NEW YORI< FOLI

NEW YORI< FOLI<LORE newsletter Vol. 8, No.2

Summer, 1987

Summer is picnic and festival time. Here Brooks Boyden of Coopers Plains, NY, demonstrates an old-time instrumental favorite for Rich Fuhrman of Syracuse at a picnic in Ithaca's Stewart Park on June 14, 1987. The picnic was co-sponsored by the Central New York and Southern Tier Bluegrass Associations.

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IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A FOLKLORIST

by Joyce Ice

Editor's Note: This article previously was published in the newsletter of the Delaware County Historical Associa­tion, where Joyce Ice is the staff folklorist.

People often assume that because I am the folklorist for the Delaware County Historical Association, I am concerned with ''old-timey things'' only. While my work does involve the study of traditions rooted in the past, I research contem­porary traditions as well.

Folklore refers to traditions, such as art, music, belief, dance, play, and food­ways, shared by members of various groups (occupational, ethic, religious, regional, familial). These groups pass on their traditions, not by formal instruction, but by word of mouth, imitation, and ex­perience . For folk traditions to survive, they must be part of an on-goping process and therefore, they must exist in the pre-

- sent. A good exanmle of this combination of past and present can be seen in the religion and folk art exhibits now touring Delaware County.

These exhibits also illustrate some research methods a folklorist uses. When I began work on this project in May 1986, I set out to learn about traditions in con­gregations and how people express their faith in tangible forms, such as architec­ture, decoration, objects and activities. The purpose was not to compare doctrinal differences but to better understand the roles religion plays in people 's lives.

My first step was to read the church history files and records in DCHA's

library archives. I consulted 19th century newspapers, church anniversary booklets , town and county histories, collections of sermons, individual diaries, and family Bibles to provide a background for the study . After becoming familiar with these materials, I devised a questionnaire on church histories, congregational music , and traditional artists for ministers and town and village historians throughout the county. Their responses provided me with additional historical information and gave me names of members to contact for possi­ble interviews.

Over the next five months, I traveled some 3000 miles around the county, visiting churches , and interviewing over 70 informants. For documentation pur­poses, I photographed objects, buildings , people and events , wrote field notes on my findings and observations , made tape recordings of interviews, and set up a fil­ing system for storing and retrieving in for­mation on the project. As the project began to take shape , DCHA director Lin­da Norris and I scheduled meetings with a county-wide interfaith advisory commit- ­tee who offered feedback and suggestions on various aspects of the project.

After months of research, I had iden­tified a number of folk artists and examin­ed a range of traditional congregational activities. I was ready to begin writing an exhibit script, a guide for an exhibit which combines written text (descriptions, titles , subheadings) with visuals (historic and contemporary photographs and objects) to present and illustrate ideas. The exhibit designer , Collin Harty , then took the script and planned the actual layout, deter­mining sizes, shapes, and colors of the

New York Folklore Society P.O. Box 678

Seneca Falls, N.Y. 13148

EDITOR

Daniel Franklin Ward

Publication of the Newsletter is supported in part by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

panels, printed text , and pedestals. Wat­ching the transformation from words and designs on pieces of paper to an actual ex­hibit is exciting, frightening , and ex­hausting , but rewarding.

The exhibits represent only a small por­tion of the traditional expressions of faith found in Delaware County. These are liv­ing traditions, many of which will pro­bably continue into the next century. Some of the expressions no doubt will change, perhaps even die out while new ones emerge to meet different needs. On one level, the exhibits will seem familiar to many people because they present every­day expressions of faith found in Delaware County, yet on another level, perhaps people will look anew at familiar things and be reminded of ways in which traditions bring together past, present and future.

NYFS Looks Into Group Insurance for Members

Several members of the New York Folklore Society have requested that the NYFS, as the only state-wide organization serving the needs of folklorists , look into the possibility of establishing a health in­surance program for Society members without institutional affiliations. As the number of profess io nal free lance folklorists in the state increases , the need for group coverage also increases. Presi­dent Lydia Fish requests that persons in­terested in a group health insurance pro­gram send letters of support to her in care of the New York Folklore Society , Inc., PO Box 678, Seneca Falls , NY 13148.

NEW YORK FOLKLORE NEWS

National Heritage Fellow Elizabeth Cotten Dead

Folk singer and guitarist Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten died in Syracuse on June 30 at the age of 95. A National Heritage Fellow , Mrs. Cotten received a Grammy award for best ethnic or traditional recor­ding in 1985 for her album, Elizabeth Cot­ten Live!

At the age of 12, Libba composed the song "Freight Train", for which she was most famous. Throughout her life. however, she performed hundreds of traditional tunes on the guitar and banjo . In later years , her festival performances made her distinctive finger-picking style - known as ''Cotten pic kin''' - popular with a generation of musicians.

Elizabeth Cotten at her final concert, February22, 1987inNew York City. Stan­ding, left to right: producer Aaron Cohen, singer Odetta, Elizabeth Cotten, and Johnine Rankin.

