Foreword

THE FOUR symposia on folklore presented in this volume were held as a part of the Midcentury International Folklore Conference at Indiana University, July 21 to August 4, 1950.¹ This Conference was a part of a series of folklore meetings in Bloomington during that summer. Most closely related was the meeting of the International Folk Music Council the week immediately preceding. All of the guests from abroad who attended one of these conferences came at the beginning of the Folk Music Council and remained through the International Folklore Conference. There were, of course, a number of persons from the United States who attended only one or other of these conferences. The reports of the Folk Music Council have appeared in the publication of that Council.

The three weeks which most of the visitors spent together in Bloomington afforded opportunity for folklorists from many countries to get well acquainted with one another. They met each other not only in the actual sessions of the conferences but also on many other occasions. Those who attended lived in the very beautiful new men’s quadrangle at Indiana University, took their meals there, and as a matter of fact stayed in the quadrangle a good part of the time. So much stimulating conversation was going on that it was sometimes hard to induce the delegates to leave for outside attractions.

One aspect of folklore important from the social point of view is its great entertainment value. With so many excellent collectors present it is no wonder that every evening was filled with listening to the results of these collecting trips, sometimes on records, sometimes through singing and playing of musical instruments. Some evenings were spent in folk dancing. The men’s quadrangle has a roof terrace especially well adapted to such uses. Fortunately the weather in Bloomington during these three weeks was on the whole very pleasant. Many of our European friends had come in dread of the great heat that they had heard about, and we are glad that they were largely disappointed and experienced only one or two days that were warmer than they were used to in Europe.

Bloomington is surrounded by beautiful country and especially has close at hand some of the finest state parks in the land. The three week ends available during the conferences were devoted to picnics at these parks. The first of these was at the Brown County State Park which is in the most rustic part of Indiana, though only eighteen miles from the University. The second was at Spring Mill State Park, some thirty-five miles south of Bloomington, where the folklorists had an opportunity to see Spring Mill Village. This is a restored pioneer village which was in some decay when the state of Indiana acquired the land for park purposes. It has been very carefully restored to the condition which it was in a century ago. There are perhaps a dozen buildings in the village, most of them of log. One special feature of interest to visitors is the old mill, now in operation grinding meal by water power. Our visitors were favorably impressed with the way in which we are thus preserving a part of our folk culture.

The Folklore Conference held a joint dinner with the Folk Music Council on July 21st and a week later with the American Folklore Society which was having a meeting in Bloomington. With the American Folklore Society the Folklore Conference visited McCormick’s Creek State Park and there listened to the Sacred Harp Singers which Professor George Pullen Jackson had arranged to bring up from Alabama and Georgia. This type of singing represents a particular tradition of American religious music, which was unfamiliar to many of the guests from Europe.

In addition to the symposia which we are here presenting, a number of lectures were given at other times, usually in a special evening session. One evening was devoted to a convocation in the University Auditorium at which Mr. Alan Lomax sang American folk songs. This was one of the few occasions where the members of the Conference were able to see something of the life of the University as a whole. Among the special lectures or talks, formal and informal, it would be well to mention the following:

R. N. Pehrson of the Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago—a report on his expedition among the Lapps, illustrated with slides,

Sean O’Suilleabhain—lecture on Irish Folklore with slides and with illustrated telling of tales,

Åke Campbell—lecture on bread types in Sweden.

Sigurd Erixon—a discussion of the work of the Northern Museum.

Barbara Lattimer Krader—recordings of collection of Czecho-slovakian material,

Albert B. Lord—recordings from epic songs taken down in Yugoslavia.

C. M. Barbeau and Gertrude Kurath—illustrated lecture on the dances of Iroquois Indians.

Otto Andersson—lecture on ballads and ballad dances.

George F. Siddons, electronics expert—lecture on tape and wire recording, with demonstrations.

Jasim Uddin—lecture on Pakistan folk songs.

Adnan Saygun—lecture on Turkish folk songs and folk music.

