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Mf042 Frederick Pratson Collection, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University Of Maine

Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History Finding Aids

Independent collection of folklore material contributed to the Maine Folklife Center by Frederick Pratson. Contains interviews in connection with donor's "Oral and Visual History and Talent Development Program Among Indians and Inshore Fishing People of the State of Maine, The Canadian Maritime Provinces, and Quebec," done under the sponsorship of the New England-Atlantic Provinces- Quebec Center at the University of Maine (Orono), 1972. The interviewees were a group of Nova Scotia fishermen, a Maine lumberjack, and a Micmac chief living on the Indian Island Reservation in New Brunswick.

Pumpkin Seed Tea Cure, Elsie Diamond Smith

Maine Song and Story Sampler

In the short anecdote heard here, Elsie Smith explains her experience with pumpkin seed tea and how she saw it work.

The Soldier’S Letter, Joseph Pagett

Maine Song and Story Sampler

“The Soldier’s Letter” was one of several songs from the American Civil War that became popular in Canada.

Wild Colonial Boy, Thomas Cleghorn

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"Wild Colonial Boy" is one of a few songs that came to Maine from Australia by way of Britain. This particular version was collected in Canada, but the singer learned it in the Maine woods, a point that underscores the close connections of Maine and the Maritimes economically and culturally.

Kluskap And His Twin Brother, Viola Solomon, Henrietta Black

Maine Song and Story Sampler

The story heard here is one of many Wabanaki tales of Kluskap, a Wabanaki culture-hero.

The Good Old State Of Maine, James Brown

Maine Song and Story Sampler

People have likely been singing, whistling, and humming while working for as long as music and work have existed. This relationship has developed twofold, both as a way to make work go faster (either by passing the time or establishing a rhythm for work) and as a means of expressing discontent with work or working conditions.

The Dungarvon Whooper, Billy Price

Maine Song and Story Sampler

The Dungarvon Whooper is arguably the most famous ghost in New Brunswick (the Burning Ship of Northumberland Strait is also widely known in eastern Canada, but multiple provinces can claim it as “their ghost”).

Northeast Folklore Volume 4: Eight Folktales From Miramichi, Edward D. Ives, Wilmot Macdonald, Louise Manny

Northeast Folklore Monographs

Volume 4 of Northeast Archives marked a change in the publication. No longer was it published in four editions throughout the year with a variety of small articles, but now it was a single monograph published generally once a year. The focus of the first monograph is Wilmot MacDonald, a singer and storyteller from Miramichi, New Brunswick. Helen Creighton and Edward D. Ives had both collected from MacDonald and this publication came from their collaboration on that material.

Eight Folktales from Miramichi: as Told by Wilmot MacDonald

Table of Contents:

Wilmot MacDonald by Louise Manny

Introduction

1) The Bull Story …

Glou Glou Glou, Allan Kelly

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"Glou" appears in Helen Creighton's collection of Acadian folksongs, La Fleur du Rosier, as the "B" version of a song called "Le Matin Quand je me Leve," or "In the Morning When I Get Up." Both are versions of a French song well-known in French Canada and Louisiana, with a version dating back to at least 1658.

The Headless Ghost, Wilmot Macdonald

Maine Song and Story Sampler

“The Headless Ghost” is a common story told with too many variations to count.

Guy Reed, Philip Walsh

Maine Song and Story Sampler

"Guy Reed" is one of several songs by one of the great woods songmakers in Maine and the Maritimes, Joe Scott. Guy Reed, son of Joseph and Remember Mitchell Reed, was born in 1874 in the Byron, Maine area, and died in a logging accident just a few miles above Livermore Falls, Maine, on September 9, 1897.

Benjamin Deane, Chester Price

Maine Song and Story Sampler

“Benjamin Deane” is a classic example of a confessional ballad, with a man in prison lamenting how he came to be there: bootlegging, adultery, and murder.