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Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 35, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

When we brought out Tom Tilton: Coaster and Fisherman back in 1984 (actually it was Northeast Folklore -XXIII: 1982) we included a story about a Captain Pinhead on page 62, just the way Tom told it to Gale Huntington. The book hadn't been out long before I got a smoklngly angry letter from one Robert O. Walsh saying he was Captain Pinhead and that story was all wrong and he wanted us to do something to set the record straight. The only thing I could think of was to suggest he write up what really happened and we'd publish it …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 34, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

On November 17, the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History and the Maine Arts Commission sponsored the "Traditional Culture in the Classroom" workshop at the University of Maine, Orono campus. The workshop was attended by elementary and secondary educators from across the state. Sessions addressed the use of folklore and oral history in the classroom, suggestions and techniques for projects, and classroom activities. The afternoon forum provided the opportunity for educators to share their experiences in developing and coordinating folklife and oral history projects. The successful event was met with requests for additional materials and workshops. As the Northeast …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 32, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

Readers of this Newsletter will be saddened to hear of the death of Dr. Helen Creighton, Canada's foremost collector of folksongs, on Tuesday, December 12, [1989], in Halifax. She was 90 years old. There is little I can add to Stephen Pedersen's fine article from the Halifax Chronicle-Herald (12/16/89) reprinted below beyond a couple of recollections of my own.

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 33, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History is pleased to announce two new additions to its staff: Teresa L. Hollingsworth of Berea, Kentucky, who is filling the newly created position of Folklife Coordinator, and Mary E. O'Meara of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., who will replace Alicia Rouverol as the Archives' Associate Director. Ms. Hollingsworth, a graduate of the Folk Studies Program at Western Kentucky University, was the staff folklorist at the Kentucky Folklife Program at Berea College, and conducted extensive folklife surveys along the Ohio and Kentucky River Valleys.

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 31, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The Last Smokehouse: Lubec and the Herring Smoking Industry of Maine. Funded initially by the Maine Humanities Council, this hour-long documentary film will explore the problems of the smoked herring industry in the state of Maine. The goal is to increase public awareness not only of the plight of small local industries in the modem mega-business world but also — and perhaps more importantly — of what happens to a community when one of its long-time traditional industries dies. The filmmakers, Andrea Truppin and Michel Chalufour, are now in the scriptwriting stage.

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 30, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

On July 26, 1985 — almost two years ago! — Robert O. Walsh, now of Yuma, Arizona, wrote us in response to an account of an incident mentioned in Tom Tilton: Coaster and Fisherman (Northeast Folklore XXIII 1982), starting on page 62, in which he is identified only as "Pinhead." Here is his own account of that incident, and our thanks to him both for sending it and for being so patient in waiting for us to publish it...

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 29, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

This issue is coming simultaneously with Northeast Folklore XXIV and XXV, "The Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History : A Catalog of the First 1800 Accessions." This 200+ page guide to the holdings at the Northeast Archives has been long-awaited by many, and I am sure will enlighten many more on the depth and breadth of material available in Orono. In addition to the Society's publishing the Catalog , the Archives has been involved-over the past year with the production of From Stump To Ship : A 1930 Logging Film . Details on this historic film are included in …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 28, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

A selection of eight photographs from the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History has been reproduced as postcards and are being sold by the Society...

The black and white photographs date from the early 1900's and show the North Lincoln sorting gap with crew, river drivers and a batteau in the St. John Allagash region, a pair of horses with woodsmen on top of Mt. Chase, a lumber crew with horses posed in front of a woods camp, the steamboat M. E. Shaw at the Forest City landing on Spednic Lake with townspeople ready for the annual Fourth of …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 27, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

Professor J. Barre Toelken, Director of the Folklore and Ethnic Studies Program at the University of Oregon, will deliver the Marshall Dodge Memorial Folklore Lecture Thursday, February 21, at 7:30 p.m. in 100 Nutting Hall on the University of Maine (Orono) campus. His topic will be "You've Got to Watch His Lips: Image and Meaning in American Indian Humor."

Barre Toelken is one of the most distinguished folklorists in the business. He's been President of the American Folklore Society, Editor of the Journal of American Folklore, Chairman of the Folk Arts Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts, and …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 26, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

There is much activity in the northeast in folklore and oral history. On April 28 the New England Association of Oral History will observe its tenth anniversary at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, the site of the founding meeting. The New England Task Force on Folklife is continuing its work in promoting an awareness of the various research projects in folklore and folklife in the New England region. The Apprenticeship Journal was christened in Rockport in the Spring of 1983, and the Massachusetts Council of the Arts and Humanities has a full-time Folk Arts Coordinator. Oral History: An Interdisciplinary Anthology …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 25, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The 25th anniversary meeting of the Northeast Folklore Society, held 13 August 1983, at the University of Maine, included a tangible vote of thanks to NFS Secretary Joan Brooks for her work for the Society, an announcement of the Lynn Franklin Fund honoring the recently deceased and a presentation by Amanda McQuiddy on her folk arts in the schools program. The meeting was followed by a party worthy of the occasion at which Society President Ives was presented with a volume of letters of appreciation for his 25 years of leadership and inspiration...

