NEW YORI< FOLI

The Banjo Player. painted in 1856, can be seen in

' 'Carching rhe 7ime.''

HEALTH BELIEFS PROBED

Folk and popular health systems in the northeastern United States will be ex­plored at a conference on the University of Pennsylvania campus from June 8-10.

Twenty specialists will present papers, panel discussions, and workshops on is­sues of modern medical practices and their effects on our cu.Iture's health beliefs and practices. Topics include herbalism, health foods, faith healing, chiropractice, homeopathy, Puerto Rican folk medicine and Pennsylvania German Powwowing. The conflicts of modern and folk medicine will also be discussed.

The conference is open to the public. Pre-registration is recommended. For fur· ther information contact David J. Hufford, Conference Director, Department of Be­havioral Science, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey Medical Center, Her­shey PA 17033.

NEW YORI< FOLI<LORE newsletter Vc1I. 5, No. 1

April, 1984

STONY BROOK CATCHES THE TUNE

Paintings of 19th century musical occa­sions, musical instruments and manuscripts form an exhibit opening June 30 at The Museums at Stony Brook. Titled "Catching the Tune," it features the paint­ings of William Sidney Mount, noted American genre artist whose works form the core of The Museums' art collection. Related programs will include perfor­mances of 19th century music and dance, a conference on music in American private and public life from 1800-1860, a period' dance class, and classes for children based on the exhibit materials.

'"Catching the Tune"' will look at the

musical interests of the Mount family and the place of music and dance in 19th centu­ry life," according to David Cassidy, As­sistant Curator of the art collection. The Museums has some 500 musical manu­scripts collected by Mount. "This is one of the most significant collections of popular 19th century music in the United States," he adds.

The exhibit is divided into three sec­tions. The first section examines New York City as an early cultural center. Mount's artistic training is also discussed.

(Conrinued on Page 2)

JEWISH FOLKLORE FEATURED AT CONFERENCE

Jewish folklore and cultural survival is the theme of a national Jewish Folklore Conference to be held May 13-15, 1984 in New York City. The conference is spon­sored jointly by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the Center for Jewish Studies of the City University Graduate Center.

The conference will explore continuity and change in the folk culture of various Jewish communities. "Folk traditions had to adapt to dramatic historical events, such as mass-immigration, the Holocaust, and the foundation of the State of Israel," ex­plains Dr. Yael Zerubavel, the conference director. "Participants will examine recent developments in Jewish communal life, ritual behavior, oral traditions, and folk arts." Speakers will include Irving Howe, Director of the Center for Jewish Studies, Barbara Myerhoff, anthropologist and

filmmaker, Barbara Kirshenblatt­Gimblet, folklorist , and other folklorists , anthropologists and historians from the United States and IsraeL

Performances Scheduled The first Jewish Storytelling Festival will be presented in conjunction with the con­ference. It is sponsored by Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University. Accord­ing to Professor Peninnah Schramm, the festival director, "there is now a renais­sance of storytelling as an art form. Storytelling is appreciated as entertain­ment as well as being a form of social and moral instruction." The festival will bring together storytellers from the United States and Canada. Workshops to teach storytelling will also be offered.

(Continued on Page 2)

RECOMMENDED Cultural Conservation: The Protection of Cultural Heritage in the United States, Publications of the American Folklife Center No. 10. Washington, D. C. ~ Library of Congress, 1983.

This new book examines ways of preserving the intangible features of the nation's cultural heritage. It results from a year's study of local, state, and federal programs devoted to folk culture. and cul­tural preservation. The study was spon­sored by tl!e American Fo1klffe Center of the Library of Congress and the National Park Service.

The publication is available from the Supt. of Documents, Government Printing Office. Washington, DC 20402 (request SIN 030-000-00148-6). The price is $4.50. Orders must be prepaid.

CONFERENCE FEATURES FOLK PROGRAMMING

The first state folklorist was hired in 1967 in Pennsylvania. Now more than 35 states have folklorists on the job. Many other folklorists work in regional and local agencies.

A conference is planned to address the needs and concerns of public ·sector folk­lorists working in state, regional and local agencies in the Eastern and Midwestern states. The "Regional Conference on Pub­lic Folklife PrograJlJming" is scheduled for July 9-10, 1984 in Philadelphia. It will take place at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies.

