Guide to Folklore Collecting Assignments

Introduction:

The purpose of the collecting project is to make you better aware of the many folklore forms that surround you and to help you see yourself as a participant in a number of folklore processes. You may collect from strangers, acquaintances, relatives, or yourself.

You must provide informant and contextual data that will make analysis of the item or text possible for any potential archive user; however, you need not analyze the items themselves other than to comment on the functions of the lore when possible. Remember that different kinds of items (beliefs, legends, songs, jokes, etc.) will require different kinds of background data on both the informant and the item. Try to give information that will make the item as understandable and useful as possible.

Grades will suffer from any poor English in your own comments but not from amateur drawings or photographs needed to clarify points nor from your reporting texts which contain poor grammar or lack proper sentence structure.

Collecting folklore is fun--unless you wait until the night before the assignment is due before beginning. Turning in parts of your collection every week along with the relevant parts of your master list will give you important feedback which you can use to get an A. (Turn in copies that can have corrections made on them, not originals! And Recycle!)

Please type your assignments or enter them into the computer using at least 12 point type (standard fonts like Times, Palatino, or Helvetica) with at least one inch margins, and please do not use ease-erase paper.

The project, when turned in, will consist of the following elements:

• master list (cover sheet listing all items & their identifying numbers and serving as an index to the collection)
• release forms (collector's for the collection as a whole, one for each informant)
• "items" on format sheets
• ancillary items (video, audio cassettes, photos, etc.)
• diskette (labeled)

Everything must be in unsealed 9 x 12 manila envelope(s) with identifying number & name on outside. Clip (don't staple) item, any releases, photos, etc. together. And do not seal the envelope!

Format Sheet Explained.

Name

of informant, last underlined [If you yourself are the informant, put your name here]

Place collected:

(the place of performance, not the place referred to in the story...)

Date collected:

Title:

(Make up a short title that best describes the item)

Genre:

or Type of folklore

"Genre" is not "context;" for example the genre for hashi (chopstick) etiquette would be "custom," the context "food" or "meals" or "eating;" the tabu that one should not stick the hashi upright in the rice bowl (since it reminds one of funeral ceremonies) is still. custom; "death" may be the meaning, but it is not the genre nor the context of the performance.

Folk Group(s):

(Be as specific as possible [e.g. "Mexican-American" instead of "ethnic;" "Kurok" not "Native American;" "Mormon" not "religious; " "carpenters" not "occupational."], and be as relevant as possible to the item performed. More than one folk group classification is possible for a single item.

Informant Data:

In this space write the information about the person from whom the item came. Include information that gives the reader a greater idea of what your informant is like. The following list gives some few suggestions of what is potentially useful in this section:
 

Name of informant

Sex of informant

Age (or approximate age) of informant

give approx. date of birth or state something like: "informant was about 70 in 1985"

Address of informant

Region where informant was born/reared

Schooling background

Ethnic background

Family background

Religious background

Occupation and/or other folk group

Hobbies

 

Of course, all this information would probably not be necessary on all items. For example, if the item you have collected is a Polish joke, the hobbies of your informant may not be significant, but the ethnic background may be crucial. Sexual orientation, for example, might be both very relevant to the item collected and also require very sensitive presentation. Remember the Golden Rule.

 

The aim is to record any information that will lead to a better understanding of the folklore and the informant's relationship to it, while at the same time remaining respectful of the complexities of human relationships. Addresses should only be on the release forms, not on the item forms. Be sure to identify the speaker if it is not yourself (whose voice & perspective is it here).

 

Contextual Data:
 

This refers to "performance context." In this section you can explain where and under what circumstances you collected the item. If possible, tell where and under what circumstances the informant came by the folklore item or text. What triggered the performance? Why was the item or text used, were other people present when the item was heard or observed? Did they participate actively? Who were the others around? In what way were those other people influenced by the performance of the item or text? How does this item or text function for the group in which it is encountered. What language was used (or is usually used)? Include relevant comments by the performer or others (in whatever language was used, if necessary with translation).
 

The questions listed are suggestions. The kind of questions you ask are dictated by the kind of item you collect. You will, however, try to elicit where, from whom and under what circumstances the item or text was learned by the informant, as well as how, why and where the informant "uses or performs" the text or item.
 

