39060010034923
Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www.
Childens - Folklore
Children's folklore : a source book / edited by Brian Sutton-Smith .
.
.
[et al.
].
Logan, Utah : Utah State University Press, 1999.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
This work is protected by copyright law (which includes certain exceptions to the rights of the copyright holder that users may make, such as fair use where applicable under U. S. law), but made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. You must attribute this work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Only verbatim copies of this work may be made, distributed, displayed, and performed, not derivative works based upon it. Copies that are made may only be used for non-commercial purposes. Please check the terms of the specific Creative Commons license as indicated at the item level. For details, see the full license deed at http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3. 0/.
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. : . . . :2 . . . . . . :
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ?
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
A SOURCE BOOK
EDITED BY
BRIAN SUTTON-SMITH
JAY MECHLING
THOMAS W. JOHNSON
FELICIA R. MCMAHON
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Logan, Utah
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Copyright (C) 1999 by Brian Sutton-Smith, Jay Mechling, Thomas W. Johnson,
and Felicia R. McMahon.
All rights reserved.
Cover photograph: Children outside tenements in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1895, by
Frances B. Johnston. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Cover design by Michelle Sellers.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Children's folklore : a source book / edited by Brian Sutton-Smith. . . [et al. ].
p. cm.
ISBN 0-87421-280-4
Originally published: New York : Garland, 1995, in series: Garland reference
library of social science; vol. 647.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Children -- Folklore. 2. Children and folklore. 3. Folklore --
Methodology. I. Sutton-Smith, Brian.
GR475. C49 1999
11769490
CIP
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CONTENTS
ix CONTRIBUTORS
xi PREFACE
3 INTRODUCTION:
Brian Sutton-Smith
WHAT IS CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE?
Chapter i
II WHO ARE THE FOLKLORISTS OF CHILDHOOD?
Sylvia Ann Grider
SECTION I
19 OVERVIEW: HISTORY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Brian Sutton-Smith
Chapter z
23 THE COMPLEXITY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Rosemary Levy Zumwalt
Chapter 3
49 THE TRANSMISSION OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
John H. McDowell
SECTION II
63 OVERVIEW: METHODS IN CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Brian Sutton-Smith
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Chapter 4
75 DOUBLE DUTCH AND DOUBLE CAMERAS:
STUDYING THE TRANSMISSION OF CULTURE
IN AN URBAN SCHOOL YARD
Ann Richman Beresin
Chapter 5
93 CHILDREN'S GAMES AND GAMING
Linda A. Hughes
Chapter 6
Iz2I METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING
FOLKLORE FROM CHILDREN
Gary Alan Fine
SECTION III
141 OVERVIEW: CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE CONCERNS
Brian Sutton-Smith
Chapter 7
145 SONGS, POEMS, AND RHYMES
C. W Sullivan III
Chapter 8
161 RIDDLES
Danielle M. Roemer
Chapter 9
193 TALES AND LEGENDS
Elizabeth Tucker
Chapter Io
213 TEASES AND PRANKS
Marilyn Jorgensen
SECTION IV
225 OVERVIEW: SETTINGS AND ACTIVITIES
Brian Sutton-Smith
vi CONTENTS
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Chapter ii
229 CHILDREN'S LORE IN SCHOOL AND PLAYGROUNDS
Bernard Mergen
Chapter 12
251 MATERIAL FOLK CULTURE OF CHILDREN
Simon J. Bronner
Chapter 13
273 CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE IN RESIDENTIAL INSTITUTIONS:
SUMMER CAMPS, BOARDING SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS,
AND CUSTODIAL FACILITIES
Jay Mechling
CONCLUSION
293 THE PAST IN THE PRESENT: THEORETICAL DIRECTIONS
FOR CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Felicia R. McMahon and Brian Sutton-Smith
309 GLOSSARY: AN AID FOR SOURCE BOOK READERS
317 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Thomas W Johnson (and Felicia R. McMahon)
37I INDEX
vii
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ?
