Bowling Green State University Faculty and Student Folklore records

The BGSU Faculty and Student Folklore Collection contain student project files, Black Swamp Folklife Festival files, and miscellaneous folklore files created for folklore classes at BGSU between 1964-1994.

The student project files (nine cubic feet) contain class papers focusing upon a variety of folktales, superstitions, customs, riddles, jokes, songs, games, folk arts and the like. A portion of the files are arranged by some of the above-mentioned categories while others are labeled as general collections since they contain multiple subjects in one paper. All of these files are then arranged alphabetically by the last name of the student. Material donated at a later date is filed separately and in subject order in Box 12. Tape indexes, informant lists and note cards with summary data from the papers can also be found in the collection. All student papers may not have matching cards, tape indexes and informant lists. For some projects there may be no paper and only some cards. The 1964-1994 date span is scattered. Most of the papers were written between the years of 1964-1968 with approximately 10% from the 1980s-1990s.

Many BGSU, Bowling Green and northwest Ohio references are included among the subjects covered in the student papers. Local ghost stories, college lore, superstitions and folk tales may be found here. There are hardly any documents such as class syllabi to provide insights into the various folklore classes. Some project instructions for English 372 are located at the end of the student project files along with miscellaneous bibliographies. Some of the student papers had been wet at some point and were duplicated. Because of their poor condition some illegibility has resulted.

The Black Swamp Folklife Festival files comprise two cubic feet of this collection. The festival was held at BGSU from May 21-23, 1976. The event not only marked the nations bicentennial but showcased the history, culture and arts of northwest Ohio. Students in Popular Culture 490 assisted with the three-day event as part of their class requirements.

The files are arranged by subject: funding and planning, publicity, and interview report forms. Within these subjects the box contents are arranged alphabetically by topic. These records reflect the many details of planning, publicizing and in general organizing a National Endowment for the Humanities grant-funded event. Office files, correspondence, financial records, planning documents, original art work for festival publicity and general history about the Black Swamp region of northwest Ohio may be found in the files. Interview report forms and other data related to individual artisans, craftsmen, performers and others participating or considered for participation at the festival are included.

Lastly, miscellaneous folklore files from 1951-1965 consist of a few folders of membership data, publications and meeting announcements for state folklore societies in Ohio, California and Kentucky. A constitution and meeting programs for November 1965 from the American Folklore Society are also included. Some printed materials related to folklore topics and miscellaneous documents from Ross County, Ohio can be found in these folklore files as well.