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.

Transcription of Blacj Jack Davy, University Folklore Collection, MC F

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In addition, the collection includes unpublished typescript transcriptions of the contents of the recorded songs (MS F2), folklore class reports (MS F16), and bound typescripts preserving various folk tales,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.

Detailed Contents

Class Contents
F1 Tapes of folksongs and spoken word
F2 Transcriptions
F4 Checklists of songs
F8 Folklore research project reports
F12 Folk festival programs, etc.
F14 Miscellaneous
F16 Class reports and projects
F20 Ballads and songs in the University of Arkansas folklore archives: a syllabus, edited by Mary Celestia Parler, 1960. Second copy in MAIN ML128.F75 P32
F26 Proverbs from Arkansas: Adjectival comparisons (1960) and Proverbs from Arkansas: Maxims: collected by University students (1962) also in Main at PN6426 .P3 and PN6302 .P3
F28 Riddles from Arkansas; collected by University students (1962) and More Riddles from Arkansas (1962) also in Main at PN6371 .P3 and PN6371 .P31
F30 Folk beliefs from Arkansas; collected by University students (1962) also in Main GR110.A8 P3. The contents of these 15 volumes:
  1. Birth. Childhood
  2. Human body, Folk medicine
  3. Folk medicine
  4. Home, domestic pursuits
  5. Economic, social relationships
  6. Travel, communications
  7. Love, courtship, marriage
  8. Death and funereal customs
  9. Witchcraft, ghosts, magical practices.
  10. Cosmic phenomena: times, numbers, seasons.
  11. Weather
  12. Animals, animal husbandry
  13. Fishing and hunting
  14. Plants, plant husbandry
  15. Miscellaneous
F31 Supplement, MC 461. Four boxes of reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, correspondence, miscellaneous