Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Tinsley Bottom Tennessee: An Historical Reconstruction Utilizing Oral Narrative Traditions, Rebecca Morse

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Tinsley Bottom lies adjacent to the Cumberland River in Jackson and Clay Counties in north central Tennessee. The rich rolling bottomland totaling approximately two thousand acres on the south bank of the Cumberland River lured several families to purchase land and take residence there in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The history of Tinsley Bottom is not found in written records or annals of Tennessee history. No person of reknown sprang from the cultural context of this community. Yet tales are told of how Daniel Boone hunted in the Bottom and slept in a cave overlooking the River, and …

Folklore, Poetry, And Identity: A Study Of The Archetypes In The Poetry Of Leslie Silko, Kate Grenier

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This paper is a study of folklore in literature; specifically, it is the study of the folklore in the poetry of Leslie Marmon Silko, a Laguna Pueblo women, and a half-breed. Her family situation, its place in the community, and its oral tradition are briefly noted, and the basic works of folklore in literature scholars are cited; therefore, the groundwork is established on which to examine the specific elements of folklore in the poems from Silko’s books, Laguna Woman and Ceremony.

Taking a Jungian approach to the archetypes in these poems, three subsequent chapters deal with three separate item of …

Latent Didactic Functions Of Tlingit Mythology: A Re-Evaluation Of Raven's Role In Northwest Coast Culture, Stephen Poyser

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A comparative study was conducted of several variants of the Raven cycle of myths as manifested among the Tlingit Indians of the Northwest Coast. The results of this folkloristic study indicate that the myths serve several didactic functions. In addition to the manifest function of explaining the origin of the present order of the world the myths also serve to provide members of the society with a classificatory system through which they are able to relate to observable phenomena within their environment. The myths also provide institutionalized behavioral alternatives available to the society as manifested by the actions of Raven, …

Oystering In Kent Narrows, Maryland, A. Clayton Schofield

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Kent Narrows is one of the many small fishing areas located along the banks of the Chesapeake Bay. The fishing industry located there concentrates on the harvesting and canning of Chesapeake Bay shellfish, specifically oysters, crabs, and clams. This study is concerned with the collection of the traditional elements of the three occupations comprising the oyster harvest at Kent Narrows: (a) handtonging, (b) oyster shucking, and (c) blacksmithing of the oystermen's tools. Although the Kent Narrows oyster industry has developed since the 1930s, many of the traditional tools and work situations were borrowed from other fishing areas of the Bay. …

A Folkloristic Approach To Storytelling Performances By A Contemporary Librarian, Victoria Middleswarth

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The subject of this study is Thelma Freeman, the children's librarian at the Bowling Green Public Library. Mrs. Freeman has worked for the library for fourteen years, beginning in 1964 as a bookmobile driver and later transferring into the library building as children's librarian. The story hour on which this study centers was instituted in 1967 when Mrs. Freeman became the Bowling Green Library's first children's librarian. Although she probably acquired her storytelling art through observation and adoption of her mother's storytelling technique and through experience with her children and grandchildren, Mrs. Freeman also took an undergraduate-level library science course …

Fandom Is A Way Of Life: A Folkloristic Ethnography Of Science Fiction Fandom, David Axler

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A science fiction (“sf”) fan is an individual whose interest in this literary genre has extended past reading into involvement in such things as local science fiction clubs, fan magazines (“fanzines”), and sf conventions (“cons”). Science fiction fandom is the loosely-structured, geographically-dispersed organization of these fans. Drawing on both written sources and field interviews with eight informants, the history, composition and structure of sf fandom is examined from a folkloristic viewpoint. The forms of folklore which serve to bind the individual fan to the larger social entity of fandom are detailed.

Despite its literary orientation, fandom is primarily a social …

Traditional Elements In The Selected Columns Of Allan M. Trout, J. Vaughn Webb

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The first and last three months of Allan M. Trout's newspaper column "Greetings" were analyzed to show Trout's use of traditional material in that feature. An overview of previous scholarship concerning folklore in literature revealed a lack of study of the modern newspaper as a transmitter of folk items. The type of feature which Trout wrote was shown to have developed from pre-Civil War journalism. Trout's conception of folklore as a rural, kinetic process was presented through quotations from his books and columns, and "Greetings" was defined as a part of that process rather than as a static literary work. …

A Folkloric Perspective On Traditional Auctioneering, Daniel Steed Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To date, the auction as a type of folklore performance has not been adequately researched. In order to place auctions in perspective as folklore, chapter one of this thesis reviews the history of auctions in the United States. Chapter one further presents the idea of the auctioneer as a folk occupational specialist. The second chapter is concerned with the skills of an active Kentucky auctioneer, who offers, during a series of interviews, insights concerning his performance skills. The third, and final, chapter attempts to construct a theoretical base for researching auctions as folklore performance. The criteria by which any given …