For example, if you are collecting a frequently used quilt pattern from your mother, you would want to ask her where it came from and why she likes to use that particular pattern. You would want to ask her about technique and aesthetic considerations and about who receives the quilts she makes. You would want to ask her where she learned how to quilt.
 

Or: if you are collecting a folk belief you will want to include the cause and effect as well as the expression of the belief itself. ("If you have warts, rubbing a potato on them and burying the potato will remove them").

Text or Item:
 

This is the section where you list the original item or text you have collected. This might be a legend text, a photo, a recipe, a song, a joke, a description of a family celebration, a traditional holiday occurrence of some kind, a folk game, a folk toy, a riddle or droodle-- one example from the many kinds of folklore. (If the item is from a published source (e.g., book, newspaper, or the World Wide Web, etc.) make sure it is neither colected nor presented as folklore. Previously collected and published items do not count as "original items of folklore." b See the instructor for explicit advice on each printed/recorded item.)
 

In determining if an item is folklore, look to see who "owns" it: if it is the "Lord's Prayer" then the text is fixed and the church "owns" it; but if it is an informal variation "Rub-a-Dub, God bless this grub", then it is "owned" by the performer. If it is a poem out of a book, then the author "owns" it, but if it is an informal saying that is "authorless" ("You're a poet but you don't know it"; "Roses are red, violets are blue, you have a butt like a B-22"), then that is "owned" by the performer.
 

Feel free to add pages as necessary if the item is a long one or if contextual notes are complex. Please include any remarks the informant(s) made about the lore, their attitudes toward it, etc.
 

If the text is an a language other than English, please give the item in the original language and then in an English translation.

If there is ancillary documentation (e.g., an audio or video cassette, or the object itself) be sure to note that fact here! If there is, for example, a song on a cassette which you recorded, transcribe the text of the song here. It is not necessary to transcribe the music.

Transcriptions should be exact, including both your own intercalated comments as well as "a-hems," etc., on the part of the performer, and reproducing, for example, grammatical errors of the informant. "Stage directions" (such as [laughing and pointing] should be included in square brackets. Make sure the reader knows who is speaking (who is the "I" doing the reporting - you or your informant??) and from which perspective.

Comments:

These are optional, but the category is handy for any "extra" observations or comments you might have. Your comments go here. The informants' commentary goes under contextual data.

 

Restrictions:

Here briefly indicate any restrictions which may apply, e.g.: none; anonymous; please ask permission to publish if before 1999, etc. See below for more details.

 

Collector:

At the bottom of the last page, list the following

your name

school (i.e., CSU, Fresno)

Course, instructor, semester, and year

 

Number:

The identifying number should appear on ALL sheets to eliminate any possibility of their getting mixed up or wrongly sorted. In addition, the same identifying number which labels this item here should appear on all ancillary items, such as audio or video cassettes, drawings, photos, objects, etc. The i.d. numbers belongs in the lower left hand corner. See below for particulars on the form of the i.d. number

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Note:

Remember: PART OF YOUR GRADE DEPENDS ON FOLLOWING FORMAT, but that conversely, as William Wilson has mentioned, let the form be your servant, not your master.

It is important to note that although this format and examples you may see are only one or two pages long, you may collect items much longer. You should not feel restricted to one or two pages--on the contrary. There is no page limitation on the item you submit. Larger items may count double. Check with your instructor.

If you have the opportunity of tape or video recording performances or if you have photographs, please include these (or copies) with your item report and transcriptions. This is especially important for musical, dance and material items which most of us are unequipped to represent usefully on paper.

If you have any questions, please talk to your instructor.

Unless you state otherwise in writing on your paper or collection, submissions will be housed in the Central California Folklore Archives now at California State University, Fresno, where the items will become the property of the Folklore Archives to be used for research and other academic pursuits by patrons of the Archives.

Thanks

Most particular and profuse thanks are due to Prof. Barre Toelken and the Fife Folklore Archives at Utah State University, Logan, for allowing extensive use of their formats; Prof. William Wilson, in turn, had provided them with extensive models. In addition I want to gratefully acknowledge the extensive and most useful critique performed by Dr. Michael Taft, Southern Folklife Collection Archivist, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Categories Lists

This list is a suggestion of possible items for you to consider when submitting a collecting assignment. These lists are by no means exhaustive!