Mrs. Cotten's granddaughter , Johnine Rankin, is now the primary bearer of the family's musical traditions. Mrs. Rankin, who lived with her grandmother for all but three years of her own life, recalls falling asleep to the sound of Mrs. Cotten's music. ''I was supposed to be asleep,'' she remembers, "but, I couldn't sleep because I wanted to listen to Granny sing­ing." When she was 7 years old, Johnine asked her grandmother to show her how to play a tune on the guitar. She learned "Spanish Flang Dang" with great care at her grandmother's knee. As she grew older, Jolmine began to accompany her grandmother in concert performances with increasing regularity. For several years Johnine and Syracuse guitarist/ban­joist Dana Klipp were a regular part of Libba's public performances.

Much has been written about Elizabeth Cotten and her music. A good starting point for anyone wishing to learn about Mrs. Cotten's life and her music is her four record albums. Her Grammy Award-

winning album Elizabeth Cotten Live! is a performance that is representative of the many concerts Mrs. Cotten gave until just before her death. On that recording she talks about her life . Three earlier record albums , each featuring extensive liner notes , are available on the Folkways label.

Although she was born in North Carolina and lived much of her life in Washington, D.C. , Elizabeth Cotten was Syracuse's only official "living treasure" and her passing represents a substantial loss to the cultural life of that city. Her life and music , which encompassed nearly a century of personal faith, love and a sense of history as well as humor , was ap­propriately remembered in several tribute programs held throughout Syracuse.

Middle Atlantic Folklife Association Meeting

The Middle Atlantic Folklife Associa­tion met on May 9 at the farm of Chuck and Nan Purdue at rural Twymans Mill in the "Skyline Drive Area" outside Charlottesville . VA. The meeting represented a radical shift from MAFA meetings of the past in its format. Instead of formal paper sessions , several informal roundtables were scheduled to discuss such issues as fieldwork methods , the use of computers in folklife research , inter­disciplinary approaches to cultural conser­vation, heirloom gardening as a folkway, and the changing job market for profes­sional folklorists .

The program was very informal and the atmosphere promoted friendly discussions that ranged far beyond the established topics. Folklorists and enthusiasts from the entire Middle Atlantic region attend­ed. Next year's MAFA meeting will be held in New York State at a site to be deter­mined by an appointed program commit­tee that includes Robert Baron, Nancy Groce and Daniel Ward.

Idiosyncratic Art on Display in Ithaca

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca is presenting an exhibit of idiosyncratic "outsider" art from July 18 to September 13, 1987. The exhibit features sixty-five works by twenty American and European artists working outside the norms of known art worlds . Primarily untrained , these artists were driven to create at some time in their lives , often during periods of intense psychic crisis.

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Joining AFS Will Help NYFS!

New York Folklore editor, Phillips Stevens, Jr., reports that Newsletter readers can help the New York Folklore Society by joining the American Folklore Society. AFS has supplied NYFS with over 2 ,000 mailing labels from their membership roster to assist in the NYFS membership campaign. In return, AFS asks that NYFS secure at least five new members for AFS during 1987.

The American Folklore Society, which is planning its I OOth birthday celebration for next year. publishes the Journal of American Folklore and the American Folklore Newsletter for its members and Publications of the American Folklore Society, which AFS members may pur­chase at good discounts. Individual memberships in AFS are $30 per year .

If you are planning to join AFS for the first time this year, please send a note in­dicating that your membership contribu­tion is made on behalf of the New York Folklore Society to Timothy Lloyd, Ex­ecutive Secretary , 727 East Main St., Col­umbus, OH 43205.

Newsletter Establishes Copy Deadlines

Under its expanded format , the New York Folklore Newsletter wishes to in­crease services to folklorists and organiza­tions involved with the study and en­couragement of traditional cultures. The Newletter already regularly offers the following services: calendar notes (free notices of presentations and special events), research notes and queries, reports on events and research, articles (including long features) on folklore theory and projects, the Readers' List, book and record reviews, funding an­nouncements, and New York Folklore Society nPWS. Additional services will be added as requested.

If you would like to contribute to the Newsletter, write to Editor, New York Folklore Newsletter, P.O. Box 678, Seneca Falls, NY 13148. Copy submis­sion deadlines for the Newsletter are as follows: January 15 for the Spring issue, April I for the Summer issue, July 15 for the Fall issue, and, October I for the Winter issue.

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Public Sector Folklorists Discuss Issues in Ithaca Forum

The Central New York Folk Arts Forum provides opportunities for folklorists to meet and discuss profes­sional issues relevant to public sector folk arts projects. Because folklorists working in the public sector often find themselves isolated from others in the field, the forum was created as a setting in which folklorists could exchange ideas and ex­periences with others who share similar training and work situations. The Central New York Folk Arts Forum is sponsored by the DeWitt Historical Society of Tom­pkins County, Ithaca, and is made possible by funding from the New York State Council on the Arts. The forum, organiz­ed by Melissa Ladenheim, then curator of education at the DeWitt Historical Socie­ty, first met in May 1986. Joyce Ice is ser­ving as forum coordinator for 1987.

