Dorson mss., 1925-1981
Scope and Content Note
Consists of the papers of Richard Mercer Dorson, 1916-1981, Indiana University
professor and internationally renowned folklorist. The correspondence section,
consisting of approximately 14,500 items arranged chronologically, documents
Dorson's determination to turn the American Folklore Society and American folklore
studies away from amateurism toward rigorous scholarship. The correspondence also
shows Dorson's wide network of national and international relationships established
with numerous scholars over the years. Writings in the collection are divided into
those by Dorson and those by other folklorists, historians, and colleagues.
Fieldwork and research materials in the collection include notes, transcriptions,
and field tapes. Dorson's Indiana University related files include materials for the
Folklore Institute, the Folklore Archives, the Archives of Traditional Music, the
History Department, and various university committees. Also here are papers of
folklore and history students, dissertation materials, and Dorson's class notes.
This collection of his papers contains the following categories of material:
correspondence, writings, research and fieldwork, University materials, and
miscellaneous personal and professional files.
The correspondence section, consisting of approximately 14,500 items arranged
chronologically, documents Dorson's determination to turn the American Folklore
Society and American folklore studies away from amateurism toward rigorous
scholarship. He set standards for folklore scholarship on all levels--research,
documentation, writing, and the material to be studied. The correspondence also
shows Dorson's wide network of national and international contacts, including
personal relationships established with numerous scholars over the years.
Writings in the collection are divided into those by Dorson and those by other
folklorists, historians, and colleagues. Materials for the following books by Dorson
are represented here:
African Folklore (1972),
America Begins (1950),
America in
Legend
(1973),
America Rebels (1953),
American Folklore (1959),
American Folklore and the Historian (1971),
American Negro Folktales (1967),
Bloodstoppers
and Bearwalkers
(1952),
The British Folklorists:
A History
(1968),
Buying the Wind (1964),
Davy Crockett, American Comic Legend (1939),
Folk Legends of Japan (1961),
Folklore and Fakelore (1976),
Folklore and Folklife: An Introduction (1972),
Folklore and Traditional History (1973),
Folklore in the Modern World (1974),
Folklore
Research Around the World: A North American Point of View
(1961),
Folklore: Selected Essays (1972),
Folktales Told Around the World (1975),
Handbook
of American Folklore
(1983),
Jonathan Draws the
Long Bow
(1946),
Land of the Millrats
(1981),
Man and Beast in American Comic Legend
(1982),
Negro Folktales in Michigan (1956),
Negro Tales from Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Calvin,
Michigan
(1958),
Peasant Customs and Savage
Myths: Selections from the British Folklorists
(1968), and
Studies in Japanese Folklore (1963).
He edited and wrote the foreword to all volumes of the Folktales of the World
Series, and both drafts and/or final manuscript copy of many of these volumes are in
the collection.
The type of material present for Dorson's publications varies but most often
includes research materials, drafts of manuscripts, galleys and page proofs,
corrected proofs, book production materials, publicity and reviews. There are also
materials for about ten more books which he was considering publishing.
Dorson also wrote approximately 200 articles, most of which are represented in the
collection in various phases of development from notes to final printed item. He
prepared numerous reviews of printed works and frequently provided critical
evaluations of items that had been submitted for publication, and many of these are
present or are represented in these files. Papers and/or notes for papers presented
at conference and seminars, as well as materials relating to several journals
(especially the
Journal of the Folklore Institute), and
series (particularly the Indiana University Folklore Institute Monographs Series),
which he edited are also here.
Fieldwork and research materials in the collection include notes, transcriptions,
and field tapes from Dorson's work in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the 1940's;
in Calvin, Michigan and Pine Bluff, Arkansas in the early 1950's; in Jonesport,
Maine, 1956; and in northern Indiana, 1968 and mid 1970's. These files highlight
areas of special interest to Dorson--early American heroes; Black, immigrant,
occupational (lumberjacks, cowboys, miners, railwaymen, steelworkers), and urban
lore; as well as lore of the youth and counter cultures of the 1960's.
Dorson's Indiana University related files include materials for the Folklore
Department, the Folklore Institute, the Folklore Archives, the Archives of
Traditional Music, the History Department, and various University committees. Also
here are papers of folklore and history students, dissertation materials, and
Dorson's class notes.
The remaining files in the collection are a miscellany of materials pertinent to
Dorson's career, including his testimony in 1970 Senate hearings for an American
Folklife Bill. The many societies and councils of which Dorson was a member and the
many conferences which he attended are also represented. Dorson's personal files, in
addition to regularly updated vitae, include materials on grants and fellowships.
Other files contain materials on a film about the Northeast Sea Community,
photographs, and printed items. Amongst the last are journals, newsletters, and
clippings on Dorson, on the Folklore Institute and Department, and on folklore in
general.