Genres:

contemporary legends; supernatural legends; religious legends; legends about historical events; personal experience narratives (memorates);
local or place-name legends; character legends; etiologic legends;
jokes; tall tales; fairy tales; folk tales; personal experience narratives
folk speech and dialect; tongue-twisters;
folk songs; ballads; folk music; folk dance;
riddles; folk rhymes; droodles
proverbs
chants; charms; curses; taunts
beliefs; "superstitions" (but label them "beliefs"); good luck-bad luck charms or occurrences that influence luck;
divination (prediction of future; ways of predicting events or outcomes);
remedies/cures
games; pranks;
initiations; celebrations; festivals
customs; rituals
rites of passage events: birth, maturation, marriage, death
material culture items: things stitched, woven, whittled, quilted, braided, sculptured, built by hand
folk art; graffitti; yard art; body art; decoratrions; scenes; ...

Groups:

Ethnic groups such as Chinese-, Japanese-, Mexican- or Italian-American; Hispanic or Afro-, European-, or Asian-American are larger groupings. Be as specific as you can: Lakota rather than Native American; Hmong rather than Asian-American. Use "European-American" rather than "white" or "Caucasian," etc.
Religious and church groups such as Catholic, Mennonite, Jewish, Buddhist
Age groups: seniors, children, teenagers
Occupational groups: academic, construction, union, mechanics, office, secretarial, farm, military
Hobby groups: clubs, organizations, sports, campers, Boy Scouts, email lists, singers
Role groups: parents, counselors, volunteers, political
Try to avoid "family" as a group label as much as possible (only as a last resort, if the item is used to characterize or define the family: "family" is certainly often legitimate, but it is easy to miss other relevant groupings and it is easy to loose "everything" [from tamales to Easter egg hunts to folksongs] under a category of "family" which has become so broad as to be meaningless.): OR: use "family" in conjunction with another relevant label.

Performance Contexts:

Processes: food, work, sports, camping, traveling
Incidental: small talk, (casual) conversation (about food, family, strange events, locality, weather, travel, ...), shop talk (occupational conversation)
Occupation/Location: work, school, military, latrinalia, boats, bars, farming
Instruction: e.g., rules of thumb, warnings, advice, teaching
Sessions: story telling, jokes, songs, "lies",
Recreational: dances, contests, parties, sports, (card, baseball, tag) games
Performances per se: festivals, practical jokes, pageants, signs and demonstrations
Life and Health: pregnancy, age, child rearing, health, illness, medical, cures
Rites of passage and initiations: birth, death, mourning/funerals, marriage, confirmation, bar/bas mitzvahs, birthdays, quinceañera,
Holidays: Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Equinox, New Year, Ground Hog Day, Western Days, Vintage Days, Independance Day, ...

Checklist

I have linked the checklist I use to evaluate the items turned in each week for completeness, form, and quality.

Indexing your collection

Two Kinds of Release Forms:

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1) One from each informant

(numbered to refer to each of the informant's items; be sure to include yourself if you are an informant)

2) One from yourself, the collector.

(Only one for the entire collection as a whole is necessary)

See the models. The release forms are meant to allow fair use of the items for academic purposes, and so normally no restrictions will be necessary. The informants and/or collectors do not give up any copyright or performance rights they may hold. Xerox as many forms as you need for your projects.

Basically, there are five kinds of release restrictions:

1. None (This is the norm)
   Open and public; no restrictions are placed on the use of the material
2. Anonymous
   These items may be viewed and used in the Archives, but if they are published, the name(s) of informant and/or collector are to remain anonymous.
3. Publication by permission only
   These items may be viewed and used in the Archives but may not be published (or disseminated by mass means, e. g., radio, television); or may not be disseminated without express permission of the informant and/or the collector.
4. Limited access
   Neither open/public nor to be published, these items may be deposited but are not normally open to viewing or use in the Archives or to publication generally except under certain conditions or with the permission of the informant, collector or the Director, as explicitly noted on the release form.
5. Time restrictions
   These items may only be published, (or perhaps even used) after some fixed date (e.g., "may be used after Dec. 31, 2000"; "may be published after Dec. 31, 2020")

If restrictions are not expressly mentioned, all materials in the Archives may be freely viewed and used in the Archives for academic purposes and may be published in academic contexts with the permission of the Director of the Archives. Project items which are not to be included in the Archives should be clearly labeled "NOT TO BE ARCHIVED" and should bear the last running numbers of the assignment. These items will be returned to the collector or appropriately destroyed, as per your instructions.
Projects without all the necessary release forms cannot be accepted for a grade. Each item and each informant (be it yourself or another), as well as each collecter, must be released.

