Series 3. Folklore by County, Boxes 89-91

Scope and content:

This series documents West Virginia's local cultures, traditions and lore handed down through generations such as ghost stories, legends of local heroes, treatment for physical ailments, "tokens" or omens, war songs, love songs and hymns, memory book verses and tombstone inscriptions, and games (including "Go to the Mill" and "Steal Partners", played during social gatherings such as "Molasses Boilin's" and "Apple Cutting" parties). The materials in this series include: transcripts of interviews, narratives, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, poems, remedies, recipes, lyrics of songs and ballads, square dance calls, games, omens and superstitions, and seasonal customs.

Notable items in the Folklore Series include:

remedy for sore and sprained muscles ("apply coal oil, with a chicken feather, no other kind of feather would do, on affected parts") (located in box 90, folder 2);

lockjaw prevention ("if anyone has a puncture wound from a nail, grease the nail and carry it in their pocket until healed, they will never have lockjaw") (located in box 91, folder 5);

omens and superstitions ("combings of hair carefully burned lest some bird finds it and builds it into its nest, in which event the person from whose head the hair came would suffer with headache until the fledglings left the nest") (located in box 91, folder 5);

omens and superstitions ("take a hoe or spade into the house and a member of the family will die within the year; trim your toenails on Good Friday and you will not have toothache") (located in box 91, folder 6);

a narrative regarding traditional gatherings called "workings", usually involving an act of "neighborliness" by the surrounding neighbors helping each other with such tasks as barn raising, harvesting, quilting, and "putting up" food for storage (located in box 91, folder 9).

Access and use

Contents