* FLASH! Thanks to the combined support …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 24, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The versitility of the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History has again been demonstrated by the visit of an English professor from Japan who is doing a comparative study of the Maine accent and Shakespearean pronounciation. Professor Tsuneko Ikemiya of Tezukayama University in Nara, Japan, a specialist in acoustic phonetics, has been working in the Archives since March listening to tapes of Mainers from different parts of the state.

While she is primarily concerned with similarities in the pronounciation of contemporary Maine dialects and Elizabethan English, Professor Ikemiya reports that she has also found herself so interested in what …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 23, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The Society's Annual Meeting was held on Saturday, June 12, at the Memorial Union on the University of Maine (Orono) campus. The morning session was devoted to the business meeting, the minutes of which are summarized elsewhere in this Newsletter, followed by an Open House at the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History. In the afternoon, there were three short presentations on the general topic, "Folklore Field Work in the Maritime Provinces." Carole Spray of Fredericton, N.B., spoke on "Collecting Folklore in New Brunswick: An Amateur's Experiences"; Catherine Jolicoeur of the Centre Universitaire, Saint-Louis-Maillet, Edmundston, N.B., spoke on "Collecting …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 22, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

Marshall Dodge of "Bert and I" fame was killed when struck from behind by a car while he was riding his bicycle on a back road in Hawaii, Wednesday, January 27 [1982]. That's a real loss for the State of Maine; Marshall was nothing short of an institution, and a beloved one at that. When it came to telling that particular kind of story — what I've come to call the "St. Botolph's Club tradition"-there was simply no-one who could touch him. He didn't invent the genre; generations of Maine-loving summer people before him did that. But he was the …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 21, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The Maine Folklife Survey finished up its 18-month stint here at the Northeast Archives with a great deal of good work done and several products available for school and community use. We have enclosed in this issue of the Newsletter the brochure, with ordering information, for two photographic exhibits and a slide-tape show entitled Maine's Folklife. This slide show illustrates folk art, horse-pulling, folk architecture, and coastal life as it occurs in Maine. This 80-image slide show has a tape running under 30 minutes.

...Another major product of the Maine Folklife Survey is a publication, The Maine Folklife Index: Resources …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 20, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

This statement by Sandy Ives at a meeting of the Maine State Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Orono, Maine, February, 1981.

"I have no desire either to tilt windmills on the one hand or to defend the obvious on the other, yet I will risk both to make a simple plea not so much for greater breadth as for greater depth in support for the arts, for reaching out to help more people celebrate what it is in life that touches them and moves them to create significant forms that can be shared with others. I am not talking …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 19, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The year of the Maine Folklife Survey is drawing to a close at the end of January. We are in the wrap-up phase, having completed fieldwork in October. Six field workers visited some 300 homes throughout the State, and worked in some 130 townships in every county over the summer, gathering information of all kinds from axe handle making to step dancing to baking bean-hole beans. People have been marvelously friendly, have understood why we were gathering traditional materials, and certainly have been helpful. Though we have felt stretched thin on budget and time to get to see and meet …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 18, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

Dr. Richard K. Lunt, folklorist and author of Northeast Folklore Volume X ("Jones Tracy, Tall Tale Teller from Mt. Desert Island"), is currently directing the Maine Folklife Survey. The project, a statewide effort made possible by grants from the Maine State Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Folk Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts, will assess the current status of folk and traditional arts and crafts in Maine. The interest is in the here and now, what traditional activities are still being performed.

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 17, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

FOLKLORIST, to initiate and carry out folklife survey of the State of Maine, working in conjunction with the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History. Duties will include extensive field work collecting and documenting the folklore and folklife of Maine; overseeing the activities of another fieldworker and any other staff that may be assigned to the project; keeping the public informed of the survey's progress; keeping up with the requisite paperwork; preparing a Maine Folklife Dictionary, a slide/tape show on Maine folklife, and a brochure describing both...Salary $14,000 for twelve months.

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 16, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

Professor Norman Cazden of the Univ. of Maine at Orono has collected a practical, very singable assortment of folk music and ballads from the Catskill Mountain bards who used to sing at Camp Woodland in Phoenicia. His choice of material has been guided by what has proven useful and enjoyable. Many of the songs have served for dramatization, dance and other group treatments in schools, in outdoor camping, for stage projects and for just plain singing. Originally included as part of Prof. Cazden's ABELARD FOLKSONG BOOK (long out of print), A CATSKILL SONGBOOK had been republished by Purple Mountain Press …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 15, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The Common Ground Country Fair will return this year on September 22, 23, and 24, at the Fairgrounds in Litchfield, Maine. Successful last year beyond all anticipation, this no nonsense, leisurely living-oriented event brought together homesteaders, established farmers, city folk with country ideas, and others in an environment of peaceful learning and sharing, greatly enhanced by the enormous variety of wholesome food, the aromas of which insured steady lines in the eating area.

