Research Guides: Folklore and Popular Culture in Special Collections: Home

About this guide

Folklore research materials have been collected in Special Collections from early in their history. Thanks in part to a number of dedicated professional and amateur collectors and promoters of Ozark folk material, Special Collections has a large and rich array of oral, musical, and written material documenting the life, arts, crafts, and stories of the region.

Title page of Strange Scenes in the Ozarks by M.E. Oliver.

(Oliver, M. E. (1955).Strange scenes in the Ozarks: Lettering and art. Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified.)

Manuscript Collections on Folklore

MC 1009: Vance Randolph Collection
Vance Randolph (1892-1980) was a folklorist who collected, annotated, and published different folklore genres for over a thirty-year-period in the Ozark region. This collection includes certificates, Randolph's notebook, and published articles.
MS F 1-30: Mary Celestia Parler University Folklore Collection
The collection also includes unpublished typescript transcriptions of the contents of the recorded songs (class F2), folklore class reports (class F16), and bound typescripts preserving various folk tales, sayings, beliefs, riddles, games, maxims, remedies, etiologies, etc (classes F20, 26, 28, and 30). It also contains thousands of folk songs collected by Parler and her students.
MC 1501: Mary Celestia Parler Papers
Parler was director of the University of Arkansas Folklore Research Project. This collection includes correspondence, photographs, class reports, sound recordings, contact listings, and manuscript copies of "An Arkansas Ballet Book." These materials supplement the University Folklore Collection and include two boxes of linguistic reports as well as index cards and other research materials.
Enchanted Ozarks and other writings by Otto Ernest Rayburn
Rayburn was a prolific collector and promoter of Ozark history and culture. His published and unpublished reference guides include numerous images. Volume 1 of Enchanted Ozarks includes a biography of Thomas Hart Benton and images of Benton visiting the Ozarks.

Published Sources for Background Information

Rayburn's Arcadian Life, A Journal of the Well-Flavored Earth, published by Otto Ernest Rayburn, 1934 (Arkansas Collection)

Arkansas Folklore
1950-1958 (v.1-8). A publication of the Ozark Folklore Society. Vance Randolph and Mary Celestia Parler were founding members of the Society (1950) and the publication was created on the recommendation of Mary Celestia Parler. The two served on the board of the society in various positions over the years. Contents pertain to both the academic and popular views of Ozark folklife.
Arkansas Folklore
1977-1979 (Oct. 1977, Jan., July 1978, Jan. Apr. 1979). Continues Arkansas Folklore; published by the Arkansas Folklore Society, 1950-1958.
Mid-South Folklore
1973-1978 (v.1-6). A scholarly journal of the folklife of the Southern states and Middle West. Mid-South Folklore vol. 3, no. 3, is entitled "Special Issue for Vance Randolph."
Mid-America Folklore
1979- (v.7- ). A former publication of Ozark States Folklore Society and the English Department, Southwest Missouri State University and the Regional Culture Center, Arkansas College (1979-1982); issues for Fall 1990-1998 were published by the Mid-America Folklore Society and Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas, and the Kansas Folklore Society. Currently a publication of Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Mid-America Folklore is a continuation of Mid-South Folklore.
Missouri Folklore Society Journal
1979- (v.1- ). A scholarly journal of the folklife of Missouri and the Ozark regional culture. V.4 1982 is a special issue devoted to the work of Vance Randolph and Mary Celestia Parler-Randolph, containing the recollections of Max Hunter, for whom the Randolphs served as mentors.
Arcadian Life: A Monthly Magazine of Folklore and Homespun Philosophy
1933-1938 (v. 1-34). A publication of Otto Ernest Rayburn: Sulphur Springs, Texas. Content dedicated to the Ozark Mountain region.
Rayburn's Arcadian Life: A Journal of the Well-Flavored Earth
1934-1936 (v. 1-23). A publication of Otto Ernest Rayburn: Sulphur Springs, Texas.
*The title changed from Arcadian Life to Rayburn's Arcadian Life (1934), then back to Arcadian Life (1936).
Arcadian Life Magazine
1938-1943 (v. 35-55). A publication of Otto Ernest Rayburn: Caddo Gap, Arkansas. A continuation of Arcadian Life.
Rayburn's Ozark Guide
1943-1960 (v.1-66). A publication of Otto Ernest Rayburn: Lonsdale, Arkansas. "Everything about the Ozarks of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma." Published quarterly, July/Sept. 1944-1966; bimonthly, July/Aug. 1943-May/June 1944.
Ozark Guide Yearbook
1961-1966. A publication of Gerald H. Pipes: Reed Spring, Missouri. A continuation of Rayburn's Ozark Guide.
The Ozarks Mountaineer
1954- (v. 3- ). Devoted to the culture of the Ozark Mountains region.
OzarksWatch
1987- (v. 1-). Published by the Center for Ozarks Studies at Southwest Missouri State University.