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• MS F 1-30: University Folklore Collection, 1949-1982

MS F 1-30: University Folklore Collection, 1949-1982

Vance Randolph (1892-1980) was the foremost student of Ozark life and was elected a Fellow of the American Folklore.

The Folklore Collection, which includes the Mary Celestia Parler Ozark Folksong Collection, consists of several series numbered F1 - F30, with a supplement, F31, also numbered MC 461.

The core of the collection, F1, consists of 442 reels of tape recordings captured by members of the University Folklore Research Project, 1949-1965, under the direction of Mary Celestia Parler. While most of the 137,400 feet of tape preserve Arkansas and/or Ozark folksongs sung by the indigenous folk of the area and recorded in their native locales, a few of the reels also record instrumental music performed without vocal accompaniment on fiddle, banjo, guitar, dulcimer, harmonica, or other native instruments, and some contain non-musical tales, anecdotes, etc.

In addition, the collection includes unpublished typescript transcriptions of the contents of the recorded songs (MS F2), folklore class reports (MS F16), and bound typescripts preserving various folk tales, sayings, beliefs, riddles, games, maxims, remedies, etiologies, etc (classes F20, 26, 28, and 30).

Donated by University Folklore Research Project, 1949-1975; Professor Robert B. Cochran, 1981-1982.

Digitization Project

The University Libraries are at work on a long-term project to digitize folksong materials and to make the music, transcriptions, and related files available online. If you would like to contribute towards this project, please contact us.

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