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CONTRIBUTORS
SIMON J. BRONNER
American Studies and
Humanities
Pennsylvania State University,
Capitol Campus
Middletown
GARY ALAN FINE
Department of Sociology
University of Georgia
Athens
SYLVIA ANN GRIDER
Graduate College
Texas A & M University
College Station
LINDA A. HUGHES
Cochranville, PA
THOMAS W. JOHNSON
Liberal Studies
California State University
Chico
JOHN H. McDOWELL
Folklore Institute
Indiana University
Bloomington
FELICIA R. MCMAHON
Anthropology
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY
JAY MECHLING
American Studies Program
University of California
Davis
BERNARD MERGEN
American Studies
George Washington
University
Washington, DC
ANN RICHMAN BERESIN
Philadelphia, PA
MARILYN JORGENSEN
Sacramento, CA
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? DANIELLE M. ROEMER
Department of Language and
Literature
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights
C. W. SULLIVAN III
Department of English
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC
ELIZABETH TUCKER
Department of English
State University of New York
Binghamton
ROSEMARY LgvY ZUMWALT
Department of Anthropology
and Sociology
Davidson College
Davidson, NC
BRIAN SUTTrON-SMITH
Sarasota, Florida
X CONTRIBUTORS
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3.
39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
A SOURCE BOOK
EDITED BY
BRIAN SUTTON-SMITH
JAY MECHLING
THOMAS W. JOHNSON
FELICIA R. MCMAHON
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Logan, Utah
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Copyright (C) 1999 by Brian Sutton-Smith, Jay Mechling, Thomas W. Johnson,
and Felicia R. McMahon.
All rights reserved.
Cover photograph: Children outside tenements in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1895, by
Frances B. Johnston. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Cover design by Michelle Sellers.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Children's folklore : a source book / edited by Brian Sutton-Smith. . . [et al. ].
p. cm.
ISBN 0-87421-280-4
Originally published: New York : Garland, 1995, in series: Garland reference
library of social science; vol. 647.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Children -- Folklore. 2. Children and folklore. 3. Folklore --
Methodology. I. Sutton-Smith, Brian.
GR475. C49 1999
11769490
CIP
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CONTENTS
ix CONTRIBUTORS
xi PREFACE
3 INTRODUCTION:
Brian Sutton-Smith
WHAT IS CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE?
Chapter i
II WHO ARE THE FOLKLORISTS OF CHILDHOOD?
Sylvia Ann Grider
SECTION I
19 OVERVIEW: HISTORY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Brian Sutton-Smith
Chapter z
23 THE COMPLEXITY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Rosemary Levy Zumwalt
Chapter 3
49 THE TRANSMISSION OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
John H. McDowell
SECTION II
63 OVERVIEW: METHODS IN CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Brian Sutton-Smith
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Chapter 4
75 DOUBLE DUTCH AND DOUBLE CAMERAS:
STUDYING THE TRANSMISSION OF CULTURE
IN AN URBAN SCHOOL YARD
Ann Richman Beresin
Chapter 5
93 CHILDREN'S GAMES AND GAMING
Linda A. Hughes
Chapter 6
Iz2I METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING
FOLKLORE FROM CHILDREN
Gary Alan Fine
SECTION III
141 OVERVIEW: CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE CONCERNS
Brian Sutton-Smith
Chapter 7
145 SONGS, POEMS, AND RHYMES
C. W Sullivan III
Chapter 8
161 RIDDLES
Danielle M. Roemer
Chapter 9
193 TALES AND LEGENDS
Elizabeth Tucker
Chapter Io
213 TEASES AND PRANKS
Marilyn Jorgensen
SECTION IV
225 OVERVIEW: SETTINGS AND ACTIVITIES
Brian Sutton-Smith
vi CONTENTS
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Chapter ii
229 CHILDREN'S LORE IN SCHOOL AND PLAYGROUNDS
Bernard Mergen
Chapter 12
251 MATERIAL FOLK CULTURE OF CHILDREN
Simon J. Bronner
Chapter 13
273 CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE IN RESIDENTIAL INSTITUTIONS:
SUMMER CAMPS, BOARDING SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS,
AND CUSTODIAL FACILITIES
Jay Mechling
CONCLUSION
293 THE PAST IN THE PRESENT: THEORETICAL DIRECTIONS
FOR CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Felicia R. McMahon and Brian Sutton-Smith
309 GLOSSARY: AN AID FOR SOURCE BOOK READERS
317 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Thomas W Johnson (and Felicia R. McMahon)
37I INDEX
vii
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ?
