Anthropomorphologist: The Kentucky Yard Art Of Cecil and Bet Ison” in which Jennifer Jameson explores the creative endeavors and identities of two folk artists in Rowan County, Kentucky. Jameson, who conducted her fieldwork over a period of two weeks, examines flower sculptures, upholstered trees, bottle cap murals, beadwork, and other vernacular expressions pieced together by the Isons in their built environment. The paper also discusses the relationships between the Isons and their community, personal aesthetics, educational backgrounds, and connections to broader cultural issues. …

Mattingly, Alix, B. 1990 (Fa 1287), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1287. Student collection titled “We Walk By Faith” in which Alix Mattingly undertakes a genealogical exploration of her family’s personal connection to St. Ann Catholic Church and School in Morganfield, Kentucky. Mattingly’s paper examines how religion, segregation, and education intersect in ways that have a lasting effect on understandings of heritage and identity. The collection also contains photographs, a partial transcript, and a copy of the audio interview recording.

Scott, Suzanne Leigh, B. 1992 (Fa 1286), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1286. Student collection titled “A Piece of Cake” in which Suzanne L. Scott conducts a fieldwork project centered on her grandmother’s baking practices. The paper offers insight into family traditions, recipes, cake decorations, and the baking process from start to finish. The collection includes a copy of the audio interview, an interview transcript, a video of Scott’s grandmother baking a cake, and color photographs.

Death Ends A Life Not A Relationship: The Embodied Mourning And Memorializing Of Pets Through Material Culture, Gemma N. Koontz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many individuals develop strong bonds with their pets, viewing them as close “furry” friends or family. When these beloved companions die, both their relational and physical absences are deeply felt. Lacking socially recognized rituals to mourn and memorialize their pets, owners turn to and adapt traditional “human practices,” primarily that of keeping meaningful or significant items of the deceased.

Using both personal experiences and perspectives from multiple fields, this thesis discusses the life-cycle of the human-animal bond, examines the types of items owners keep or create, and how these are used to facilitate both mourning (the outward expression of grief) …

Brown, Chloe Jo (Fa 1293), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and narrative paper along with interview transcripts for Folklife Archives Project 1293. Project titled “The Women’s March: Community and Material Culture,” which details the experiences of participants in The Women’s March on 21 January 2017 in Washington, D.C. The interviews include details of the march and the political and material culture surrounding it. The audio interviews are archived in the Sound Archives.

The Unsung Hero Character: A Harbinger Device Of Misfortune, Eutimio Talavera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis introduces an obscure storytelling device, The Unsung Hero character, as one way of examining how movies function as stories. This character is often overlooked, as it frequently cloaks its idiosyncrasies, thus it lacks any apparent signs of internal conflict. This analysis foregrounds the character’s overall functionality, found only in rare instances and typically in the story of a movie. With effective implementation in a story, as a functional harbinger device, brief appearances of The Unsung Hero character demonstrate flashpoints or disclosures of a forthcoming misfortune in the story. This movie analysis shows how The Unsung Hero character functions …

Children Of A One-Eyed God: Impairment In The Myth And Memory Of Medieval Scandinavia, Michael David Lawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the lives of impaired individuals catalogued in the Íslendingasögur as a narrative framework, this study examines medieval Scandinavian social views regarding impairment from the ninth to the thirteenth century. Beginning with the myths and legends of the eddic poetry and prose of Iceland, it investigates impairment in Norse pre-Christian belief; demonstrating how myth and memory informed medieval conceptualizations of the body. This thesis counters scholarly assumptions that the impaired were universally marginalized across medieval Europe. It argues that bodily difference, in the Norse world, was only viewed as a limitation when it prevented an individual from fulfilling roles that …

Clarke, Kenneth (Fa 1285), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1285. Student folk studies project titled “Elephant Joke Cycle,” which includes a list of elephant jokes collected from 100 students at New Albany Senior High School, in New Albany, Indiana. Sheets and notecards include elephant jokes to illustrate a regional joke cycle in Indiana.

Brennan, Mary Kate (Fa 1284), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1284. Student interview conducted by Mary Kate Brennan with renowned Appalachian poet Jim Wayne Miller. Brennan’s focus throughout the interview is on “the cultural sensitivity and awareness that permeates Miller’s poetry.” Miller also touches on what he considers to be the central themes of his work, the struggles and triumphs of communities within the Appalachian region, and pride in cultural heritage. The collection contains a detailed index, interview summary, transcription, index cards with questions, and a reel-to-reel audio tape of the interview.

Wilgus, Donald Knight, 1918-1989 (Sc 3401), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3401. Letter, 25 July 1960, to friends from Donald Knight Wilgus and family, Los Angeles, California, describing their activities and travel since moving to California, including Wilgus’s work at the University of California, Los Angeles. Includes a review of Wilgus’s book, Anglo-American Folksong Scholarship Since 1898, and the premier issue (1963) of Hootenanny: The National Folk Singing Magazine, with an article about Wilgus and UCLA’s folk music studies program.