One Master List:

The Master List serves as the basis for indexing the collection into the Central California Folklore Archives; thus it repeats succinctly some of the key information from the item sheets, characterizing the collection at a glance, giving important collector data, and making the items readily available for scholarly use.

Upper left hand corner: the collection's identification number [sans running item number], e.g., 1996-12-11, Engle, David
right: your name, your current address, and your permanent address, along with your school (CSU, Fresno), course, instructor, semester and year.
then, indented:

#0: collector data
like the informant data on the Format Sheet, but somewhat more extensive

running item number [e.g., 1996-11-29, Engle, David #1, #2, #3, ...]

title: [in quotes]
genre:
description: [in one short sentence]
informant(s):
folk group(s):
context: [the immediate context of the performance]
place of collection:
year of collection: [approximately]
restrictions:
keywords: [please leave this line blank: "for office use"]
notes: [any references to other media, cross references in collection, etc.]

One Diskette:

Please copy all the word processing and master list files onto a diskette and turn it in with the project (nor would we object to digitized pictures, audio, etc., also, according to your capabilities) This will allow us to automate an index and eventually put public portions of the index on-line.
In addition to saving all the material which also is turned in as print-out, please save a second copy of the Master List on diskette as "text only" (that is the same as "plain text" or "ASCII,") format, without the stuff computer programs often attach to a file. As computer systems and programs come and go this will maintain readability.
Name all the files clearly, in a manner which corresponds to the file list on the Master List.
Label the diskette clearly, giving your project number (e.g., 1996-12-11, Engle, David #0), the system used to produce the disk (e.g., Mac, MSDOS, UNIX), and the programs used to produce the files (e.g., Word 5.1, WordPerfect 6.0, Word for Windows, Pagemaker).

A Number:

Everything you turn in (including the Master List) on a collecting project should bear an identifying number on each sheet or object, made as human as possible, to enable us to locate it. You might call this a "call number," like in the library.
to wit:

The full year - the month - the date, Collectors last name, Collectors first name (e.g., 1995-08-31, Doe, John) and then a running item number. Everything in the collection will bear a variation on the collection number. For example, for the first item: 1995-08-31, Doe, John, #1

Everything pertaining to the first item in that collection will bear a unique number. For example, 1995-08-31, Doe, John, #1 will appear on all three sheets describing the item, as well as on the accompanying photographs and on the pertinent release forms.
The year-month-date will be the day on which the final projects are due, and all items in the collection will bear this identifying date.
Exceptions:

1) The Master List receives the designation #0, e.g.,
1995-08-31, Doe, John, #0
This is where you give your own general autobiographic information, and information pertaining to the entire collection.
2) A tape, for example, of an interview presenting several discrete items should have its own number. See "general repositories" below.

You will only assign the running item numbers, of course, when you turn in your final project.
Use the "footer" capabilities on your word processor, not the "footnote" for doing your numbering.

Ancillary items:

If you turn in cassettes, videos, or actual objects in addition to your "paperwork", be sure to label them also with your identifying number! If there is room you could well include informants' names and places.

Diskettes:
 

If at all possible, please provide us with a copy of your computer diskette, labeled with the same number as the master list. This will aid enormously when we generate a computer index of the Archives. Please indicate on the label:

system (e.g., MAC, MS-DOS 6.0, Windows 3.1) program used (e.g. Word 5.1; WordPerfect for Windows 2.0)

 

Photographs:

Mount the photos with photo corners on paper or card stock, or insert them into plastic pockets so that the photos will not become separated from their description. Label everything with the i.d. number.