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CONTRIBUTORS
SIMON J. BRONNER
American Studies and
Humanities
Pennsylvania State University,
Capitol Campus
Middletown
GARY ALAN FINE
Department of Sociology
University of Georgia
Athens
SYLVIA ANN GRIDER
Graduate College
Texas A & M University
College Station
LINDA A. HUGHES
Cochranville, PA
THOMAS W. JOHNSON
Liberal Studies
California State University
Chico
JOHN H. McDOWELL
Folklore Institute
Indiana University
Bloomington
FELICIA R. MCMAHON
Anthropology
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY
JAY MECHLING
American Studies Program
University of California
Davis
BERNARD MERGEN
American Studies
George Washington
University
Washington, DC
ANN RICHMAN BERESIN
Philadelphia, PA
MARILYN JORGENSEN
Sacramento, CA
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? DANIELLE M. ROEMER
Department of Language and
Literature
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights
C. W. SULLIVAN III
Department of English
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC
ELIZABETH TUCKER
Department of English
State University of New York
Binghamton
ROSEMARY LgvY ZUMWALT
Department of Anthropology
and Sociology
Davidson College
Davidson, NC
BRIAN SUTTrON-SMITH
Sarasota, Florida
X CONTRIBUTORS
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? PREFACE
This book began when the late Sue Samuelson, my first teaching assistant
in 1977 for the children's folklore course at the University of Pennsylvania,
told me that it would not be possible to do a thesis in children's folklore
because there was absolutely no interest in children either at the American
Folklore Society (AFS) or in the Folklore Department at the university. What-
ever the truth of her indictment, it led me to approach Barbara Kirshenblatt-
Gimblett and Tom Burns (also of that department) with the proposal that
we begin a Children's Folklore Society within AFS. And we did just that.
The society continues with admirable autonomy, now issuing its own jour-
nal, Children's Folklore Review, under the editorship of C. W. Sullivan III.
The idea for the second phase, which became the present work,
emerged one evening in 1980 at the annual Folklore Meeting. Jay Mechling,
Tom Johnson, and I decided that the next step in assisting children's
folklore to academic credibility would be the development of a handbook
for course use. It took about five years to find the authors and get the first
outlines of the present work on the table. For the next five years I used the
outline as a text in my children's folklore course and benefited immeasur-
ably from the student critiques of it. During those ten years the manuscript
wandered in and out of the University of Pennsylvania Press and the Smith-
sonian Press, finally coming to rest at Garland Publishing, owing to the zest
of Garland editor Marie Ellen Larcada. From 1990 to the present, we all
suffered the vicissitudes of trying to get all this material into the computer.
Ultimately we were saved by Felicia R. McMahon of Syracuse Uni-
versity, who undertook the prodigious work of scholarly editorship to bring
the work to fruition-as well as to add materials from her own research.
Along the way it was decided that our work was not comprehensive enough
to be a handbook, but that it was a step in that direction and a useful first
sourcebook. Her efforts were aided greatly by the assistance of Dr. Nancy
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Shawcross of the University of Pennsylvania and Professor Susan Wadley of
Syracuse University.
For my part, all of this was originally made possible because Barbara
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett had once suggested that a course I had taught for ten
years at Teachers College, Columbia University, which I entitled "The Psy-
chology of Childlore," be called "Children's Folklore" and brought to the
University of Pennsylvania. I did that for a year and then joined the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania with appointments in both education and folklore, a
move made possible by the support of Kenneth Goldstein and Henry Glassie
of the Folklore Department and Dell Hymes and Erling Boe of the Educa-
tion School. I owe to all these people-and particularly to Barbara-a dis-
tinct debt of gratitude for the good life I've found and the interdisciplinary
flavor that became possible in my scholarship after that career change.
Brian Sutton-Smith
Xii PREFACE
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ?
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE?
Brian Sutton-Smith
Children's folklore is not easy to define. Folklore itself as a scholarly disci-
pline is in a process of transition. In earlier definitions, attention was given
predominantly to traditional stories, dances, proverbs, riddles, poetry, ma-
terial culture, and customs, passed on orally from generation to generation.
The emphasis was upon recording the "survivals" of an earlier way of life,
believed to be fading away. Attention, therefore, was on the antique, the
anonymous in origin, the collective in composition, and the simple in char-
acter (Ben-Amos 1971).
Today's definitions, by contrast, place more emphasis on the living char-
acter of these customs in peoples, whether tribal, ancient, ethnic, or modern.
Folklorists today are more concerned with the actual living performance of
these traditional materials (dance, song, tale) in their particular settings, with
their functional or aesthetic character in particular contexts. Unfortunately,
such "live" studies are more difficult to carry out than studies of collected
records or reports-and so we have very few of them.