Four meetings are scheduled during the year and sessions run from 10 a.m. - 4 p .m. with attendance ranging from six to ten people. Topics for each year are deter­mined by participants and have included Fieldworkers and Identity, Record Keep­ing, Alternatives to Ethnicity, and Dealing with Controversy. Notes are kept- ane distributed to participants following the meetings. Participants also share informa­tion on projects and events in the state and review works in progress with each other.

At the April 30 Folk Arts Forum, the concept of ethnicity was examined as an organizing principle for folk arts research and public programming.

It was pointed out that folk does not necessarily mean ethnic and ethnic does not equal folk . To cite one example, ethnic festivals may feature traditional Polish food, arts, and music while also display­ing scientific equipment invented by Poles.

The difficulties of relying solely upon informants' self-ascriptions was discuss­ed. An example was given of an Ozark basketmaker who claimed a Cherokee grandmother and that the baskets were, therefore , Cherokee . When compared with the work of other Ozark basket­makers, however, the baskets were in­distinguishable in style, materials and methods.

Other examples raised the question of how ethnicity is acquired. Must one be born into ethnicity or can one marry into a group and become a member? How do im­migration and assimilation affect the pro­cess of ethnic identity?

The participants agreed that behavioral patterns of individuals in relation to com­munity interactions need to be considered in discussions of ethnic or cultural identi­ty. Individuals highlight different group memberships depending upon the situa­tion .

Influences for eroding and maintaining a sense of identity were reviewed. When certain traditional elements, such as ethnic food and music, are "discovered" and popularized, media attention and financial rewards for some group members may alter the meanings and functions of those elements within the group and members ' relationships with each other. The conser­vative roles of ethnic organizations (Sons of Italy) and cultural institutions (Ukra­nian Orthodox Church) in reinforcing ethnic traditions, identity , and pride must also be taken into account.

Alternatives to ethnicity proposed in the forum included religion, class, occupa­tion, religion, club, urban, rural, subur­ban, gender, kinship, age , sports, neighborhoods. genre classifications, mediums used in folk art (wood, fiber, metal), themes in _folk_ art and music. Ethnicity is one way of defining networks. Classifications might be expanded to in­clude intersections of several networks as in M. di Leonardo's The Varieties of Ethnic Experience: Kinship, Class, and Gender Among California Italian­Americans (1984).

The June 19 Forum was focused on con­troversial topics in public folk arts pro­gramming. Participants agreed that con­troversy can be useful and positive.

Controversy surrounding a public ex­hibit or presentation can stimulate in­terest, encourage discussion, and help to create understanding. By challenging ac­cepted explanations, controversial presen­tations open the way for more thoughtful, in-depth analysis.

Discussants focused on the expectations many visitors bring to exhibits- that ex­hibits should be pleasant, entertaining, not-too-demanding - and how those ex­pectations may not be met in an exhibit dealing with controversial materials and topics .

Related to these notions are perceptions of folklore as frivolous and trivial. Par­ticipants agreed that planning for projects needs to include educational components to inform general audiences about the pur­pose(s) of exhibits and presentations as

well as about the work of folklorists. Au­dience responses can be influenced by careful prepartion and by letting people know what to expect. It is important to help audiences begin thinking analytically about exhibits and presentations. This educational process must be an on-going , integral part of public presentations .

Participants agreed that controversial. materials and topics can be presented in a sensitive way and drew up some general guidelines for dealing with these areas:

1) Present materials objectively; 2) Place materials in context; 3) Provide interpretation where appro­

priate to make attitudes understan­dable and to put them in historical/social perspective;

4) Warn audiences that an ex­hibit/presentation contains con­troversial materials;

5) Include not one but many voices in the narrative text;

6) Avoid stereotypes and pat explana­tions;

7) Enlist the support of community members throughout all stages of a project. Consult with a range of age groups and community members concerning the project;

8) Involve community members in writing labels/text for exhibits ;

9) Talk about patterns and use anec­dotes without naming specific in­dividuals and places to protect privacy and to maintain an ap­propriate distance from the topic;

10) Use past controversies as spr­ingboards to discuss contemporary problems;

11) Maintain a professional approach to controversial issues and avoid siding with one faction against another;

12) When possible, try to bridge gaps and build positive relations between groups;

13) Don't try to save the world. The next Central New York Folk Arts

Forum will be held on August 13 and will cover social, ethical and technical issues relating to audio field recordings and will feature a technical workshop by George Ward. A later Forum will deal with publishing in the public sector. For more information on the New York State Arts Forum, contact Margaret Hobbie, Direc­tor, DeWitt Historical Society, 116 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850, (607) 273-8284.

