Folklore Resources on Campus
Folklore Research Guide
Campus Folksong Club Oral History Project
Questions about folklore resources?
Call Numbers I Find Articles about Folklore I Find Background Information about Folklore I Special & Hidden Collections I Museums I Related Activities & Groups
Browse the below call numbers in the University libraries to find print materials about folklore and related topics. The most relevant libraries include the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library (SSHEL); Literatures and Languages Library; History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library (HPNL); and the Undergraduate Library.
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DEWEY
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SUBJECT |
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (LC) Coming soon! |
| 398.5 | Chapbooks | |
| 391 | Costume and Personal Appearance | |
| 392 | Customs of Life Cycle and Domestic Life | |
| 398.2089 | Ethnic and National Groups | |
| 745 | Folk Arts | |
| 398.41 | Folk Belief | |
| 793.31 | Folk Dancing | |
| 398.2 | Folk Literature | |
| 610 | Folk Medicine | |
| 781.62 | Folk Music | |
| 782.42162 | Folk Songs | |
| 398 | Folklore | |
| 398.092 | Folklorists | |
| 390 | Folkways | |
| 394 | General Customs | |
| 398.3-398.4 | History and Criticism of Specific Subjects of Folklore | |
| 394.26 | Holidays | |
| 306.46 | Material Culture (i.e. folk art, vernacular architecture, textiles and crafts) | |
| 398.4 | Paranatural and Legendary Phenomena of Folklore | |
| 398.9 | Proverbs | |
| 398.3 | Real Phenomena as Subjects of Folklore | |
| 398.8 | Rhymes and rhyming games | |
| 398.6 | Riddles | |
| 398.21-398.27 | Tales and Lore on a Specific Topic |
Items are located in the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library's (SSHEL) Reference Collection unless otherwise noted.
398.2 AA74VET1964
Main Reference Room
Aarne, Antti. The Types of the Folk-tale: A Classification and Bibliography. 1964.
A classic reference within folklore scholarship, providing an expansive categorization of
folktales and bibliography.
Q398. 097303 En199
Bronner, Simon J. (ed.). Encyclopedia of American
Folklife. 2006.
A rich reference resource that addresses a broad range of topics on American culture,
including entries for many ethnic communities within the United States, information on specific
cultural and social practices on which regional, state, city identities are built such as cuisine
and community celebrations. The four volumes cover a range of folklore genres such as material
culture, festivals and belief, folk narrative, religion, and music. It also includes a discussion
of key concepts and approaches to the study of folklore. Examples of entries range from youth
subcultures such as "skateboarders," to "powwowing," "polka," and "intellectual property and
traditional knowledge."
Q 398.20973
Brunvand, Jan Harold (ed.). American Folklore: An
Encyclopedia. 1996.
This one volume encyclopedia covers a large range of folklore topics from folk music to
material culture and ethnic folk communities. Its geographic and cultural range includes Canada,
but excludes Native American cultures (which are addressed in a separate volume). The text also
provides a rich source of information on prominent, nonliving folklore scholars and concepts within
the field of folklore studies.
398.208995073 En193
Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife. 2011.
This encyclopedia contains over 6000 entries on aspects of Asian American folklore and
culture. In addition to a section on Pan Asian American traditions, sections exploring
specific Asian American cultures (Japanese Americans, Cambodian Americans, Punjabi Americans, etc.)
compromise the bulk of the work. Each section covers a set list of general topics such as
food, dance, music, religion, and superstitions, as well as practices, figures, and festivals
specific to each culture. Each article is signed and contains a list of further
reading. Includes bibliography, index, and an appendix of folktexts.
398.203 G658e
Gordon, Stuart. The Encyclopedia of Myths and
Legends. 1993.
A collection of entries on mythical figures, narratives, and chroniclers throughout the
world, though its focus is on European, Near Eastern, and Indian myths. Text also includes some
entries focused on more contemporary phenomenon such as the "Rosewell incident" and its connection
to UFO narratives and "phantom hitch-hikers."
398.20973 G857
Green, Thomas A. (ed.). The Greenwood Library of
American Folktales . 2006.