Mary Danielli—lecture on geomancy in Madagascar.

Sunday recital by the Sacred Harp Singers.

Meeting of the members of the International Commission of Folk Arts and Folklore.

Some of the European guests took a Sunday trip to southern Indiana and northern Kentucky, where Dean Thompson conducted them through the scenes of his boyhood. Dr. Campbell inspected Bloomington bakeries and a number of others went to the quarries to see how the limestone is processed for our great buildings here and in all parts of the country.

The attendances at these conferences averaged about sixty. Some of these were students who spent their time listening without adding to the symposia,

Those who actually took part in the discussion are listed here, with academic affiliations in effect at the time of the conference. Miss Bernice Allen, Shorter College, Rome, Georgia.

Professor Walter Anderson, University of Kiel, Germany.

Professor Otto Andersson, University of Åbo, Finland.

Dr. Jonas Balys, formerly head of the Lithuanian Folklore Archives and now of Indiana University.

Professor Marius Barbeau, National Museum of Canada.

Professor Samuel P. Bayard, Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pennsylvania.

Professor David Bidney, Indiana University.

Mr. Laurits Bødker, International Folktale Archive, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Professor B. H. Bronson, University of California, Berkeley, California.

Dr. Åke Campbell, Landsmäls och Folkminnes Arkivet, Uppsala, Sweden.

Professor A. E. Cherbuliez, Zurich, Switzerland.

Professor Reidar Th. Christiansen, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

Professor Calvin Claudel, Mississippi State College, State College, Mississippi.

Mrs. Mary Danielli, representing English Folk-lore Society London, England.

Professor Wolfram Eberhard, University of California, Berkeley, California.

Professor Samuel H. Elbert, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Professor Sigurd Erixon, University of Stockholm, and the Northern Museum, Stockholm, Sweden.

Mr. Arthur Field, New York City.

Miss Frances Gillmor, Department of English, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Professor Herbert Halpert, Murray State Teachers College, Murray, Kentucky.

Professor George Herzog, Indiana University.

Miss Dorothy Howard, State Teachers College, Frostburg, Maryland.

Professor A. P. Hudson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Miss Hiroko Ikeda, Tokyo, Japan, candidate for Ph.D. at Indiana University.

Professor George Pullen Jackson, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Maurice Jagendorf, New York City.

Mrs. Aili K. Johnson, Flint, Michigan.

Miss Maud Karpeles, Honorary Secretary, International Folk Music Council, London, England.

Mrs. Barbara Lattimer Kräder, Slavic Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Mrs. Gertrude Kurath, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Dr. Sven Liljeblad, Idaho State College, Pocatello, Idaho.

Mr. Alan Lomax, New York City.

Dr. Albert B. Lord, Slavic Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Miss Katherine M. Love, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.

Mr. M. Maruyama, Kumamoto City, Japan.

Dr. Ruth Ann Musick, Fairmont State College, Fairmont, West Virginia.

Mr. E. Eddy Nadel, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Mr. Sean O’Suilleabhain, Irish Folklore Commission, Dublin, Ireland.

Mr. R. N. Pehrson, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Professor J. Russel Reaver, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida.

Professor W. Edson Richmond, Indiana University.

Mr. Oleutt Sanders, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.

Professor Adnan Saygun, Director of the Conservatory of Music, Ankara, Turkey.

Professor Thomas A. Sebeok, Indiana University.

Mr. Charles Seeger, Chief of Music Division, Pan-American Union, Washington, D. C.

Mrs. Ruth Crawford Seeger, Washington, D. C.

Professor Alfred Shoemaker, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Dean Stith Thompson, Indiana University.

Dr. Andreas Tietze, Istanbul, Turkey.

Mr. Jasim Uddin, Dacca, East Pakistan.

Professor Charles F. Voegelin, Indiana University.

Dr. Erminie W. Voegelin, Indiana University.

Professor Evelyn Wells, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Miss Remedios Wycoco, Manila, Philippines.