NEW YORK FOLKLORE PUBLICATIONS SALE

These publications are offered at substantial discount. New York Folklore Society members may take an additional $1.50 off the price of each publication. 1. Fish, Lydia, ed., The Folklorists and Belief. (Special Issue, Vol. 8, Nos. 3-4), 1981. (reg. $6.00)

2. Fraser, Helen, ed., Cumulative Index to NEW YORK FOLKLORE QUARTERLY (Covers Vols. I-XIV, 1945-1958). (reg. $3.50)

3. Nicolaisen, W.F.H., ed., Folklore: The State of the Field (Special Issue, Vol. 9, Nos. 1-2), 1983. (reg. $6.00)

4. Somewhere West of Albany ... A Festschrift in Honor of Louis C. Jones (Special Issue, Vol. 1, Nos. 1-2), 1975. This deluxe first edition is a hardbound collector's item. (reg . $6.50)

5. Stevens, Phillips, ed., Folklore in Buffalo (Special Issue, Vol. 10, Nos. 3-4), 1984.

6. Warshaver, Gerald E., ed., Folklife Contexts: Studies on the Spatial Matrix and Essays on the Tem­poral Reconstruction of Folklore (Special Issue, Vol. 7, Nos. 1-2), 1981. (reg. $6.00)

7. Wildhaber, Robert. A Bibliographic Introduction to American Folklife, 1965. (reg. $3.50)

8. Stevens, Phillips, ed ., 40th Anniversary Issue (Special Issue, Vol. 11, Nos. 1-4, 1985. Original articles by 14 distinguished folklorists. (reg. $15.00)

9. Stevens, Phillips, ed., Marketing Folk Art (Vol. 12, Nos. 1-2) 1986. (reg. $10.00)

Postage is included in the price. Please make your check payable to:

New York Folklore Society: Department of Anthropology, SUNY Buffalo, NY 14261.

$ 5.00

$ 3.00

$ 5.00

$ 5.00

$10.00

$ 5.00

$ 3.00

$ 7.50

$ 9.00

------------------------------------------ clip here---------------------------------------- .

SPECIAL ORDER FORM

NAME (Printed) ---------------------------­

ADDRESS ---------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------ zip ____________ _

Enclosed is my check for$ payable to the New York Folkore Society. Please send me the items checked below (enter number of copies desired if more than one):

____ I. Folklorists & Belief ................. $5.00 ______ 6. FolklifeContexts ............... .... . $5.00

_____ 2. Index to NYFQ ...................... $3.00 ______ 7. American Folklife .................. $3.00

_____ 3. Folklore: the Field .................. $5.00 ______ 8. 40thAnniv. Issue .................. $ .7.50

____ 4. Jones Festschrift .................... $5.00 _____ 9. Marketing Folk Art ................. $9.00

_____ 5. Folklore in Buffalo ................ $10.00 ____ Send Membership materials.

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MINIATURES OF THE UPPER DELAWARE

by Deborah Blincoe From the moment the press release ran

announcing that the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance (DV AA) had received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to support an exhibition of local miniatures, we began to get telephone calls.

To say that the reactions of the com­munity were enthusiastic would be an understatement. In some cases, there was a sense of near urgency lest some miniaturist be overlooked. Lunches were interrupted by people DV AA had known for years confessing to us that they made miniatures , and requesting an interview . DV AA board members came forward with names of miniaturists they insisted we must visit. If before I had any doubts that the category of miniatures was signifi­cant locally , those initial responses put an end to them.

The idea of an exhibition of local miniatures probably was born even before I became DV AA's Staff Folklorist in 1985. Bird houses in the form of Swiss chalets or country churches, mailboxes made to resemble firehouses, and other outdoor "functional" constructions ·had caught my attention as I drove up and down the Upper Delaware Valley, and I had thought of an exhibition of miniature architecture. Early researches into the traditional arts of the Upper Delaware and Sullivan County, however , uncovered a host of other miniature forms . In fact, it seemed that once I had identified the category of minia'ure, a very large percentage of informants who did other kinds of work also turned out to be miniaturists -an example, I think, of the "seek and ye shall find" principle of ethnography. Sometimes you don't see what you aren't looking for.

Once the concept of an exhibition of all kinds of local miniatures was established, curating the show involved numerous re­visits to informants who had first been in­terviewed regarding other arts , but who were also makers of miniatures. An eighty-three year old storyteller, Anna Bullis, also made miniature drawings and paintings on a variety of surfaces, in­cluding marrow bones and tree fungus. A prize-winning quilter, Janet Schields, also drew tiny images of woodland animals on slices of deer antler. A sculptor in found wood, Ken James, had a collection of small sculpt11res in addition to his larger ones.

Another facet of the exhibition ' s development involved a consideration of

the basis for community admiration of a number of local forms not typically refer­red to as miniatures. Ukranian pysanky are known and appreciated locally even by non-Ukranians for their intricacy. Ukra-

Artist Anna Bullis discusses her work with exhibit curator Deborah Blincoe on open­ing day.

nians are aware of the tiny images as sym­bols, and of the entire egg as representing in miniature the life forces of the universe, and there is a tendency among many pysanky makers to be especially drawn to work on the smallest of eggs. Trout flies, although they are life-sized replicas ofliv­i_ng_i!lsects, are valued for their intensive labor and delicate skill required for work on such a small scale. The relation of trout flies to the minature complex can be seen in the fact that many tyers play at making tiny flies; and some fishermen create miniatures of other types, such as the miniature split-cane rod built by Walt Carpenter at the suggestion of Jack Satter­thwaite who made its reel.

