Foltz, Hattie, Ollie Miller, Kirby Foltz and Wilmer Miller interviewed by Dr. Kurt Kehr, 1970

Scope and content:

Side A: This interview has no formal introduction but contains examples of people speaking Virginia German. It appears to be a group of people such as in Interview #2 and Kehr is conducting the informal interview. Kehr asks the informant to describe old recipes, sayings, cures, songs, and superstitions in order to gain a sense of local traditions in the Virginia German dialect. Side B: Hattie and Kirby Foltz and Ollie and Wilmer Miller from Jerome, Shenandoah County, Virginia in February 1970, interviewed by Kurt Kehr from Mary Baldwin College. When these four interviewees get together they speak Virginia German for the entire day. In this tape Kehr states sentences in English and then the informants repeat the sentence in Virginia German. Kehr alternates between different informants so as to gain an understanding of their various abilities with the language. He also asks for basic words such as counting to twenty, listing days of the week and months of the year. They spend the rest of the interview discussing everyday things such as cooking recipes.

Access and use

Contents