Logan, Utah : Utah State University Press, 1999.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
This work is protected by copyright law (which includes certain exceptions to the rights of the copyright holder that users may make, such as fair use where applicable under U. S. law), but made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. You must attribute this work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Only verbatim copies of this work may be made, distributed, displayed, and performed, not derivative works based upon it. Copies that are made may only be used for non-commercial purposes. Please check the terms of the specific Creative Commons license as indicated at the item level. For details, see the full license deed at http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3. 0/.
? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? htl re
. . : ;. \\:.
. : . . . :2 . . . . . . :
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ?
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
A SOURCE BOOK
EDITED BY
BRIAN SUTTON-SMITH
JAY MECHLING
THOMAS W. JOHNSON
FELICIA R. MCMAHON
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Logan, Utah
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Copyright (C) 1999 by Brian Sutton-Smith, Jay Mechling, Thomas W. Johnson,
and Felicia R. McMahon.
All rights reserved.
Cover photograph: Children outside tenements in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1895, by
Frances B. Johnston. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Cover design by Michelle Sellers.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Children's folklore : a source book / edited by Brian Sutton-Smith. . . [et al. ].
p. cm.
ISBN 0-87421-280-4
Originally published: New York : Garland, 1995, in series: Garland reference
library of social science; vol. 647.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Children -- Folklore. 2. Children and folklore. 3. Folklore --
Methodology. I. Sutton-Smith, Brian.
GR475. C49 1999
11769490
CIP
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CONTENTS
ix CONTRIBUTORS
xi PREFACE
3 INTRODUCTION:
Brian Sutton-Smith
WHAT IS CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE?
Chapter i
II WHO ARE THE FOLKLORISTS OF CHILDHOOD?
Sylvia Ann Grider
SECTION I
19 OVERVIEW: HISTORY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Brian Sutton-Smith
Chapter z
23 THE COMPLEXITY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Rosemary Levy Zumwalt
Chapter 3
49 THE TRANSMISSION OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
John H. McDowell
SECTION II
63 OVERVIEW: METHODS IN CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Brian Sutton-Smith
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Chapter 4
75 DOUBLE DUTCH AND DOUBLE CAMERAS:
STUDYING THE TRANSMISSION OF CULTURE
IN AN URBAN SCHOOL YARD
Ann Richman Beresin
Chapter 5
93 CHILDREN'S GAMES AND GAMING
Linda A. Hughes
Chapter 6
Iz2I METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING
FOLKLORE FROM CHILDREN
Gary Alan Fine
SECTION III
141 OVERVIEW: CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE CONCERNS
Brian Sutton-Smith
Chapter 7
145 SONGS, POEMS, AND RHYMES
C. W Sullivan III
Chapter 8
161 RIDDLES
Danielle M. Roemer
Chapter 9
193 TALES AND LEGENDS
Elizabeth Tucker
Chapter Io
213 TEASES AND PRANKS
Marilyn Jorgensen
SECTION IV
225 OVERVIEW: SETTINGS AND ACTIVITIES
Brian Sutton-Smith
vi CONTENTS
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? Chapter ii
229 CHILDREN'S LORE IN SCHOOL AND PLAYGROUNDS
Bernard Mergen
Chapter 12
251 MATERIAL FOLK CULTURE OF CHILDREN
Simon J. Bronner
Chapter 13
273 CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE IN RESIDENTIAL INSTITUTIONS:
SUMMER CAMPS, BOARDING SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS,
AND CUSTODIAL FACILITIES
Jay Mechling
CONCLUSION
293 THE PAST IN THE PRESENT: THEORETICAL DIRECTIONS
FOR CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Felicia R. McMahon and Brian Sutton-Smith
309 GLOSSARY: AN AID FOR SOURCE BOOK READERS
317 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Thomas W Johnson (and Felicia R. McMahon)
37I INDEX
vii
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? ?