Finally, the research for the exhibition had to take account of forms which were presented by informants as miniatures, but which were not necessarily tiny: Roland Flora's foot -high carvings of Scout­masters , or Mary Loftus' six-inch teddy bears. In these instances, I operated on the belief that it was my job as ethnographer to make sense of the category as it was presented to me, and not as I might have presupposed it to be. My ruminations on the features which characterize the minatures as a group led to much of what became the introductory essay in the ex­hibition catalogue. The essay touches on the types and functions of miniatures, and, finally, the regional attributes whi~h distinguish this particular group as "Miniatures of the Upper Delaware." There is more to be said about this region's miniatures, and I am planning a work which will explore the topic in depth.

The day of the exhibition's opening, May 23, 1987, I was most anxious to see

the reactions of my audience - especially the artists whose work was included. Would the exhibition make sense to them? Would the selection of items on display constitute a reasonable grouping? What would they make of the fact that these items, which in many cases were not works commonly regarded as art , had been handled and presented as art in an art gallery?

One of the first artists to visit the gallery looked carefully at everything in the show, and remarked at the end, "You know, these are things that people are doing all over the place in their basements and such, and these are the kinds of things you never get to see. Isn't it amazing what people do?" Another visitor, an elderly man who dropped into the gallery for the first time because he was in town for a wake, rushed over to me roaring, ''I've known this man for years -he's my neighbor -and I had

''Guitar Playing Bear'' by Mary Loftus of Parksville, NY. Bear is hand-sewn, guitar and chair are hand-made.

no idea he was an artist!" And one of the artists just stood in a kind of a dream before the display of her works, murmur­ing , "Who would have thought it?"

From the opening day through the show's close on July 4, visitor after visitor reported that he or she, or some relative, also did miniatures. Genres ranged from miniature quilts and dollhouses to pain­tings and carvings. Of all the visitors to the show, the only ones to express criticism were a few hobby miniaturists who felt that insufficient stringency had been ap­plied in the interpretation of the term

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''miniature'', which they insisted should only be used for scale models of artifacts and architecture. A selection of items from the show form a smaller version of the exhibition now touring the region, and I look forward to continuing remarks from the public.

''Rabbi'' by Emanuel Goldring of Liberty, NY. Made from wood with lacquer finish.

·'Miniature Dinette Set'' by Arthur Hartz of Hortonville, NY. Made from wood, For­mica, and metal.

The response to the exhibition would seem to indicate that it has reached a vital area of local interest and energy. Far from being the capstone to a completed in­vestigation, ''Miniatures of the Upper Delaware'' has functioned in part as an ad­ditional tool in the ongoing research into the shape (and size) of Upper Delaware aesthetics.

''Spread Eagle and Grouse'' by Roland Flora of Narrowsburg, NY. Carved from wood and painted.

''Books ''by Linda Slocum of Narrowsburg, NY. Made from balsa wood and leather and placed in antique optical case.

"Mouse Family" by Kenneth James of Narrowsburg, NY. Made from found wood, plastic wood, paint and beads.

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By Steven Zeitlin Storyteller Ron Evans tells a tale of an

African village which only recently witnessed the advent of television. For a few days, the tribesmen sat transfixed before the screen. The tribal storyteller stopped telling stories altogether. But, after a few days of television, one of the tribesmen suddenly turned off the set. Life returned to normal and storytelling resum­ed. Finally, an agitated producer arrived on the scene. "Look," he said to the tribe, "don't you think this television knows more stories than your storyteller?" One of the tribesmen thought about it for a few minutes, and after a long pause, said, "Yes, your television knows many stories. But the storyteller knows me."

Though Hollywood hardly knows them personally, Americans don't hesitate to spend many if not most of their waking hours in front of a television set; the im­personal nature of television viewing hardly dissuades them.

Bess Lomax Hawes, director of the Folk Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts has suggested that America is -a place where people in communities all over the country feel very removed from what is happening, as if they can't quite connect with the lifestyles which have cap­tured their imagination on television and in magazines. The real communities they live in are rarely depicted on television ex­cept as a painted backdrop for stories which are far more about Hollywood than about the real life settings they appear to portray.

I sometimes imagine an old farmer somewhere in the midwest saying, "once this town was the world, and places like Hollywood or Paris were far away, and we would gossip about them. Now the world has moved. It seems as if Hollywood is the world, and that it is us who live very far away.''

There is a sense in which Americans scarcely inhabit their own culture, and are tied to it mostly by the advertised products available in their local stores. This is a serious concept for folklorists who insist that culture belongs to the community, to people who see each other every day, who talk and joke and tell stories, and recognize that this is their world.

Yet, the proliferation of home video and the video cassette recorder has helped to allay this concern. For many years,

Hollywood spoke and we listened. But with these new technologies, as Sandburg put it, the people speak. Ordinary people, real communities can document their oc­casions and watch them on T.V., and all of us can start to take an active role in the culture we purchase for consumption.