Topics include the current state of the field, documentation, presenting folk art performances, regional projects and fund­ing. Related workshops will discuss ar­chiving, media and folklore, marketing of traditional crafts, folklife and education, and media production and distribution.

The conference is open to the public. There is no fee , but pre-registration is recommended. For more information con­tact Shalom Staub, Director of State Folk­life Programs, Governor's Heritage Affairs Commission, 309 Forum Build­ing. Harrisburg, PA 17120, (717) 783-8625.

2 New York Folklore Newsletter 4184

JEWISH (Colllilll~ed from Pagt• I)

A number of evening performances by master storytellers will complement the academic sessions and storytelling work­shops. The programs include music, dance, storytelling and comedy. They are sponsored by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

The conference and the evening pro­grams are free and open to the public. Pre­registration. is required only for the storytelling workshops.

For detailed p-rogram infermatian; con­tact Dr. Zerubavel, Center for Jewish Studies, CUNY Graduate Center, 33 West 42nd Street, New York, NY l0036, (212) 790-4404.

SAMPLERS SAMPLED

''Embroidered Samplers," an exhibit of two hundred samplers, is on view at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum until May 27. Samplers are from the 17th through the 19th century. All of the countries of West­em Europe, as well as North Africa, Chi­na, Sri Lanka, Mexico, the United States and Great Britain are represented. The ex­hibit is arranged by locale, highlighting the style of each country. The stitching depicts biblical and political scenes, land­scapes, architecture, and floral designs.

Sewing tools, illustrations of young girls doing their embroidering, and information about then-contemporary schools aug­ment the exhibit. Workshops on samplers and needlecraft are also planned. The museum is located at 9Ist Street and Fifth Avenue, New York City. For further infor­mation, call (212) 860-6868.

New York Folklore Newsletter North Country Community College

20 Wjnona Avenue Saranac Lake, NY 12983

EDITOR Paula Tadlock Jennings

116 Pinehurst Avenue New York, NY 10033

Publication oftheNewsletter is support­ed in part by funds from the New York State CounciJ on the Arts..

TUNE (Collii111111d from Page I)

Music and dance on rural Long Island from 1830 to the year of Mount's death in 1868 is highlighted in another section of the exhibit. Archival records, paintings, musical instrument and tune collections and manuscripts are on view.

The last portion of the exhibit features a hollow-backed violin invented by Mount. He :showed the instrument, which he named the "Cradle of Harmony," at the New York Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1853: The--Museums-has-three versions of the vi0lin, one of which is restored to play­able condition.

Related Events

The exhibit's June opening will be celebrated with a concert of music and dance~ Musical selections will be drawn from Mount's extensive collection of mu­sical manuscripts·. Performers familiar with 19th century playing styles will play fiddle solos, duets and ensemble perfor­mances of fiddle, cello and flute. Dancers will perform reels and other traditional dances of the period_

Other programming associated with "Catching the Tune." includes:

-a three-day conference on the place of music and dance in 19th century ­American life. Topics range from eth­nic and black musical traditions in America to the role of music in family life on Long Island.

-an adult dancing class teaching 19th cen­tl.lry social dancing,

-programs for children teaching dances and songs of the period.

-a book of essays about the exhibit.

The exhibit will be open until March 1985. It may be seen during regular muse­um hours of 10 a.m . to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The Museums at 51ony Brook is located on Route 25A in Stony Brook, Long Island . For further informa­tion on the ''Catching the Thne" schedule and activities, call (516) 751-0066.

ART IN URBAN PLAY

Do you remember playing on New York City streets? Do you remember "Johnny­on-the-Pony," and "Ring-a-Aeal io"? Did you make your toys? Fly kites on the roof? Were your days spent swimming in the East River or playing in the Cony Island Fun House?

Play in New York City is the subject of a three-year project recently begun by the Queens Council on the Arts. The project is directed by the Council's Folk Arts Coor­dinator, Dr. Steven Zeitlin.

The project starts June 9-10 at Queens Day, with a county-wide festival of the arts and culture of Queens. Dr. Zeitlin and his wife. Amanda Dargin, will exhibit histori­cal and contemporary photographs of play in the city. Performances of double-dutch, bocci. and other games will be staged. The couple will also conduct workshops on folk games.

