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Fife folklore archives record our beloved, informal history
• 'Vernacular
architecture' slides now online
| By Shauna Leavitt
July 25, 2005 | Folklore is an intimate part
of every human's life.
It includes the songs we sing on special occasions,
ghost tales, personal histories, jokes, figures
of speech, childhood games and rhymes, our religious
beliefs, how we celebrate life and mourn death,
our family recipes, mealtime traditions and how
we beautify our world.
"[Folklore] is the well loved part of our
culture," said USU Professor Jeannie Thomas,
director of the USU Folklore Program.
It is not traditionally taught in school or written
in books. Folklore is learned by word of mouth
and the example of others within our groups.
Folk groups include church congregations, family,
classmates, co-workers, and communities. It is
any group we belong to.
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Professor Barre Toelken with
the Fife Folklore Collection.
/ Photo by Shauna
Leavitt |
Culture's folk groups help stabilized the lore, but
they have not prevented the evolution of folklore. Since
the middle of the 19th century, the civilized world
has been changing at a phenomenal rate. The folklore
of today is different from the folklore of 1850.
If the folklore of each century is not recorded, it
usually disappears as lifestyles and cultures change.
The start of folklore archiving began in the 19th century
and has become more sophisticated in the last 100 years.
One of the largest collections of 20th century Western
American folklore is housed in Fife Folklore archives
in USU's Special Collections.
This week, USU announced that the Fife Slide Collection
of Western Vernacular Architecture is now online. The
annotated
slide collection documents hay derricks, grave markers,
mailbox supports, stone houses, quilts, barns, Basque
celebrations, and much more.
In 1966, the collection began when Utahns Austin E.
and Alta S. Fife donated their extensive fieldwork collections,
which included acetate discs, reel-to-reel field recordings,
67 bound volumes of field notes/transcriptions and their
extensive folklore book collection.
"The Fifes traveled all over the West -- most intensively
in their native Utah -- with a camping trailer, recording
equipment, camera and stenographic materials to collect
the folk life of the American West, including cowboy
songs and Mormon folklore," wrote Randy Williams,
Fife Folklore Archives curator.
Williams continued, "From the beginning, the folklore
repository has worked closely with those teaching folklore
courses at USU." Each semester 30-45 students submit
folklore genre collections.
One of the 32 collections the Fife Folklore archives
is the The
Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection. It is
one of the largest in the nation. The collection consists
more than 22 linear feet of books and materials of cowboy
poetry and continues to grow.
The archives also contain more solemn works, including
personal letters and interviews of people who experienced
the Teton Dam disaster of June 5, 1976, and those who
watched the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Many of the archives can be accessed online, including
USU's
Historical Photo Collection, which dates to the
1800s. Sitting in the comfort of their own home, users
can search through the photos.
The photo database simplifies the search process. By
typing "Army" a user can see photos of USU
ROTC soldiers dating to World War I; or type "temple"
and see early photos of Logan Temple.
"(Folklore) is important because it has to do
with people's beliefs," said Barre Toelken, emeritus
director of USU Folklore program.
Folklore does not mean false. Religious practices,
beliefs and faith promoting stories are folklore. They
uphold communities.
"When the [European] pioneers left their homelands
and came to Utah they needed something to sustain them
and their beliefs did that," said Toelken.
Williams said, "Having the archive is wonderful.
No one has a memory as good as we hope."
It's easy to begin exploring the 32 collections within
the Fife
Folklore Archives. Many of the items can be seen
online. Hard copies of the materials must remain in
the library.
Randy Williams shows off a painting of the Bear Lake
Monster. / Photo by Shauna Leavitt
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