MF 076 Maine / Maritimes Folklore Collection

Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History: MF 076 Maine / Maritimes Folklore Collection

Number of Accessions: 655
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1957-1975
Time period covered: various
Principal collectors: various
Finding Aides: outlines and abstracts
Access Restrictions: copyright retained by collectors and/or their heirs

Description: This is a series of approximately 655 accessions consisting of undergraduate projects, papers, and recorded interviews conducted for folklore courses taught by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives at the University of Maine from 1957 to 1975. The first 437 of these accessions are arranged in alphabetical order; subsequent additions are arranged chronologically. The early collections are largely miscellaneous gatherings of individual items–jokes, tall tales, ghost stories, traditional medicine, popular beliefs and superstitions, legends, local character yarns, etc. and only occasionally include tape recordings. Later accessions reflect the trend in the field of folklore to emphasize context over items gathered for their own sake. Thus they are more apt to consist of life histories with an emphasis on life styles and occupations and to include tape recordings.