Queens Day is the first of several work­shops to be held throughout the city. In the spring of 1986, a major exhibit on play will open at the New York Public Library.

The Study of Play

Early studies of play concentrated on the history and distribution of games. Joseph Strutt published one of the first of these studies in 1801, titled The Sporrs and Pastimes of the People of England. Strutt wrote in his introduction: "In order to form a just estimation of the character of any particular people, it is absolutely necessary to investigate the sports and pastimes generally prevalent among them."

Other scholars shared this belief. Com­pilations of games and recreations were made throughout the 19th century. Defini­tive studies were published for Germany, Russia , Hungary, Norway. Denmark, Italy and France. Lady Alice B. Gomme pub­lished her two-volume work Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1894 and 1898. Stewart Culin, an American anthropologist, published texts of games from Hawaii, Korea and the Philippines. The most exhaustive compi­lation of games ever assembled for any na­tion is the eight-volume collection Kinderspel en Kinderlusr in Zuid-

3 New York 10/k/ore Newsletier 4184

Pigeonjlying 011 the roof

Netherland, published 1902-1908 by Al­fons de Cock and Isidor Teirlinck.

In the United States, some of the earliest studies of play were made in New York City. William Wells Newell. founder of the American Folklore Society, published his Games and Songs of American Children in 1883. Part of his collection was made in New York City. Culin published "Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N.Y.," which catalogues games played in the 1880's and 1890's.

The Works Progress Administration was the impetus for further collecting in New York City during the 1930's. Herbert Hal­pert, a folklorist, was director of the Fed­eral Writers' Project in New York. Writers under his direction collected games from all of the city's boroughs.

Private collections of New York games are being researched to illuminate play in the city. Ethel and Oliver Hale began col­lecting New York games in the 1930's. Their unpublished manuscript, "From Sidewalk, Gutter and Stoop: Being a Chronicle of Children's Play and Game Activity," contains hundreds of pages of games and their variations. There are more than 13 pages of potsy, or hopscotch, designs. ''It's an incredible amount of vari­ations, just for hopscotch,'' comments Ms.

--

(Phoro: Martha Cooper)

Dargin. Jumprope variations included French , Double Dutch or Double Edge, German , Double Irish or French Fried. Often, jumprope rhymes expressed com­petition among children over place and neighborhood:

The Brook/)?1 girls are tough, 77ze Brooklyn girls are smart. Bur it takes a New York girl To break a fellow's heart!

Chasing Pigs on Sixth Avenue

Dr. Zeitlin and Ms. Dargin are also looking for examples of how play has changed and adapted as the city has devel­oped. "There used to be many rural ele­ments in play in the city," says Ms. Dargin. "We have found references of people las­soing pigs in Manhattan, swimming in the river, and hopscotch played in the dirt streets."

Gene Schermerhorn wrote about pigs in Letters to Phil: Memories of a New York Boyhood. 1848-1856: "One of my amuse­ments was to chase the pigs that ran in Sixth Avenue and try (in vain) to catch them with a lasso made in good shape from old clotheslines."

ln the early 20th century, buildjng and racing bobsleds was a widespread city tra-

dition. Roy Skelly of Brooklyn writes in the " I Remember" column in the New York Daily News: ''To build a bobsled you first had to obtain two or three low, wood­en sleds with iron runners. You bored holes in their top decks and through the holes you bolted a heavy block of wood across each sled, from side to side. Then you bolted the seating section , a heavy wooden plank 10 to 12 feet long, on top of the blocks. The lead sled was pivoted to steer with. We covered the new sled deck with old pieces of carpet which we stole while our mothers were not-looking. For a quarter you could buy a little red or green oil lantern in any hardware store. We also had cowbells and tin horns saved from the Coney mardi gras. We softly whumped at high speed through two long blocks from Fifth to Third Avenues, swinging red and green lanterns and jangling cowbells."

Play and the Urban Environment

One of the main themes of the project 1s to link the city's environment with play. "We are documenting the transformation of the urban landscape into arenas for

/'laying skully.

4 New York Folklore Newsletter 4184

play-how sidewalks and empty lots are transformed into playing fields for games such as bocci, skully, stickball and double dutch," explains Dr. Zeitlin.