The Paper Repertoire Of The Students In One Elementary School, Ruby Rufty

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This collection project is concerned with traditional paper objects made by students in fifteen classes in one elementary school in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Chapter I describes the school and classroom environments and the procedures followed during the collection project. Chapter II differentiates between the play and ornamental items collected, describes the different items and their variants made by the students, and attempts to show what persons (relatives, teachers, other children) or other factors (mass media, the students' environment) affected the paper items made by students. Chapter III statistically evaluates the collected paper items according to the sex, race, and grade …

The Use Of Architectural Drawing In The Documentation Of Log Folk Housing, Ira Kohn

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In order to remedy the shortcomings of past log structure documentation efforts, six proficiencies were established as necessary for the folklorist: (1) knowledge of, and use of, aerial photographs and topographic maps, (2) familiarity with usage of the compass, steel measuring tape and alidade, (3) accuracy in building measurement techniques, (4) the ability to competently compile a field notebook using standardized architectural notation, (5) operation of the camera as a recording tool, and (6) the production of measured drawings using the techniques specified by the Historic American Buildings Survey. The Rigsby House, a log structure in Warren County, Kentucky, served …

The Reliability Of Selected Weather Beliefs, Judith Sadewasser

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Thirty Kentucky weather beliefs--twenty of which were considered to be scientifically valid while ten were not--were annotated, documented and discussed. It was shown that the weather beliefs which had scientific explanations were usually concerned with forecasts associated with rain and that most often they were based on observable atmospheric conditions. It was further shown that those beliefs which were not considered scientifically valid usually had an element of truth but were not considered plausible for one of the following reasons. First, there was evidence that some of these weather beliefs had been garbled during the process of oral transmission. Second, …

If I'D Been Polish, I Guess I'D Be Playing Polkas: An Examination Of The Social Contexts Of Traditional Irish Music In Rochester, New York, George Stoner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Anthropologists, folklorists and popular writers have, in general, neglected to describe. the social contexts in which traditional Irish music is played. Although the dance was probably the most important context for traditional Irish music in Rochester, as elsewhere in the United States and Ireland, interest among Irish-born Americans and Irish- Americans in traditional dancing has waned. At present, the most important social contexts for Irish music in Rochester are the session, the Feis, and various representational contexts. The session is by far the most important, and has developed as interest in the dance has declined. Unlike the dance, it is …

The Oral Folk History Surrounding The Life Of William Bernard "Big Six" Henderson, Peggy Boaz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The oral folk history of William Bernard "Big Six" Henderson is unique in that Henderson himself has been a contributing factor in keeping the tales of his moonshining experiences in the oral traditions of distinct areas of Kentucky, especially Cumberland County. Interviewing Henderson and apprehended and non-apprehended moonshiners allowed speculation into the concept that Henderson was indeed a folk hero. Using Dixon Wector's requirements for heroes, the hero performing unselfish service, acquiring a nickname, obtaining sympathy for handicaps, struggles, and failures, and reaching hero status after death, and providing examples of Henderson's encounters with moonshiners, verifies Henderson's hero status, except …

The Carter Family: Traditional Sources For Song, Margaret Bulger

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The recorded repertory of the original Carter Family was analyzed for traditional influences. Of the 119 songs examined, it was found that fifty-five, roughly one-fourth of their total repertory, have definite roots in one or more traditional sources. The Carters employed traditional texts within their repertory throughout their professional career. Three genres of song were analyzed: sentimental songs, religious songs, and ballads. Of these, sentimental songs was the largest category with 113 songs. These songs were found to be remarkably similar in thematic content and moral sensibilities to Victorian parlor songs (ca. 1860-1910). The religious songs were shown to be …

Chester Cornett: A Study Of The Effects Of Culture Change On A Traditional Kentucky Craftsman, Roger Beatty

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The problem considered was the nature of traditional Appalachian chairmaking in a northern metropolis. The subject was an Appalachian migrant who moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Culture change was viewed through the sociological, socioeconomic, and cultural effects of urbanization. Fieldwork focused on interrelated factors of individual personality, style and creativity, and chair production. Information on the chairmaker's background was extracted from Michael Owen Jones's, "Chairmaking in Appalachia: A Study in Style and Creative Imagination In American Folk Art" (Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1970).