This year there will be demonstrations in tinsmithing, spinning angora wood, solar greenhouses, plant dyes, chair caning, using seaweed, to name just a few. Featured speakers will …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 14, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The First International Symposium addressing "The Franco-American Presence in America" will take place at the Shaeffer Theatre, Bates College, April 8-9, 1978. Sponsored by the Centre d'Heritage Franco-Americain, with support of the Maine Council for the Humanities and Public Policy, the centre will provide an opportunity to examine and to study, the intellectual and cultural power of Franco-Americans. By studying "the issue of ethnic introspections, separation, and identification of political, educational and other humanistic philosophies...," the group will examine the effective inclusion of American society and culture.

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 13, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

Argyle Boom, Vol. XVII of Northeast Folklore, is now being sent to Northeast Folklore Society members and libraries, and is ready for sale from our office. It is a readable book on what at first appears to be an unreadable subject. Written and edited mostly by Sandy Ives, with a back up crew of some twelve fieldwork students and eighteen informants, the book covers (in the usual exhaustive Ives Style) the description, operation, and peripheral data of the Argyle Boom and neighboring booms as they existed in the first two decades of the 20th century. An enormous operation in its …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 12, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

I could have listened to Sparky Rucker for the entire 4 1/2 hours. That's how long the Friday night installment of Folksongs in February was. Sparky Rucker was the last performer of the evening, going on at 11:40 [p.m.]. Believe me, at that hour, his performance was like a shot of adrenalin. Six hundred pairs of eyes and ears suddenly snapped to attention. Black southern traditional music presented with such explosive, energetic, boot-stomping depth—what a finish!!

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 11, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

Linda Madden, a sophomore at the University of Maine at Orono, kind of fell into an interesting job this summer. When her S.P.E.D.Y. [Summer Program for Economically Disadvantaged Youth] supervisor asked if she'd rather interview old folks instead of wash desks, she said yes, even though she'd not the slightest notion of what-all it entailed. Being a bright and energetic young lady, with a more than average amount of perserverance, she set about learning how to interview, who to interview, and why. With only nine weeks in the program, she had to work fast, necessarily limiting her contacts and subjects. …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 10, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

Pete Seeger, along with Gordon Bok and Sally and Lou Killen, appeared to a full gym at the University of Maine, Orono, Feb[ruary] 29. It was a benefit for poor Clearwater, Pete's Hudson River conservation-promoting sloop, now in the Stonington yards for extensive repairs. Compensating for a bad cold, Pete did many tunes on his whistle and banjo although his voice sounded just find to me when he did sing. Gordon seemed in an exceptionally good mood, adding extra sparkle to an already perfect performance. The Killens sang their songs with the gusto and clarity that has been their trademark …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 9, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

During the past academic year the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History at the University of Maine at Orono completed several major accessioning projects. From Lynn Franklin of the Portland Press Herald, they received almost 70 taped interviews with Mainers from all walks of life. James R. Wilson of Rutgers donated his collection of Miramichi Valley (N.B.) material: field tapes, recordings of the Miramichi Folksong Festival, and dubbings from the Louise Manny Collection. And the indefatigable David Littleton-Taylor deposited still more interviews with lobster fishermen. Several smaller accessions from independent researchers such as John J. Kelly, Jr., and Norman …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 8, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

I dedicated my book, Lawrence Doyle, first to "Big Jim Pendergast (whom I called, quite rightly, "My first friend on Prince Edward Island") and then to Joe Walsh, "my first friend in King's County." They both died within the month of January. Joe, at eighty-one, had gone down under his house to thaw out some pipes with a propane torch when some straw insulation caught on fire; the whole house went up and that was the end for Joe. Jim died very quietly at ninety-five after years of confinement. I will miss them both; in fact, I already do. — …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 7, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

[NOTE : After a seven year's silence, we are going to try to crank up the Newsletter again. Hopefully it will appear three times a year. In order to assure such astonishing regularity, the Editorship has been snatched from me (I'm delighted!) and placed in the responsible hands of Florence Ireland. I wish her luck, and I know you all join me in that.--E.D.I.]

On October 21th the Archives staff travelled to Camden, Maine to put on a workshop entitled, "Oral History and the Bicentennial." It was a day-long affair sponsored jointly by the Northeast Folklore Society and the Maine …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 6, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

This newsletter will be as brief as it has been (up to now) non-existent. However, you are entitled to know what has happened to Northeast Folklore, which usually appears late in May or early in June. Well, very simply, it will appear sometime late in July or early in August. I will spare you any long and involved mea culpa at this point, although no one is to blame but me. However, all seems to be going ahead adequately now, and unless something goes very wrong you should have Northeast Folklore VIII soon. At that time we will also bill …