A collection of American folktales organized by region (Northeast, Midwest, Mid- Atlantic,
South, Caribbean, Southwest, Plains and Plateau, West, Northwest, and Cyberspace). Narratives
include jokes, folktales, legends, myths, as well as personal experience narratives and were
collected from a variety of sources ranging from nineteenth century ethnographers to email
forwards. Many come from the "Golden Age" of regional collecting from 1880-1960.
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of
Folktales and Fairy Tales. 2008.
In addition to containing information on well-known tales and historical movements in the
multi-disciplinary field of fairy tale studies, this three-volume e-book contains definitions of
critical terms, concepts, and genres, as well as information on modern interpretations in text,
film, music and other media. Entries are organized alphabetically, but the Guide to Related
Topics allows readers to view contents by title medium, genre, region/language,
character/motif/theme, and creator, which is divided into several categories including filmmakers,
illustrators, authors, and editors. Each entry is signed and recommends additional reading on
he topic, both from within the text and from external sources.
098. 072073 M77a
Mood, Terry Ann. American Regional Folklore: A
Sourcebook and Research Guide. 2004.
A guide to conducting folklore research with an emphasis on the use of library resources.
Several chapters focus on folklore resources (mainly texts and museums) within specific regions of
the United States. The guide is largely limited to texts that emphasize literary methods to the
study of folklore, overlooking many materials that take a more ethnographic approach.
398. 08996073 G856
Prahlad, Anand (ed.). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of
African American Folklore. 2006.
A rich resource providing entries for a range of terms and key figures in African American
folklore and culture. The geographic scope of the text includes North America, the Caribbean, and
Central and South America. Brer Rabbit, cornbread, Bob Marley, Grandmaster Flash, and Capoeira are
just a few of the hundreds of subjects addressed in this encyclopedia.
398.3 T37M
Thompson, Stith. Motif-index of Folk-literature: A
Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval romances,
Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-books, and Local Legends. 1955.
A seminal index of motif elements in folk narratives, identifying key components of
narratives and the stories where they are found. An important resource in locating and analyzing
themes within folk literature.
Foodways
The Hermilda Listeman Community Cookbook Collection contains 700 community cookbooks from
around the country, from Maine to Alaska to Hawaii. Dating from the 1870's, these culinary
treasures were put together to raise money through women's groups, with the strongest
representation by churches. Some examples of this include raising funds for veterans and injured
soldiers of the Civil War, the homeless, local schools and of course, churches. The cookbooks can
be read for their 'receipts' as well as for their representation of American food preferences, the
advancement of technology in the kitchen and the evolution of nutritional theory. There are unique
recipes written in rhyme as well as local advertisements of the day. At present the collection
remains unprocessed. For more information, please contact the Library's Office of Collections. In
addition, for more information about community cookbooks and collections across the country, please
visit the online exhibit,
Communal Cuisine: Community
Cookbooks 1877-1960.
Folklore & Wit
The Franklin Julius Meine Collection in Folklore, Local Color, and Humor includes
approximately 8,500 volumes. Franklin J. Meine was a Chicago publisher and book collector
particularly interested in American humor in all its forms. Formal literary satire, joke books,
humorous ballads, reminiscences of famous comedians, cartoons and comic almanacs, and humor
magazines were all prominently represented in his collection. It included every important American
humorist in first editions, as well as variant editions. The contents are listed in the printed
catalog of the Rare Book Library. The collection was purchased in 1955 and is located in the
Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
In addition, the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library acquired two more recent collections: The Meyer Collection of American Wit and Humor, which consists of several thousand books, including many folklore titles and is largely unprocessed and The Robert B. Downs Collection, a straightforward folklore collection, much of which remains uncataloged.
Paranormal & Supernatural
The
Mandeville Collection is an
endowed collection of approximately 8,000 volumes relating to the occult sciences and
parapsychology, established by the late Merten J. Mandeville, a Professor of Management at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Under the terms of the endowment, works of a serious
nature, and those which emphasize the positive aspects of the occult are acquired. The primary
subject areas for which materials are purchased are astrology; the divinatory arts and palmistry;
esoteric religion and mysticism; occult techniques for health, happiness and success; psychical
phenomena and research, including clairvoyance, ESP, and out-of-body experiences; spiritualism,
including apparitions, mediumship, and reincarnation; unidentified flying objects; and witchcraft
and magic. Newer books and the unbound issues of more than 20 journals are located in the
Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library (SSHEL). The
bulk of the collection is housed in the Main Library Bookstacks.
