Folklore Commons^™

Reynolds, Paula Jean (Fa 1300), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1300. Project titled “Rosa Cleo Steelman Speer in Doll Making,” which includes details about traditional doll making in Taylor County, Kentucky. The paper includes illustrations, pattern pieces, photos, and detailed directions of the process.

Robison, Jesse (Fa 1298), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1298. Project titled “Military Songs and Cadence Rhymes,” which includes survey sheets of songs and cadences collected in Warren County, Kentucky and Marian, Smyth County, Virginia. Survey sheets may include descriptions, song lyrics, tunes, and informant name and location.

Thomason, Mary Jean (Healan) (Fa 1299), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1299. Project titled “Ten Broeck and Mollie: An Intriguing Puzzle,” which includes variants of the texts for “Ten Broeck and Mollie” and “Skewball” collected primarily from Jesse Blair in Grayson County, Kentucky. Project may include texts, song lyrics, tunes, photos, and informant name and location.

Dilemma And Knowledge - Book Review Of Re-Imagining Utopias: Theory And Method For Educational Research In Post-Socialist Contexts, Jessica Zychowicz

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

No abstract provided.

Briscoe, Richard Blake (Fa 1292), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1292. Student folk studies project titled “’The Music Will Preserve Itself’: The Lost River Strummers Dulcimer Club,” which includes the history of Southern Appalachian traditional music and the Lost River Strummers Dulcimer Club of Warren County, Kentucky. Sheet music for dulcimers is included.

Crabtree, Julie Anne, B. 1988 (Fa 1294), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1294. Project titled “Pride Before the Fall: The Tale of a Motorcycle Wreck and the Onset of Supernatural Senses in Out-of-Body/Near-Death Experiences,” which details the supernatural experience of Russell Lee Callahan of Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky. The interview includes details of the accident, the core supernatural experience, and the resulting change toward religion. The interview is 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.

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.

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.

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.

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) …

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 …