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? ? CONTRIBUTORS
SIMON J. BRONNER
American Studies and
Humanities
Pennsylvania State University,
Capitol Campus
Middletown
GARY ALAN FINE
Department of Sociology
University of Georgia
Athens
SYLVIA ANN GRIDER
Graduate College
Texas A & M University
College Station
LINDA A. HUGHES
Cochranville, PA
THOMAS W. JOHNSON
Liberal Studies
California State University
Chico
JOHN H. McDOWELL
Folklore Institute
Indiana University
Bloomington
FELICIA R. MCMAHON
Anthropology
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY
JAY MECHLING
American Studies Program
University of California
Davis
BERNARD MERGEN
American Studies
George Washington
University
Washington, DC
ANN RICHMAN BERESIN
Philadelphia, PA
MARILYN JORGENSEN
Sacramento, CA
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? ? DANIELLE M. ROEMER
Department of Language and
Literature
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights
C. W. SULLIVAN III
Department of English
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC
ELIZABETH TUCKER
Department of English
State University of New York
Binghamton
ROSEMARY LgvY ZUMWALT
Department of Anthropology
and Sociology
Davidson College
Davidson, NC
BRIAN SUTTrON-SMITH
Sarasota, Florida
X CONTRIBUTORS
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39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
A SOURCE BOOK
EDITED BY
BRIAN SUTTON-SMITH
JAY MECHLING
THOMAS W. JOHNSON
FELICIA R. MCMAHON
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Logan, Utah
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? ? Copyright (C) 1999 by Brian Sutton-Smith, Jay Mechling, Thomas W. Johnson,
and Felicia R. McMahon.
All rights reserved.
Cover photograph: Children outside tenements in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1895, by
Frances B. Johnston. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Cover design by Michelle Sellers.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Children's folklore : a source book / edited by Brian Sutton-Smith. . . [et al. ].
p. cm.
ISBN 0-87421-280-4
Originally published: New York : Garland, 1995, in series: Garland reference
library of social science; vol. 647.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Children -- Folklore. 2. Children and folklore. 3. Folklore --
Methodology. I. Sutton-Smith, Brian.
GR475. C49 1999
11769490
CIP
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? ? CONTENTS
ix CONTRIBUTORS
xi PREFACE
3 INTRODUCTION:
Brian Sutton-Smith
WHAT IS CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE?
Chapter i
II WHO ARE THE FOLKLORISTS OF CHILDHOOD?
Sylvia Ann Grider
SECTION I
19 OVERVIEW: HISTORY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Brian Sutton-Smith
Chapter z
23 THE COMPLEXITY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Rosemary Levy Zumwalt
Chapter 3
49 THE TRANSMISSION OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
John H. McDowell
SECTION II
63 OVERVIEW: METHODS IN CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Brian Sutton-Smith
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? ? Chapter 4
75 DOUBLE DUTCH AND DOUBLE CAMERAS:
STUDYING THE TRANSMISSION OF CULTURE
IN AN URBAN SCHOOL YARD
Ann Richman Beresin
Chapter 5
93 CHILDREN'S GAMES AND GAMING
Linda A. Hughes
Chapter 6
Iz2I METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING
FOLKLORE FROM CHILDREN
Gary Alan Fine
SECTION III
141 OVERVIEW: CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE CONCERNS
Brian Sutton-Smith
Chapter 7
145 SONGS, POEMS, AND RHYMES
C. W Sullivan III
Chapter 8
161 RIDDLES
Danielle M. Roemer
Chapter 9
193 TALES AND LEGENDS
Elizabeth Tucker
Chapter Io
213 TEASES AND PRANKS
Marilyn Jorgensen
SECTION IV
225 OVERVIEW: SETTINGS AND ACTIVITIES
Brian Sutton-Smith
vi CONTENTS
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? ? Chapter ii
229 CHILDREN'S LORE IN SCHOOL AND PLAYGROUNDS
Bernard Mergen
Chapter 12
251 MATERIAL FOLK CULTURE OF CHILDREN
Simon J. Bronner
Chapter 13
273 CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE IN RESIDENTIAL INSTITUTIONS:
SUMMER CAMPS, BOARDING SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS,
AND CUSTODIAL FACILITIES
Jay Mechling
CONCLUSION
293 THE PAST IN THE PRESENT: THEORETICAL DIRECTIONS
FOR CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Felicia R. McMahon and Brian Sutton-Smith
309 GLOSSARY: AN AID FOR SOURCE BOOK READERS
317 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Thomas W Johnson (and Felicia R. McMahon)
37I INDEX
vii
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? ?