Ethnomusicology
University of Illinois Ethnomusicology Archive
The archive is housed in the
Music Building
of the Urbana-Champaign campus and is established under the aegis of the Division of Musicology.
Begun in 1965 by Bruno Nettl as a repository for non-commercial and non-processed field recordings
made by faculty and students of the University, it continues to function as a working collection of
materials produced by members of the Division or used in their research and teaching. It makes no
attempt to be a comprehensive archive of field recordings of traditional music. The Archive
includes materials from all parts of the world but is strongest in Native American, Middle and Near
Eastern, and South Asian cultures. Consisting largely of reel-to-reel tapes, some of which have
been transferred to audio cassettes, it is organized by collections (material provided by one
scholar from one culture or nation and recorded during a specific period). There are ca. 200
"collections," ranging in size from less than one hour to over 100 hours of music. Documentation in
varying degrees of detail is available for about half of the collections. Use is restricted to
departmental faculty and graduate students, but arrangements for use in serious scholarship by
others may be arranged.
Robert Brown Collection
The Robert E. Brown Collection (ethnomusicology) is housed at the
Music Library and includes an extensive donation of
books, scores, and recordings, in addition to a Javanese puppet theatre, gamelans, and other
musical instruments from Indonesia, India, Turkey, and Afghanistan. The donation also includes the
relocation of the Center for World Music at UIUC currently housed at the Levis Center. As of summer
2007, the collection was still being processed by Music Library staff.
Sousa Archives: Center for American Music
The
Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
(SACAM) acquires and preserves significant archival records and historical artifacts in multiple
media formats that document America's local and national music history and its diverse cultures.
The Center, part of the University of Illinois Library and University Archives, arranges,
describes, and makes its collections accessible in support of scholarship, exhibitions,
publications and education. It offers these services in a professionally managed reference center
and through on-line databases, finding aids, and other forms of publication. It provides expert
advice on accepted archival practices and standards to University colleagues, scholars, and the
general public.
Storytelling Nook
The Storytelling Nook in the
Center for Children's Books houses a collection of
roughly 1,500 folk and fairy tale texts used by student and alumni storytellers for developing
their performance repertoires. These texts are also resources for Storytelling courses (LIS409)
taught at the
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and
they are accessible through the University Library catalog. Although the collection is
non-circulating, it is available for examination by scholars, teachers, librarians, students, and
other educators.
Campus Folksong Club Oral History Project (University Archives)
The
Campus Folksong Club Oral
History Project includes online audio interviews with former club members and participants. In
addition, the online site includes photographs and links to the club's recently digitized
newsletter Autoharp. During its height in the 1960s, the CFC claimed over 500 members-making it an
astonishingly large student organization and an important force in bringing culture from Illinois
and beyond to the UIUC campus. Folk music scholar Neil Rosenberg describes the Campus Folksong Club
as "one of the most vigorous of the many university folksong clubs during the sixties: (1993: 3).
The CFC was unique in its commitment to including a variety of traditional music ranging from
gospel and blues to old-time Appalachian and Ozark music, as well as ethnic music from outside the
United States. Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, and Mike Seeger are among the
best known musicians that the CFC brought to the UI campus. At the same time, the club also brought
students and local people together through a common appreciation for traditional music.
Spurlock Museum
A rich collection of artifacts from Ancient Mediterranean, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and
the Americas. The Spurlock's holdings include a number of folk art objects, especially carvings and
textiles. The museum website allow users to
Search the Collections of the Spurlock
Museum and to view digital images of many objects in the collection.
Krannert Art Museum
Museum holdings include objects of interest to those studying non-Western material culture.
The museum website displays key examples from its collection.
*A list of all registered student organizations is available at the Registered Organizations Directory.
University LibraryFor comments on this page contact: Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library
Last modified by: Kelly McCusker on 5/3/13