Related Guides
Featured Resource
- Folklore Collections Database, American folklore Society This database is an open-access online resource providing searchable information about folklore archival collections held by folklore programs at academic institutions, community-based cultural and ethnic organizations, non-profit organizations, and state government-based arts and cultural agencies in the United States.
Additional Resources
- American Folklife Center, Library of Congress Provides information on the activities, publications, and holdings of the American Folklife Center, which was established by Congress to "preserve and present American folklife."
- American Folklore Society "Founded in 1888, the American Folklore Society serves to stimulate interest and research in all aspects of the study of folklore and folklife. The Society exists to further the discipline of folklore studies, to improve the professional well-being of its members, and to increase the respect given to diverse cultures and their traditions."
- Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature "The Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature in the Department of Special Collections at the University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries contains more than 130,000 books and periodicals published in the United States and Great Britain from the mid-1600s to present day. Scholars worldwide use the Baldwin Library for research in fables, fairy tales, alphabet books, morality tales and religious tracts, conduct of life, gender roles, comparison of editions, adventure stories, and boys’/girls’ series books."
- Archive of African American Folklore The Archive of African American Folklore aims to create a space for collecting tales and exchanging ideas about them. Much of what was told in African American storytelling circles, both at workplaces and at sites of leisure, took the form of what folklorists call ephemeral cultural property, passed on from one generation to the next, but rarely written down. This site aims to preserve the wisdom and lore of times past, showing how it has not performed a vanishing act but has been kept alive, in song and story, in conversations and performances, as well as in new expressive forms ranging from film to rap.
- Breezes from Wonderland: Maria Tatar's Forum for Storytelling, Folklore, and Children's Literature "Maria Tatar is the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures and Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University. She chairs the Program in Folklore and Mythology."
- The Cinderella Bibliography, University of Rochester Library This site represents a starting point for students and scholars of folklore, fairy tale enthusiasts, and anyone wanting to explore the sense of magic that precedes the moment when a pumpkin becomes a coach and rags become a beautiful gown.
- Folklife and Fieldwork: An Introduction to Cultural Documentation While this book prioritizes the documentation of folklife, by which we mean traditional culture and heritage, the guidelines offered here for interviewing and documentation apply to a broad range of topics.
- Folklife Today (Library of Congress) "Folklife Today is a blog for people interested in folklore, folklife, and oral history. We’ll feature brief articles on folklife topics, highlighting the unparalleled collections of the Library of Congress, especially the American Folklife Center and the Veterans History Project."
- Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts Folklore and mythology text site hosted at the University of Pittsburgh.
- The Folklore Society "The Folklore Society (FLS) is a learned society devoted to the study of traditional culture in all its forms. It was founded in London in 1878 and was one of the first organisations established in the world for the study of folklore."
- Folklore Wiki (American Folklore Society) Maintained by the American Folklore Society, "the Folklore Wiki is a collective information-sharing enterprise that over time will become a comprehensive knowledge base about folklore and the field of folklore studies. The Folklore Wiki can accommodate a wealth of information, including links to other sites of interest, as well as original, full-text sources of information and images."
- Hans Christian Andersen Center Located at the University of Southern Denmark, the Hans Christian Andersen Center specializes in research concerning Hans Christian Andersen. "Texts, material and information, as well as bibliographical, historical and current references are available at the Hans Christian Andersen Center Web Site for a variety of users, who differ widely regarding culture, nationality and interest."
- International Society for Ethnology and Folklore "SIEF is an international organization that facilitates and stimulates cooperation among scholars working within European Ethnology, Folklore Studies, Cultural Anthropology and adjoining fields."
- Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant-Killer Project A text and image archive containing several English versions of the fairy tale from the English-speaking world in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
- Little Red Riding Hood Project A text and image archive containing sixteen English versions of the fairy tale.
- Open Folklore "Open Folklore - now being created by the American Folklore Society and the Indiana University Bloomington Libraries - is a new scholarly resource that will make a greater number and variety of useful resources, both published and unpublished, available for the field of folklore studies and the communities with which folklore scholars partner."
- Snow White Maintained by a Rutgers professor emerita, "Snow White is a scholarly resource for all those interested in folk and fairy tales and, more specifically, in the tale Snow White. It is designed as a teaching tool for group use during a course, and/or for individual study."
- SurLaLune Fairy Tales "SurLaLune Fairy Tales features 49 annotated fairy tales, including their histories, similar tales across cultures, modern interpretations and over 1,500 illustrations."
- Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is a research and educational unit of the Smithsonian Institution. We promote greater understanding and sustainability of cultural heritage across the United States and around the world through research, education, and community engagement.
- Massachusetts Cultural Council Folk Arts & Heritage Program The aim of the Mass Cultural Council's Folk Arts & Heritage Program is to identify craftspeople, performers and cultural specialists, help sustain the practice of tradition where they live, and increase appreciation of their artistry within the community and beyond.
- Maine Folklife Center The Maine Folklife Center is an independent unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Maine. It has research, education, and community engagement missions that align with those of the College and the University as a whole.
- New Hampshire Folklife Welcome to New Hampshire Folklife A resource for learning about our state's traditional arts and living cultural heritage.
- Vermont Folklife Center Founded in 1984, the Vermont Folklife Center is a nationally-known folklife education organization that uses ethnography—study of cultural experience through interviewing, participation and observation—to strengthen the understanding of the cultural and social fabric of Vermont's diverse communities. The VFC's mission is to broaden, strengthen, and deepen our understanding of Vermont; to assure a repository for our collective cultural memory; and to strengthen communities by building connections among the diverse peoples of Vermont.