Home video is rapidly becoming one of the ways in which traditional communities pass on their culture. Anthropologist An­na Chairetakis recently attended a Saint's Feast in an Italian social club on Long Island City, Queens and discovered that they were selling home videos of the same feast honoring St. Anthony the Abbott in the old country. The D 'Agnese brothers, a tailor and a deli owner and a folk painter on Long Island, have taken it on themselves to document the folk customs of their home town, Monte Marano in Campania in Southern Italy. Now, in their living rooms descendents of Monte Marano gather to watch life in the old country on American television, just set­ting the dial on channel 3 for home video.

Many Zapotec Indians from Oaxaca are -nwetbacks'', illegal immigrant workers, crossing the border into Texas. In the U.S., their low wages are still sufficient to buy video equipment which they take back and use to document their traditional customs. They put together a documen­tary entitled Nuestro Tequio which depicts their traditional music and their food ways as well as the "tequio", the custom during which the community gathers to cooperate on a common civic project. Not only was this village work completed communally, but the video taping was viewed as a com­mand effort and "artiste" was credited. It was done in the name of the community.

Mr. Buo Xuo Mua, an elder Hmong immigrant living in Portland, Oregon stepped off the plane in Washington's Na­tional Airport accompanied by his grand­son and translator . He carried with him the Hmong instrument, the "Queej'', on which he preserved the Hmong's ancient music. His grandson stepped off the plane carrying a home video camera. As his grandson put it, they both had their in­struments for preserving the past. His grandfather was in Washington to be filmed for a documentary on older Americans . He swayed as he played the large, reed instrument before the camera lights, and his grandson stood perfectly still with his video camera. The effort to

capture Bua Xuo Mua for a television documentary was dwarfed by the efforts of a grandson to capture his grandfather's ancient music with this new technology.

Beyond home video's documentary capacity, the VCR also marks an en­couraging cultural shift. Even if a family or community does not choose to docu­ment itself, they still exercise a much wider variety of choices in programming.

When folklorist Daniel Ward visited the Laotian weaver Manevane Norasing, he was surprised to see a wide variety of native language videotapes on the shelves in her home near Syracuse. He photographed her traditional looms ' nd interviewed her. But when he was ready to leave, she shoved a video cassette into his hand and said urgently, "You take this and you go right home and watch it cause this is the truth.'' It was a tape of The Killing Fields, which tells the story of photographer Bith Pran's harrowing escape from Cambodia in the 1970s. Ward realized that the tape had replaced the book as cultural symbol; in the same way that in the past ethnic families often had a book on their shelves which sym­bolically tied their own experience into American history and culture, now the tape is used as a symbol, often validating a family's immigrant history, connecting them both to their ethnic group and their life in America .

In a sense, the VCR is a kind of movieteller. After all, part of what the storyteller has always done is choose the stories; and while the person selecting the movies is certainly not telling them, he is at least choosing. My hunch is, too, that being able to program our own entertain­ment will make that entertainment much more integral to our families and com­munities. American have never been completely passive viewers. Children took ads from T.V. and made them part of their playground rhymes "Everything tastes better with blue vomit on it." Movie houses became meeting places with their own raucous teenage folklore. One family, the Kurzman's, even developed a tradition of ''telling movies." Out camping or sailing with no radio or television, Ellen Kurzman gathered the children around her to relate scenes from Casablanca, And then Hum­phrey Bogart said, 'Play it again, Sam."'

The VCR offers its viewers a more ac-

tive role. Unlike the movies, viewers can take the video cassette home with them. It has a tactile dimension and belongs to its audience far more than an image thrown up on a screen. This is particularly true for today's kids. When I was a child, about once a month my mother and father put us in the car and drove out to see the Disney versions of Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. They were sanitized and ultimately transformed versions of the children's books based on the literary renditions, themselves based on the oral stories which the Brothers Grimm col­lected in the early 19th century from peasants in the German countryside. But, of course, the films were in color, with astonishing animation and we loved them. Our regret was that we only saw the films occasionally. Now, with the VCR, my children have watched those

NY FOLKLORE Special Issues Planned

by Phillips Stevens, Jr. The Society's journal, New York

Folklore, is planning two significant special issues for 1988 and 1989. The 1988 special issue will be concerned with all aspects of folk music in New York State. For 1989, the special issue will be concerned with all aspects of folklore and traditional culture in New York City. Pro­posals are invited for contributions to either volume.

Folk Music in New York State for 1989 Flanked by New England and Ap­

palachian traditions, which have had clearer identities and have seemed more amenable to study, New York State's rich and varied folk music heritage has been only sporadically documented. New York Folklore plans a special issue for 1988, "Folk Music in New York State." The Editor wants to include papers represen­ting as broad a range of topics and perspectives as possible, e.g. folksong, ballad, instrumental music, individual

films a dozen times, watched and listened to the movieteller ''playing it again'', in the way that traditional stories were heard again and again on long, dark evenings on the German countryside.

Ellen Kurzman who told her children Casablanca on those long evenings out sailing on the Potomac River said that she did it because she wanted her children to internalize those old classics so that she and the kids would continue to have something in common as they both grew older; being from a different generation, I enjoy the thrill of showing the children Davy Crockett on the VCR. The movie becomes a way I can talk to my son about my childhood. Our conversations are as important as the film. They take on a life of their own.

