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Kresge Library > Services > Instruction > Pathfinders > Folklore

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By:

Daniel F. Ring Assistant Professor

Phone: (248) 370-2498 E-mail: ring@oakland.edu

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See Also Mythology

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

American Folklore: An Encyclopedia. (Ref. GR 101 .A54 1996) This is a comprehensive encyclopedia; the entries are written by scholars. Entries are up to five pages in length and include bibliographies.

Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music and Art. (Ref. GR 35 .F63 1997) This is a scholarly source, international in scope.

Medieval Folklore. (Ref. GR 35 .M43 2000) 2 volumes. This is a scholarly work. In volume 2 there are indices of motifs and tale types.

Storytelling Encyclopedia. (Ref. GR 72 .S76 1997) The subtitle "historical, cultural, and multiethnic approaches to oral traditions around the world" defines the scope of this book.

An Encyclopedia of Fairies. (Ref. GR 549 .B74 1976b)

Clowns and Tricksters: An Encyclopedia of Tradition and Culture. (Ref. GR 524 .C48 1998)

The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. (Ref. GR 830 .V3 M45 1999) This is a scholarly book;check out the entry on Dracula. A companion volume is The Vampire Gallery: A Who's Who of the Undead (Ref. GR 830 .V3 M46 1998).

Animals with Human Faces. (Ref. GR 705 .R68)

 Encyclopedia of Folk Heroes. (Ref. GR 35 .S4 2001)

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore. (Ref. GR 111 .A47 G74 2006) This three volume work contains scholarly entries.

African Folklore: An Encyclopedia. (Ref. GR 350 .A33 2004) Includes over three hundred scholarly entries on African folklore.

SURVEYS

Bulfinch's Mythology. Do not be deceived by the title as vol. 2 and 3 deal with the age of chivalry and legends of Charlemagne.

MOTIF-INDEXES

Motif-Index of Folk Literature. (Ref. GR .T52) 6 volumes.

Type and Motif-Index of the Folktales of England and North America. (Ref. GR .B3)

Motif-Index of Early Irish Literature. (Ref. GR 67 .C7)

Index to Fairy Tales, 1949-1972. (Ref. GR 550.A1 I73) There is also a supplement.

Motif-Index of Traditional Polynesian Narratives. (Ref. GR 380 .K5)

DICTIONARIES

Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore and Symbols. (Ref. GR 35 .J6 1962)

Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend. (Ref. GR 35 .F8)

Dictionary of American Folklore. (Ref. GR 105 .T3)

Larousse Dictionary of World Folklore. (Ref. GR 35 .J664 1995)

A Dictionary of Fabulous Beasts. (Ref. GR 825 .B28 1971)

The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. (Ref. GR .G8 1980)

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 

GUIDES

Folklore: A Study and Research Guide. (Ref. GR 66 .A1 B78) This book will explain the "structure" of the discipline, the reference books, theories and writing a research paper.

INDEXES

Humanities Abstracts. 1984-

MLA Bibliography. 1963-

Art Abstracts. 1984- picks up folk art.

Project MUSE. Indexes 110 full text journals in the humanities.

AcademicOneFile. 1980- good for peer reviwed and full text journals.

Abstracts of Folklore Studies. (Ref. GR 1 .A52) Holdings are incomplete. Ceased with v.11.

INTERNET SITES

Meta Sites:

BUBL Link Folklore

Knowledge, Folk Traditions, Arts and Sciences. This is a very comprehensive site; everything from bibliographies, papers, e-journals.

Online Journals:

Arthuriana: The Journal of Arthurian Studies

Journal of American Folklore

American Folk

Folklore

Dirty Linen

Culture and Tradition (Canadian)

Cultural Analysis

African Studies Quarterly

Online Texts:

Aesop's Fables

Cinderella Project - provides a dozen English versions of fairy tales.

Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales and Stories

Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts - covers American and English literature and western philosophy

Grimm's Fairy Tales

Online Books Page - tab down to the GR's and P's

Project Gutenberg - searchable by either author or title.

Richard Robinson's Tunebook - provides scores from folk songs around the world.

Sixteenth Century Ballads

Digital Music Collections

The Mudcat Cafe - provides texts of ballads.

The Labyrinth Library - see especially the section "Auctores et fontes" for links to texts.

Werewolf Legends from Germany

Social Science Information Gateway - tab down to articles/ papers/reports and you will see about 20 papers on various topics.

Legends - includes folklore and full text of ballads and fairy tales.

Folklore, Myth and Legend - this site picks up some of the above plus many more.

Myths and Folktales

Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts

Folk Music of England Scotland, Ireland, Wales and America - Provides both words and music.

Societies, Directories and Programming (all three of the sites below are arranged by state)

Societies

Directories

Folklife Programming in Public Agencies and Organizations

The American Folklore Society

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Archives

American Folklife Center - from the Library of Congress

Archive of World Music - some of the collections in this archive have been digitized.

Southern Folklife Collection - some of the recordings and photos are digital.