"Incorporating parts of the landscape into street games is one of the ways a child develops a sense of neighborhood and place," he continues.

Fred Feretti, in his City Games, pro­vides an example: "The boundaries of my youth were defined by one block in the city of New York. The middle of the block was our touch football field with first base a telephone pole, second a manhole cover and third a fire hydrant. Red Rover was played'at the end of the block where thick trees allowed for no games that required throwing a ball."

As the dimensions of the city changed and became more vertical, play evolved to meet the new environment. One game that developed along with urban dwellings is the competitive sport of pigeon flying. Young men, mostly of Jewish and Italian origin, trained homing pigeons to fly un­der their direction. They then would com­pete to capture their opponent's birds. In the early part of this century, the sport

(Photo: Martha Cooper)

flourished on the rooftops of neighbor­hood row houses in Brooklyn, Queens and the Lower East Side. As taller buildings replaced the houses, the sport began to disappear. Today, pigeon flying is played only in Brooklyn, where low-lying rooftops are still accessible.

Play As Art Form

According to Dr. Zeitlin, play can also develop into an art form. Double-dutch, an intricate form of jump-rope, is play. But in formal competition, routines are judged on their esthetic qualities as well as athlet­ic excellence. The making of toys, hand­painted Japanese kites, and the design of Halloween and West Indian carnival costumes are all examples of play as art, he says.

Children sometimes judge their play on esthetic merits. The Hales describe the making of rubber-band balls: "The rubber band ball was distinctly different from any other ball that a boy owned, and was, in fact , in a different category from his other possessions. For it represented to him not only his own manufacture and accom­plishment, but a thing of beauty which could be exhibited for the admiration of others. Unlike his usual manufactures, such as a wagon or a bean-shooter, the rubber band ball did not, essentially, serve a utilitarian purpose, but was also an objet d'art."

Dr. Zeitlin believes that play is one of the most striking aspectS of New York City life. "Play is a rich area of cultural expres­sion," he says, "for it involves many different forms of folk poetry, music, dance and craft. Taken over time, the pat­terns of play tell the history of changing spaces in an urban setting. They illustrate a human response to the city's growth and tell the story of the city through the eyes of those who played on its streets."

If you would like to share your knowledge of play in New lbrk City, please contact the Queens Council on the Arts at (212) 291-1100.

OLD SONGS SUNG

The "Old Songs Festival of Traditional Music and Dance" is planned for June 29, 30 and July I at the Altamount Fair­grounds in Altamount, NY. A wide range of traditional music and dance will be fea­tured, including New England style fid­dling, ballads and folk songs, string band music, Irish and Scottish music, contra and couple dancing. The festival is spon­sored by Old Songs, Inc .. a non-profit or­ganization dedicated to the preservation of traditional music. For ticket information and a schedule, write Old Songs, Inc. , P. 0. Box 197, Guilderland, NY 12084, or phone (518) 765-4193.

CRAFT WORKSHOPS

Folk craft workshops will be held July 9-20 at Binghamton's Roberson Center for Arts and Sciences. Hat-making, cheese­making. quilting. basketmaking. jam and jelly making. and bee-keeping will be taught by area craftspeople. Musicians will teach folk music of the Appalachians. The workshops are open to parents and their children berween the ages of7 and 14. A fee is charged. The Roberson Center is located at 30 Front Street, Binghamton, NY 13905. For more information call (607) 772-0660.

ETHNIC MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Ethnic Folk Arts Center is holding its 9th annual Queens Ethnic Music and Dance Festival on Saturday, June 9. from noon to midnight. It will be held at the Bo­hemian Hall and Park, 29-19 24th Avenue, Astoria, Queens. Featured are concerts, dance workshops, a lamb roast and an eve­ning dance party. Ethnic orchestras and soloists from the greater New York area will perform traditional European music. Admission is charged. For further infor­mation, contact the Center at (212) 691-9510.

5 New York Folklore Newsletler 4184

CALENDAR NOTES

COMMUNITY HISTORY

"'In Search of Community History" is a workshop on the history found in govern­ment and church records and archival materials. Participants will learn how to interpret these data. The workshop is in­tended for municipal and county histori­ans, educators in historical societies and individuals interested in local , regional and state history. The Regional Confer­ence of Historical Agencies is sponsoring the event, to be held Monday, May 21 at the Jefferson County Historical Society, 228 Washington Street, Watertown, NY. S-e5-ssions are from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. A registration fee is charged.( Write RCHA, 314 E. Seneca Street, Manlius, NY 13104 for further information.