Coggan, Forrest Winston, 1926-2018 (Fa 1282), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1282. Correspondence between Forrest Coggan and Sarah Gertrude Knott as well as other board members, sponsors, teachers, and business partners who conducted work with the National Folk Festival Association. .

Anderson, Kenneth (Fa 1283), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1283. Student folk studies project titled “The Art of Curing Hams,” which includes the history and process of curing hams in Kentucky. The paper includes descriptions of the three different processes of curing hams and ends with a comparison of the three.

Fairy Tale: A Very Short Introduction By Marina Warner, Barbara L. Prescott

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Clinard, Pamela And Laura Drew (Fa 1281), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1281. Student folk studies project titled “The Bell Witch,” which includes two papers with descriptions of the Bell Witch legend in Robertson County, Tennessee. Sheets may include descriptions of the legend, text classifications, transcriptions of interviews, names of informants, ages, locations, illustrations, and photos.

Yager, Liz (Fa 1276), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1276. Student folk studies project [“Songs and Epitaphs,”] which includes survey sheets with with the lyrics of folk songs and epitaphs in Oldham County, Kentucky. Sheets may include brief description of the folk song, lyrics, epitaph, date collected, and informant’s name and age.

Gray, Timothy L. (Fa 1280), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1280. Student paper titled “Superstition or Belief on Coach and Athlete” in which Timothy Gray examines the relationships between sports players and their coaches through a folkloric lens. In his paper, Gray describes a brief history of how belief has impacted the ways in which sports are played and the effects, whether positive or negative, of enacting certain superstitious practices before games. The paper also includes a small collection of superstitions and beliefs gathered from close friends and professional coaches.

Kohlmeyer, Kandy (Fa 1278), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1278. Student paper titled “Texas Legends” in which Kandy Kohlmeyer gathers together two tales, one known as “The Legend of Armicosa Mission” and the other “The Legend of the Vision.” In her brief preface, Kohlmeyer explains that she collected the tales from a Mexican woman named Francis Garcia while Kohlmeyer was on vacation in Alice, Texas.

Tuell, Gwynne (Fa 1279), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1279. Student paper titled “Folktales and Sayings” in which Gwynne Tuell gathers together a small number of materials relating to popular beliefs, proverbs, and superstitions.

Harper, Laura (Fa 1277), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1277. Student paper titled “Beliefs, Planting and Weather Signs, and Place Names” in which Laura Harper gathers together a number of practices and ideas based on traditional folklore wisdom. Harper collected the information from family members and neighbors. The paper includes handwritten note cards arranged by theme.

Music As A Cultural Gateway: A Short-Term Folk Music Program In Albania, Catherine Pierattini

Capstone Collection

Folk songs have been described as a musical representation of a society’s entire culture. The field of ethnomusicology combines aspects of music and anthropology, and the study of folk music can give considerable insight into worldviews, histories, and traditions. Yet there are few study abroad program providers using this discipline as an approach to cultural analysis and exploration.

The proposed Middlebury Music Studies in Albania program would introduce diverse folk music traditions in three distinct cities, giving students the chance to learn the basics of the Albanian language, understand the historical, geographical, and social influences on the music in the …

White, Linda C. (Fa 1275), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1275. Student folk studies project titled “The Bloodshed Legacy: Historical Legends of Civil War Guerilla Activity in Western Appalachia,” which includes descriptions of historic folk legends in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. Transcriptions of interviews on reel-to-reel tapes may include description of the legend, date collected, and informant’s name and address.

"La Llorona": Evolución, Ideología Y Uso En El Mundo Hispano, Raquel Sáenz-Llano

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis studies the evolution, ideology and use of the myth of La Llorona through time in the Hispanic World. Considering this myth as one of the most known traditional narratives of the American continent, I begin by providing visual, ethnohistorical and ethnographical insights of weeping in Mesoamerica and South America and the specific mention of a weeping woman in some Spanish chronicles to say how western values were stablished in “the new continent” through this legend. I suggest that during the postcolonialism the legend did not tell anymore about a mother that cries and search a place for their …

Stewart, Karen (Fa 1273), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1273. Student paper titled “Negro Gospel Music at Barnes Chapel Methodist Church” in which Karen Stewart describes a singular all-day “singing” held at the church in Beaver Dam, Kentucky, in February 1971. Stewart offers a brief description of her fieldwork methods including research and recording and provides an abbreviated background on each of her musical informants. Stewart also recounts the songs that were sung and notes recurrent themes throughout the music. The paper also includes the words to each hymn, a black and white photograph of the performers, and two reel-to-reel audiotapes.