Record Source: University of Pennsylvania / Subject: Folklore - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Extent:: 0.1 linear foot
Abstract:: Ernestine Wieder Singer, the daughter of Dr. Henry S. and Josephine M. Wieder of Philadelphia, was a Master's student at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Anthropology during the 1930s. Wieder Singer studied the woven nets produced by the Indians of South American during her Master's program. Her thesis, "Analysis and Distribution of Netting Techniques Among South American Indians," conducted under the direction of Dr. Alden Mason, was completed but not published. The Ernestine Wieder Singer papers consist of five folders of information related to her special interest in South American netting techniques.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

Extent:: 0.3 linear foot
Abstract:: J. Alden Mason, noted archaeological anthropologist and linguist and curator of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, conducted ethnographic and archaeological research in Puerto Rico from 1914 to 1915. Holdings include field notebooks, most notably phonetic recordings of Puerto Rican folklore from Utuado, San German, Loiza, Copa, and Coamo. Notable items include a draft of the manuscript "Painted Cave Petroglyphs in Puerto Rico" from 1939 and correspondence regarding wax cylinder recordings. Included also are letters from Mason to his daughter, Kathy, and several translated tales sent to her.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

Extent:: 0.8 linear feet (2 boxes)
Abstract:: Lowell Edmunds is an emeritus professor of Classics at Rutgers University with research interests in Greek literature and mythology. This collection includes correspondence regarding translations and published and unpublished texts of folk tales relating to incest and parricide translated from more than twenty languages. Researchers will find African, Albanian, Asian, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latin and Greek, Lithuanian, Spanish, and Slavic folk tales as well as those from the Near East and the Western Hemisphere.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

Extent:: 0.05 linear foot
Abstract:: The Mary Owen Guatemalan Folktale collection consists of two folders of folktales gathered by Mary Owen at the request of her friend George Byron Gordon, Director of the Free Museum of Science and Art, later the Penn Museum. Mary Owens transcribed seventeen folktales with notes and explanations from her valuable years of experience living in the Alta Verapaz region. Mary Owen's folktales were published in 1938 as a children's book co-authored by Marie Hendrick Jessup and Leslie Bird Simpson. Her work is also recognized in the book, "Maya Folktales from the Alta Verapaz", edited by Elin C. Danien.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

Extent:: 6.75 linear feet (8 boxes)
Abstract:: Dr. Chava Weissler has been the Philip and Muriel Berman Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Religion Studies Department of Lehigh University since 1988. Her areas of interest are women in Jewish history, Jewish folklore, classical Jewish texts, and Jewish and American popular religion. This collection, dating from 1982 to 1999, contains writings by Dr. Weissler, as well as her personal notes and research documents. The bulk of the materials document the research and writing of Dr. Weissler's first book, Voices of the Matriarchs: Listening to the Prayers of Early Modern Jewish Women, published in 1998.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

Extent:: 5.0 linear feet
Abstract:: Born in Trinidad in 1913, Jacob Elder was a primary school tescher and community development officer before attending Penn to study for his doctorate in folklore. Elder specialized in the traditional music of Trinidad and Tobago. In addition to his scholarly studies, Elder worked to develop the Steel Band and song competitions in his native land to encourage the restless youth to find purpose and fulfillment. Manuscript holdings include approximately two linear feet of cultural material, research, working manuscript and disertation, song, lyric and interview transcriptions, folktales, stories and scripts. The West Indies Recordings contain approximately 160 hours of recorded sound collected in Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, and St. Vincent between 1959-1965, during Elder’s dissertation fieldwork.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

Extent:: 3.0 linear foot
Abstract:: Roger D. Abrahams is a native of Philadelphia, PA. He received his B.A. at Swarthmore College, M.A. at Columbia University, and Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1986 he came to teach in the English and Anthropology Departments at the University of Pennsylvania following many years at the University of Texas and Scripps and Pitzer Colleges. While at Penn he served as the Founding Director for the Center for Folklore and Ethnography. The Roger D. Abrahams Collection consists of three linear feet of textual records related to his research in the Caribbean Islands and publications from throughout his career. Reel-to-reel tape recordings of songs, stories, and poems from the Caribbean, as well as photographic slides and negatives are also included in the collection.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]

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