IRISH STORYTELLING

Maggi Peirce is a traditional Irish story­teller who has performed her stories, taunts, chants and street rhymes through­out the United States and Canada. She was born and raised in Belfast, and has been a resident of the United States for the past twenty years. Ms. Peirce is presenting an evening of storytelling on Friday, May 25, at the School of Visual Arts Amphitheater. The event is a benefit to raise funds for a film about her life. For ticket information contact the New York Foundation for the Arts, (212) 233-3900. It is recommended that tickets be ordered in advance.

IRISH MUSIC FESTIVAL

Music, song, dancing, and food of Ire­land will be found at the 3rd annual Irish Traditional Music, Song and Dance Fes­tival. The festival will be held Saturday, June 30 from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Snug Harbor, in Staten Island. Featured are workshops in sean-nos (old-style) tradi­tional singing, ballad singing, step­dancing, ceilli dancing, and instruments, including the fiddle, accordion. flute. penny-whistle, uilcan pipes and harp. Irish musicians, singers and dancers will per­form in two concerts in the afternoon and evening. The rain date is Sunday, July 1. For further information call the fri sh Arts Center at (212) 757-3318.

MUSIC MAKERS OF SOUTH STREET

South Street was once the home of many of New York's musical instrume.nt makers. These craftspersons, whose skills and materials were more often than not im­ported from Europe, produced wood­winds, strings and brass and marketed them to the city's growing elite. South Street Seaport Museum will conduct a se­ries of evening tours of the area on May 9, 10 and 11. Musical instrument makers will return to the Seaport to share their recollections and demonstrate their products. The tours begin at 6 p.m. and are repeated five times each night. A fee is charged. For reservations call (212) 669-9416.

OLD TIME NIGHTS

Three evenings of reminiscences and storytelling are being organized by the Saratoga County Historical Society. The informal programs will feature people trading tales and anecdotes about their families and ·communities . . Photographs and artifacts will supplement the talking. The series is part of a county-wide fol kl i fe project, dir:ected by Vaughn Ward and sponsored by the Saratoga County Histori­cal Society. Dates include: April 24 -Greenfield, Greenfield Grange; May 17, Galway, Galway School; June 21- Still­water. All programs begin at 7:30p.m. For more information phone SCHS at (518) 885-4000.

NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURES

Native American cultures are featured during May at the American Museum of Natural History. Programs include films, arts presentations, lectures and demon­strations. They will be held at the Leon­hardt People Center from I p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the weekends of May 5-6, May 12-13, May 19-20 and May 26-7:7. For a schedule, contact the museum at (212) 873-4225.

NOTES AND QUERIES Katrina Thomas is preparing a book about American weddings

that preserve ethnic and religious customs. If you are planning a wedding that retains some of the traditions of your heritage, Ms. Thomas would like to photograph the ceremonies. Please contact her at 17 East 96th Street, New York, NY 10128, or call (212) 348-7765.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has designated May 13-19, 1984 as National Historic Preservation Week. The theme is "Preservation is Taking Care of America." The purpose of Preser­vation Week is to make the public aware of the contributions that historic buildings and districts are making to the prosperity of America's cities and towns. ' '

Professor Philip Di Novo of Utica, NY is a third-generation American of Italian background who is deeply interested in preserving Italian customs and traditions. He has given slide lec­tures on the celebrations of Christmas, Easter and St. Joseph table in Italy. He is now preparing a presentation on Italian-American celebrations from birth to death. If you have photos or slides on this subject, Prof. Di Novo would like to hear from you. Write him at Box 293, Morrisville, NY 13408.

MEM~ERSHIP APPLICATION The New York Folklore Society is a non-profit, membership organization founded in 1945. It is devoted to the study, preserva­

tion and presentation of folklore in New York State.

Members of the'New York Folklore Society receive New lbrk Folklore, a biannual journal , New York Folklore Newsletter, a quarterly newsletter, announcements about conferences, festivals, and performances produced by the Society, and reduced ad­mission charge to selected Society events.

Membership dues are $15.00 per year.

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