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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.

Salt, Vol. 5, No. 2, Salt Institute For Documentary Studies

Salt Magazine Archive

Contents
• 3 ‘I Never Lied in My Life’ Cecil Kelley of Jonesport, Maine, spins a series of outrageous yams. Sample: “Grandmother drank a barrel of rum a day...”
• 16 Jake’s Easter Clam One Easter Sunday, seven-year-old Jake Leach went clamming with his father. John Leach of Kennebunkport, Maine, tells what clamming means to him and why he takes Jake along.
• 24 Christos Anesti! Greek Easter The Greek community in Biddeford, Maine, celebrates Easter with all the traditions of the old country.
• 32 Harvey’s Gone Fishing Harvey Bixby of Cape Porpoise, Maine, would rather fish than eat. He takes Salt fly …

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 …

A History Of The True People - The Cherokee Indians - Chapter 4-5, Robert K. Thomas

Robert K. Thomas

Written under the pseudonym of G.P. Horsefly, Robert Thomas wrote this volume for Indian kids in Michigan and whites who are 'acquainted with' Indians. The book pulls together Cherokee oral histories that Thomas heard. Chapter 4 and 5 are 'The Captivity' and 'The Staunch Handful'.

A History Of The True People - The Cherokee Indians - Chapter 1, Robert K. Thomas

Robert K. Thomas

Written under the pseudonym of G.P. Horsefly, Robert Thomas wrote this volume for Indian kids in Michigan and whites who are 'acquainted with' Indians. The book pulls together Cherokee oral histories that Thomas heard. Chapter 1 is 'In the Olden Days'

A History Of The True People - The Cherokee Indians - Chapter 3, Robert K. Thomas

Robert K. Thomas

Written under the pseudonym of G.P. Horsefly, Robert Thomas wrote this volume for Indian kids in Michigan and whites who are 'acquainted with' Indians. The book pulls together Cherokee oral histories that Thomas heard. Chapter 3 is 'At the Edge of the Prairie'

A History Of The True People - The Cherokee Indians - Chapter 2, Robert K. Thomas

Robert K. Thomas

Written under the pseudonym of G.P. Horsefly, Robert Thomas wrote this volume for Indian kids in Michigan and whites who are 'acquainted with' Indians. The book pulls together Cherokee oral histories that Thomas heard. Chapter 2 is 'Living With Strangers'

Salt, Vol. 4, No. 2, Salt Institute For Documentary Studies

Salt Magazine Archive

Contents
• 2 Grandfather’s Golden Earring Sailing around Cape Horn in the mid 1800’s was a dangerous feat. The 90-year-old Furbish twins of Kennebunk recall their Grandfather Furbish wore “a thin gold earring in his left ear” as proud proof of the voyage.
• 8 ‘Like It, No Like It-Take It’ Maria Gollaros of Biddeford describes her 60 years working in the fabric mills of New England and her struggles as a young Greek immigrant woman in America.
• 16 Felling a Tree George and Roy Cole fell a giant locust tree in East Kingston, New Hampshire. Father and son continue to log …

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 …

“They Made Us Dance In The Pig Trough!” Mrs. Blanche Story’S Oral Accounts Of Dating, Courtship, Marriage And Sexual Attitudes In Northcentral Nebraska, 1885-1910, Gayle Waggoner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Oral recollections concerning dating, courtship, marriage and related attitudes were collected from a single informant, Mrs. Blanche Story of Butte, Nebraska. Through in-depth questioning during twelve tape-recorded interview sessions, value- and attitude-oriented accounts were secured for the years 1885 to 1910, the late frontier period in northcentral Nebraska. These detailed reminiscences focus on common life experiences related to interpersonal relationships and the institutions related to them, resulting in a personal or folk history. The single greatest problem in research was the lack of documentation for the attitudinal content of the texts. Corroboration of both specific information and broad patterns of …

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 …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 5, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

As of September 1, 1964, THE NORTHEAST FOLKLORE SOCIETY is incorporated as a non-profit institution, the primary purpose of which is "to collect, preserve, study, and publish the songs and legends, tales and other traditions of the New England-Canadian Maritimes area." One of the things this will mean is, of course, that contributions to the Society are utterly deductible for income tax purposes up to the limits prescribed by law. And by the way, thanks are due to Herbert T. Silsby II, of Ellsworth for taking care of all the legal arrangements for us.

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 4, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

Up to now, the Society has concerned itself mainly with the publication of its journal, Northeast Folklore. Recently we have committed ourselves to working on a dictionary of popular beliefs on superstitions. Since the journal is in business to publish "fresh collections of regional material," and since the work on superstitions can only proceed from an orderly arrangement of collected materials, we should work toward the establishment of an archive where all such materials can be deposited and indexed. I can report that a modest beginning has been made. For several years, ever since 1958 in fact, students in American …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 3, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

For several years now, Wayland D. Hand, Director of the Center for the Study of Comparative Folklore and Mythology at the University of California (Los Angeles), has been working toward completion of a comprehensive Dictionary of American Popular Beliefs and Superstitions. However, in order that such a work may be as authoritative as possible, Dr. Hand has asked organizations and individuals in the various states to canvass their regions and publish tributary volumes first. The Northeast Folklore Society is the logical organization to do the work here in Maine; therefore let us collect as much material as we can and …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 2, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

The 1962 issue of Northeast Folklore is being edited now. It will consist of a series of six or seven Märchen, several animal tales, a ghost story, and a few songs, all told and sung by Wilmot MacDonald of Glenwood, New Brunswick. Interestingly enough, Helen Creighton and I found that we had both collected exactly the same stories from Wilmot at different times and under different circumstances. Therefore we hope to include both versions of at least one tale, and careful comparisons will be made for all the others. We have barely scratched the surface of Wilmot's repertoire, but since …

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter, Vol. 1, Northeast Archives Of Folklore And Oral History

Northeast Folklore Society Newsletter

This Newsletter will come out twice a year. The next 1962 issue should appear before Christmas. I would like to appeal to all members to keep the Editor posted on what they are doing in regard to folklore. Are you collecting anywhere in the New England-Maritimes area? Are you a teacher using folklore in your classes in some way that you have found particularly effective? Are you at present involved in some research or writing? I would also appreciate clippings and notices of events that you feel may interest other members. This is your Newsletter; I only edit it, and …