Dramatic changes in the folk art tradition occurred as a result of culture change. Given economic solvency and …

Tobacco Farming: The Persistence Of Tradition, Eugene Umberger Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The culture of tobacco has been associated with the history of Kentucky almost from the beginning and remains to this day a vital force in the state’s economy. In this age of scientific and technological advances – of increasing automation – we find that in tobacco farming, hand labor still figures prominently in the production of a major staple crop. This has resulted in the retention of traditional method, technology and terminology, long since lost in the culture of other crops which lent themselves more easily to mechanization.

The study is divided into three parts. Chapter I deals briefly with …

The Cedar Grove Community In Oral Folk History, Ada Parker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The thesis was originally done for the Center for Intercultural & Folk Studies which no longer exists.

The Beeson Farmstead: A Study Of The Functional Aspects Of A Black Farm In The Richland Community, Annelen Archbold

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study documents the lifestyle on a small, prosperous black farmstead in the Richland community of Butler County, Kentucky. It is based on extensive fieldwork and interviews conducted with Percy Beeson, owner of the farm for aver fifty years. The result of the fieldwork and interviews was the documentation of how this farmstead, maintained without mechanical farm equipment, worked as a functional unit on a year-round basis.

As a functional unit, the Beeson farmstead is described in terms of the Beeson family and their ownership of the farm and the breakdown of the property into two dependent units. In the …

A Comparative Study Of German And Kentucky Moon Beliefs, Katherine Martin

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A body of moon beliefs from Kentucky was compared with a body of moon beliefs from Germany to discover similarities and dissimilarities between the two and to ascertain how well a body of beliefs (specifically moon beliefs) can be transferred from the Old World to the New World. The presence of a German culture in Kentucky was established and parallels were drawn between the structure, function, and esthetic aspects of both groups of beliefs. The Kentucky moon beliefs that migrated from 'Germany showed a surprising persistence, considering the move to America, change of language, and exposure to unfamiliar cultures. Some …

Drowned At Turnhole: A Study Of Western Kentucky Epitaphs, Robert Taylor

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this thesis is not to give the common man a voice, for he has already spoken. It is to give his words credence - to make writers of history aware that in the epitaph there is, indeed, a body of material which gives evidence of the historical currents and thoughts of past generations.

The Little People Of Pea Ridge, David Sutherland

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Cumberland County, Kentucky, is situated on the Tennessee line just at the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains. The county's terrain is typical of land in the foothills of a mountain range and varies from flat farmland and good bottomland along the Cumberland River to steep, wooded hillsides and rough, rocky ridge tops. Areas often take part of their names from outstanding topographic features of the land. Community names such as White's Bottom, Howard's Bottom, Cherry Tree Ridge and Bow Schoolhouse Ridge are common in Cumberland County. On Pea Ridge, which runs along the north shore of Dale Hollow Lake, …

Folk Elements In The Fiction Of James Still, Edith Walker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study attempts to complement earlier studies of Still’s literary art such as that of Dean Cadle and Katherine Craf by pointing out the integral use of folk elements in his fiction. The methodology combined field studies with investigation of the works of folklorists and historians and novelists whose writings center around the same general region as do those of Still

For the purposes of this study “folk elements” will denote the orally transmitted traditions of the common people of a particular region. In this case, the “folk” are a rural people who have remained relatively stable for several generations …

Courtly Love Elements In The Child Ballads: A Study In Origins, Fannie Lewis

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The traditional ballad, the genre of the above poetry, has been a subject of much controversy and speculation, especially regarding its origin. The problem of origin is not likely to be solved unless much more evidence is found. Among the many theories are communal authorship, and individual poet; humble and oral origin, and sophisticated and literary origin. Studies of linguistics, of ballad refrain, and of carole continue the attempt to discover ballad genesis. However, a very different approach perhaps can be used to determine the origin of some ballads, particularly the romantic ballads; that approach is to use the courtly …

Elizabethan Left-Overs In Allen County, Alfred Dalton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study of the Elizabethan influences remaining in the spoken language of the people of Allen County, Kentucky, is an outgrowth of discussion in the English classes of Dr. Gordon Wilson, Western Kentucky State Teachers College, concerning the folklore of the present-day rural people of Kentucky. I have endeavored to give a true picture of the picturesque language of the farming people as they go about their every-day business of making a living, with particular emphasis upon those words and usages that are no longer considered in good use.

Superstitions Of Grayson County, Elza Fentress

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

For this collection of odd beliefs to serve as an amusement to the curious is not the purpose of this treatment of superstitions. The end sought is not humor or satire. It is not the intention of the author to cast a reflection in any form upon persons who are inclined to be superstitious. A belief in superstitions is by far more widespread than most people would suspect. Is it not true that superstitions swayed the minds of people in earlier centuries? Are we not descendants of these people? We hear many of their songs; their laws were the forerunners …