All of us who live in America have bought into American culture to some

SOCIETY NEWS

performers, rural and urban, "traditional" vs. "revival", aspects of the musical expression of particular regions or cultural groups, etc. Proposals not longer than one typewritten page, stating focus and methodology, should reach the Editor (address below) as soon as possible, but not later than October 15, 1987. All proposals will be reviewed as received, by the Editor and at least two outside specialists, and authors will be notified of the suitability of their proposals within a short time. The deadline for finished papers will be April I, 1988.

New York City for 1989 Over the past decade, a tremendous

amount of research into folk traditions has been conducted in New York City. The amazing success of past issues of New York Folklore dealing with urban folklore and folklife, particularly "the Buffalo issue" (X, 3-4, 1984), recommends a new issue devoted to the largest city in North America. Proposals of not more than one

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degree whether we wanted to or not. Celebrities and their vast publicity machines which surround them have taken hold in our imaginations. Yet, we must still find ways to give life meaning in the very real world we live in day to day.

With the VCR and the home video recorder, technology has come full circle. It is in our hands to participate once again in our own myth-making. Let us hope that Americans still have the interest in their own lives to make it happen, and that the VCR doesn't simply provide an excuse to stay home and watch more television. Let's hope that technology can help fulfill that longstanding dictum for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - the right of every American to live his own life, to tell his own story and to help shape the culture in which he lives.

typewritten page should reach the editor not later than March 1, 1988. All authors will be notified of the suitability of their proposals after that date. The deadline for finished papers for this issue is March 1 , 1989.

All contributors to New York Folklore should carefully review the journal's statement of editorial policy and guide to style; a revised version appears in Vol. XIII, Nos. 1-2, 1987, or is available from the Editor. All correspondence should be addressed to the Editorial Office of New York Folklore, Department of An­thropology, SUNY at Buffalo, Ellicott Complex, Buffalo NY 14261; but in 1987 the Editor, who is on sabbatical leave , can be more easily reached by phone at home: (716) 839-3357.

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Ethnic Folk Arts Center Presents 'Cherish The Ladies' Tour

By Natasha Bushnell Suter Building on three years of work with

Mick Moloney on traditional Irish music, the Ethnic Folk Arts Center will offer a ''Cherish the Ladies'' tour, presenting a group of outstanding Irish women musi­cians and dancers who performed in a series of sold-out concerts of the same name in New York City during 1985 and 1986.

Traditional Irish music, song and dance have always been a part oflrish-American culture, but, according to Irish musician and folklorist Mick Moloney, these forms have not always thrived or been supported within the communities themselves. How the immigrants have adapted to their new environment and have felt about their "lrishness" have been important influen­cing factors. Also, the popularization of Irish-American art forms propagated by the theater, vaudeville, music halls, radio and the recording industry have caused older forms of instrumental dance music, the sean-nos (old-style) Gaelic singing, and the exciting, rhythmically complex step-dancing to take a back seat to com­mercial forms.

''Many people think it a wonder that the older forms have survived at all in a world that has become increasingly commer­cialized in recent decades," says Mick. "They do survive because individual artists for the most part have practiced their craft over the years without much reward or positive encouragement from anybody other than a handful of friends, family members and afficionados. For­tunately these artists have taken pride in their traditional crafts and have continued to pass them on.

"Until recently, this transmission was almost always from man to man. Beginn­ing in the 1970s, however, many women have been learning the tradition and have become some of its most prominent ex­ponents." In 1985, in order to explore and celebrate this development, the Ethnic Folk Arts Center and Mick Moloney pro­duced the ''Cherish the Ladies'' concert series (named after a classic Irish jig), featuring some of the finest women musi­cians, dancers and singers in the country.

During the course of planning and pro­ducing the series, a distinct pattern of transmission became evident: many of the women had learned the music directly from their fathers. "Curiously enough," Mick explains, "in this century at least, the older traditional Irish musicians and dancers have rarely handed down their arts within their own families. Some of the finest artists, in fact, have actively discouraged their children from learning

the old ways. They have felt that their children would be better occupied in ac­tivities that would help them 'get on' in a highly competitive world that didn't seem to have much place or time for the older traditions."

Counter to this prevailing trend, however, there are some families within which traditional music and dance have flourished, sometimes spanning two or more generations. In 1986 the Ethnic Folk Arts Center, building on the success of its ''Cherish the Ladies'' concerts of the previous year, presented a day -long event called "Fathers and Daughters," highlighting the recent transmission of Irish musical traditions from father to daughter. Following two lectures and a film in the afternoon, eight father­daughter combinations performed for an audience of I, 100; later that night, more than 600 people walked several blocks to a social hall for a ceili which lasted until 2:00a.m.

In October and November, the Center's Irish programming will include a nation­wide tour by the ''Cherish the Ladies'' performers. The East Coast swing will visit major urban Irish­American communities, and a number of smaller towns in New York State. In mid­November the tour will travel to the Midwest and the West Coast. The following performances have been book-

ed: August 30, Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, Prospect Park; October 10, Smith Opera House, Geneva; October 30, St. Christopher's Parish Hall, Red Hook; and, November 8, Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, in the Bronx.