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? ? CONTRIBUTORS
SIMON J. BRONNER
American Studies and
Humanities
Pennsylvania State University,
Capitol Campus
Middletown
GARY ALAN FINE
Department of Sociology
University of Georgia
Athens
SYLVIA ANN GRIDER
Graduate College
Texas A & M University
College Station
LINDA A. HUGHES
Cochranville, PA
THOMAS W. JOHNSON
Liberal Studies
California State University
Chico
JOHN H. McDOWELL
Folklore Institute
Indiana University
Bloomington
FELICIA R. MCMAHON
Anthropology
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY
JAY MECHLING
American Studies Program
University of California
Davis
BERNARD MERGEN
American Studies
George Washington
University
Washington, DC
ANN RICHMAN BERESIN
Philadelphia, PA
MARILYN JORGENSEN
Sacramento, CA
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/usu. 39060010034923 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#cc-by-nc-nd-3. 0
? ? DANIELLE M. ROEMER
Department of Language and
Literature
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights
C. W. SULLIVAN III
Department of English
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC
ELIZABETH TUCKER
Department of English
State University of New York
Binghamton
ROSEMARY LgvY ZUMWALT
Department of Anthropology
and Sociology
Davidson College
Davidson, NC
BRIAN SUTTrON-SMITH
Sarasota, Florida
X CONTRIBUTORS
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? ? PREFACE
This book began when the late Sue Samuelson, my first teaching assistant
in 1977 for the children's folklore course at the University of Pennsylvania,
told me that it would not be possible to do a thesis in children's folklore
because there was absolutely no interest in children either at the American
Folklore Society (AFS) or in the Folklore Department at the university. What-
ever the truth of her indictment, it led me to approach Barbara Kirshenblatt-
Gimblett and Tom Burns (also of that department) with the proposal that
we begin a Children's Folklore Society within AFS. And we did just that.
The society continues with admirable autonomy, now issuing its own jour-
nal, Children's Folklore Review, under the editorship of C. W. Sullivan III.
The idea for the second phase, which became the present work,
emerged one evening in 1980 at the annual Folklore Meeting. Jay Mechling,
Tom Johnson, and I decided that the next step in assisting children's
folklore to academic credibility would be the development of a handbook
for course use. It took about five years to find the authors and get the first
outlines of the present work on the table. For the next five years I used the
outline as a text in my children's folklore course and benefited immeasur-
ably from the student critiques of it. During those ten years the manuscript
wandered in and out of the University of Pennsylvania Press and the Smith-
sonian Press, finally coming to rest at Garland Publishing, owing to the zest
of Garland editor Marie Ellen Larcada. From 1990 to the present, we all
suffered the vicissitudes of trying to get all this material into the computer.
Ultimately we were saved by Felicia R. McMahon of Syracuse Uni-
versity, who undertook the prodigious work of scholarly editorship to bring
the work to fruition-as well as to add materials from her own research.
Along the way it was decided that our work was not comprehensive enough
to be a handbook, but that it was a step in that direction and a useful first
sourcebook. Her efforts were aided greatly by the assistance of Dr. Nancy
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? ? Shawcross of the University of Pennsylvania and Professor Susan Wadley of
Syracuse University.
For my part, all of this was originally made possible because Barbara
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett had once suggested that a course I had taught for ten
years at Teachers College, Columbia University, which I entitled "The Psy-
chology of Childlore," be called "Children's Folklore" and brought to the
University of Pennsylvania. I did that for a year and then joined the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania with appointments in both education and folklore, a
move made possible by the support of Kenneth Goldstein and Henry Glassie
of the Folklore Department and Dell Hymes and Erling Boe of the Educa-
tion School. I owe to all these people-and particularly to Barbara-a dis-
tinct debt of gratitude for the good life I've found and the interdisciplinary
flavor that became possible in my scholarship after that career change.
Brian Sutton-Smith
Xii PREFACE
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? ? CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
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? ?
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? ? INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE?
Brian Sutton-Smith
Children's folklore is not easy to define. Folklore itself as a scholarly disci-
pline is in a process of transition. In earlier definitions, attention was given
predominantly to traditional stories, dances, proverbs, riddles, poetry, ma-
terial culture, and customs, passed on orally from generation to generation.
The emphasis was upon recording the "survivals" of an earlier way of life,
believed to be fading away. Attention, therefore, was on the antique, the
anonymous in origin, the collective in composition, and the simple in char-
acter (Ben-Amos 1971).
Today's definitions, by contrast, place more emphasis on the living char-
acter of these customs in peoples, whether tribal, ancient, ethnic, or modern.
Folklorists today are more concerned with the actual living performance of
these traditional materials (dance, song, tale) in their particular settings, with
their functional or aesthetic character in particular contexts. Unfortunately,
such "live" studies are more difficult to carry out than studies of collected
records or reports-and so we have very few of them.
