Day Two

Here is a little photo tour of the Dorson archives.


At the moment the Dorson archives are contained in these eight boxes.








Box 1 of 2 that contain only articles.











Audio cassette tapes that contain interviews of people sharing their folklore with Dr. Dorson.















Slides from 1976 containing the Bicentennial Celebration and Art Auction in Gary, Indiana. These were part of the research used by Dr. Dorson to write the book Land of the Millrats.

At the Beginning: Internship Day One

It begins. Today was Day One of the my internship at the University Archives. The good news is that I love it already and have not made a very expensive mistake attending SLIS.

My charge this semester is to process the Richard Mercer Dorson papers.

Richard Mercer Dorson (1916–1981) was an American folklorist, author, professor, and director of the Folklore Institute at Indiana University. Dorson is considered one of the fathers of American folklore. The terms "urban legend" and "fakelore" were popularized by Dorson. He was an accomplished scholar writing several books and over 200 articles. Dorson also championed the role of the oral tradition in the field of folklore.

So far the material is interesting and I'm looking forward to further exploring the collection.