The package available to sponsoring organizations can include, besides a con­cert and ceili, a showing of the film "Did Your Mother Come From Ireland,'' a lec­ture on the history of women in Irish tradi ­tional music, master classes for local musicians and an informal "session." The touring group will be drawn from the following performers: Liz Carroll, Mary Coogan, Maureen Doherty, Siobhan Egan, Bridget Fitzgerald, Eileen Ivers, Maureen Kennelly, Joan Madden and Mairead Powell.

In addition to the public programs, the Center has produced two record albums, also in cooperation with Mick Moloney, on the Shanachie label; "Fathers and Daughters" and "Cherish the Ladies." The two LPs have received widespread radio airplay, and were chosen for the Library of Congress American Folk Music and Folklore Recordings 1985- A Selected List.

To find out more about the "Cherish the Ladies" tour, write or call the Ethnic Folk Arts Center, 325 Spring Street, Room 314, New York, NY 10013; (212) 691-9510.

The musicians of' 'Cherish the Ladies'' prepare for their tour. (Photograph by Ricar­do Salas.)

THE READER'S LIST

The purpose of the Reader's List is to inform persons interested in New York State folklore and folklife of recent publications in the field. Books, periodicals, and other publications, including recordings with extensive written documentation, concerned with New York State topics and general folklore studies that would interest scholars of folklore will be listed. Only publications received will be included in the Reader's List. Send publications to: Reader's List, PO Box 678, Seneca Falls, New York 13148.

Bauman, Richard. Verbal Art as Performance. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. 1984. $7.95 (p) A land­mark essay on the subject with four supplementary essays. (Available through Waveland Press, PO Box 400, Prospect Heights, IL 60070.)

Broadside. A bimonthly magazine devoted to topical song . $12.00 annual subscription. (Available through Broad­side, PO Box 20558, London Terrace Station, New York, NY 10011.)

Bronner, Simon J., ed. American Material Culture and Folklife: A Prologue and Dialogue. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1985. $39 .95 (h). An important collection of essays and commentary on the subject, including several presented at a 1979 Cooperstown symposium on issues and directions in material culture study. (Available through UMI Research Press , PO Box 1467, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.)

Blincoe, Deborah. Miniatures of the Upper Delaware. Narrowsburg, NY: Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, 1987. $2.50 (p). Exhibit catalog with interpretive introductory essay and background information on individual artists. Il­lustrated. (Available through Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, PO Box 170, Narrowsburg, NY 12764.)

The Bluegrass Gazette. A monthly publication dedicated to furthering bluegrass music in the Northeast. $9.00 annual subscription. (Available through Cuzin' Isaac, PO Box 252, Alstead, NH 03602.)

The Carriage Collection. Stony Brook, NY: The Museums at Stony Brook, 1986. $18.00 (p). Collection catalog with illustrations featuring the most complete collection of horse drawn vehicles in North America and including historical essays on various types of vehicles and their use. (Available through the Museums at Stony Brook, 1208 Route 25A, Stony Brook, NY 11790.)

Chairetakis, AnnaL., producer. Cicilian Traditional Songs and Music (Two Volumes) and Southern Italian Moun­tain Music from Calabria, Campania, Basilicata and Abruzzi. New York: Global Village Music, 1986. Two albums of traditional music recorded in the Niagara Frontier region, each including an illustrated soft cover book with an inter­pretive essay, song notes, text transcriptions and English translations. $8.00 and $15.00 (Available through Global Village Music, PO Box 2051, Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025.)

Fiddle & Dance News: A free quarterly newsletter devoted to country dancing. (Available through Friends of Fiddle & Dance, RD 1, Box 489, West Hurley, NY 12491.)

Folk Art Finder. A quarterly newsletter devoted to folk art and related topics. $9 .00 annual subscription. (Available through: Gallery Press, 117 North Main Street, Essex, CT 06426.)

Jackson, Bruce. Fieldwork. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1987. $37.95 (h) $13.95 (p). A new hand­book on doing fieldwork that provides practical information on recording and photography, discussion of ethical dimen­sions of information gathering, and advice based on the author's own experiences. (Available through University of Il­linois Press, 54 E. Gregory Drive, Champaign, IL 61820.)

New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club Newsletter. A monthly newsletter with extensive calendar listings for folk music events. $12 .00 annual subscription. (Available through Jane Babits, 301 E. 66th St., New York, NY 10021.)

Sorin, Gretchen Sullivan. Present Meets Past: A Guide to Exploring Community History. Cooperstown, NY: New York State Historical Association, 1986. $10.95 (p). A how-to book for educators for use in exploring their local com­munities and helping children of all backgrounds to develop a sense of the place of everyday people like themselves in their cultural heritage. (Available through Fenimore Book Store, PO Box 800, Cooperstown, NY 13326.)

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MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

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Membership Dues for 1987: $20- Individual $30 - Institutional $25 - Foreign Individual $35 - Foreign Institution $10 - Student (U.S. Only)*

Enclosed is payment of$ to the NYFS for 1987 D Institutional $30; D Individual $20;

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