When you photograph something, include some common object of identifiable size (pencil, diskette, keys, chair, or even a ruler) so that dimensions are clear.

For small objects get close enough to reveal detail.

Photograph from more than one side or angle to reveal details.

Audio tapes:

Please maximum 90 minute cassettes; label each cassette with the appropriate identifying number. Cassettes should be in cassette cases.

Video tapes:

Please VHS format; number each cassette with the appropriate identifying number. Video tapes should be in their tape boxes.

Objects:

Please, if you turn in an actual object, also turn in photographic records of same (or drawings, plans, etc. as appropriate and convenient). Pouches, envelopes, etc. will help a lot in managing non-paper objects.

General Repositories:

If there are several items from a single interview on audio or video tape, or in some other kind of general repository, please number the repository separately and refer to the repository from each of the discrete items, each of which has its own number. For example: the interview with Uncle John recorded on video cassette 1995-11-29, Johnston, William video#1 might contain a legend (1995-11-29, Johnston, William #14), a joke (#15), and a tall tale (#16). A full transcript of the tape would bear the number 1995-11-29, Johnston, William video#1. List this general repository separately in the Master List, using the designations: video, cassette, album, etc. (If you have questions: ask!).

Checklist of how to turn things in and their order of assembly:

1) Master List

(pages clipped together, not stapled)

2) Release Forms

(pages clipped together, not stapled)

Collector's Release Forms

(just one for the whole collection)

Informants' Release Forms

(as fas as possible in item order)

All items must be explicitly referred to on the release forms.

Don't forget the release form for yourself if you are an informant.

3) Items

The various pages should be clipped together, not stapled. Pictures should accompany their items, unless they are "general repositories" referring to several item numbers. In this case the pictures should follow the items.

4) Ancillary Items

such as videos, series of picutres, audio casssettes, diskettes, etc.

5) Diskette

and printed table of contents to the diskette.

Notes:
Incomplete collections (e.g., those with less than 12 items ) will receive less than a "C"; collections with less than 9 items will receive less than a "D"; those with less than 7 items get no credit. Thus a collection with 10 items would receive a maximum of 65%; a collection with 8 items would receive a maximum of 55%; one with 6 only 45%. Collections without master lists and all necessary release forms are incomplete.
Late Policy: Up to Friday after the projects are due (i.e., within the same week as the due date), late work will be marked one grade (10 points) down. Up to one week late (i.e., projects turned in by the final), work will be marked down two grades (20 points). More than one week late will not be accepted. Incompletes must be arranged by the time of the final.
You will loose points if things are out of order, if things are stapled rather than clipped, if the pictures are not attached with photo corners, or if the collection is not in a good-condition, labeled, in an unsealed 9x12 envelope. (Of course if you need the room, you can use more than one envelope)
If you provide real, physical objects that you want back, be sure to indicate that clearly. It would usually be much better just to provide clear pictures.
Complete Collections on time with more than 12 items (up to 16) will receive extra credit if the basic 12 item collection would receive the grade of C or better anyway. (In other words: large collections of inferior quality are not eligible for extra credit.) A 16 item collection with a grade of A could possibly possibly work wonders for your grade in the class!

Checklist with notes:

Master List: Autobiography? All items there? Are the numbers right? Do the numbers match? Do the index categories match the item sheets? Are all the categories there and filled out? Is the context right? Restrictions or notes? General Repositories? Page numbers?
Release forms: One for the collector of the whole collection? One for each informant, including yourself? One for each item (or at least is each item explicitly referred to on collective releases?) Any restrictions or general notes?
Items: Are the forms and numbers correct? Typos? Is the order correct? Are the necessary references to ancillary items there? Does the information match that in the Master List?
Ancillary Items: Photos mounted with corners; everything labelled?
Diskette: List of files on Diskette? System and program noted? "text only" (=Ascii, plain text) files?
Envelope: 9x12 manilla? Clips, no staples? Order right? Name on outside? Not sealed?

• Format Sheet Explained.
• Categories Lists
• Genres:
• Groups:
• Contexts:
• Checklist
• Indexing your collection
• Two Kinds of Release Forms:
• One Master List:
• One Diskette:
• A Number:
• Ancillary items:
• Checklist of things to turn in and their order of assembly:
• Checklist with notes: