DOCSLIB.ORG

Kenneth S. Goldstein (1927-1995) Dan Ben-Amos University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Kenneth S. Goldstein (1927-1995) Dan Ben-Amos University of Pennsylvania, Dbamos@Sas.Upenn.Edu University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Department of Near Eastern Languages and Departmental Papers (NELC) Civilizations (NELC) 1996 Obituary: Kenneth S. Goldstein (1927-1995) Dan Ben-Amos University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/nelc_papers Part of the Folklore Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, and the Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons Recommended Citation Ben-Amos, D. (1996). Obituary: Kenneth S. Goldstein (1927-1995). The Journal of American Folklore, 109 (433), 320-323. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/nelc_papers/86 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/nelc_papers/86 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Obituary: Kenneth S. Goldstein (1927-1995) Abstract A midrashic proverb observes that "when a man departs this world, he does not have as much as half of his desire in his hand." When Kenny Goldstein died on November 11, 1995, at the age of 68, he left behind manuscripts he did not complete, songs he did not transcribe, and singers he did not record. But the books and articles that he did not write himself he did write through his students and friends: hundreds of them. Always the consummate teacher, he was a rabbi of folklore. The situations he enjoyed most were the long seminar discussions when, surrounded by students, he and they were engulfed in conversation about folklore matters. He deemed a seminar that ended on time a failure. Often these discussions moved from the seminar room to his home, which he and his wife Rochelle opened up for students, or to his private library, which he made accessible to all. The 1967 Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching was the professional honor he cherished the most. Disciplines Folklore | Jewish Studies | Near and Middle Eastern Studies This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/nelc_papers/86 OBITUARY Kenneth S. Goldstein (1927-1995) ..... ..... ... DAN BEN-AMOS University of Pennsylvania A midrashic proverb observes that "when a man departs this world, he does not have as much as half of his desire in hand." When .... .... .. ........ Kenny Goldstein died on November 11, 1995, at the age of 68, he left behind manu- scripts he did not complete, songs he did not transcribe, and singers he did not re- cord. But the books and articles that he did not write himself he did write through his students and friends: hundreds of them. Al- ways the consummate teacher, he was a rabbi of folklore. The situations he enjoyed most were the long seminar discussions when, surrounded by students, he and they were engulfed in conversation about folk- Photo by Robin Hiteshaw ? 1993 lore matters. He deemed a seminar that ended on time a failure. Often these discus- sions moved from the seminar room to his way, by guiding them toward folklore as a home, which he and his wife Rochelle field, a profession, and even a job. In the opened up for students, or to his private days when university positions were still library, which he made accessible to all. The commonly available, his phrase of encour- 1967 Lindback Foundation Award for D)is- agement to a budding folklorist he liked was tinguished Teaching was the professional "I would like to see you teaching at our honor he cherished most. department at Penn." He meant it, believed When he retired in 1992, after being a it was doable, and in a few cases succeeded. department chairman off and on (mostly Most of us at the Department of Folklore on) for 20 years, he said half-heartedly that and Folklife at the University of Pennsylva- now he would write all the books he had in nia owe our faculty positions to the weight mind but not yet on paper. "I have material of his personal influence and practical ef- for 25 folksong books," he said. Indeed he fort. Kenny did not found the Department had, but he knew-and he knew that we of Folklore and Folklife, MacEdward Leach knew-that he was not going to place him- did. But admiring his mentor, he took it self at his desk, or even in front of his upon himself to carry out his teacher's vi- computer, and start writing all these books sion and to build the department, expand it, we had been anticipating for many years. maintain it, and protect it in a period of Not that Kenny did not love books, but he mounting odds against nonconventional loved people more. He flourished in com- disciplines such as folklore. Around campus pany, be it that of friends, neighbors, col- he was known as Mr. Folklore. lectors, or students. Particularly students. Kenny Goldstein was born in Brooklyn He touched their lives, not as a mystic, or on March 17, 1927. He was a Pisces, and a guru-though in the months that passed later in life he would decorate his house since his death, some have begun to remem- with drawings, paintings, and carvings of ber him as such-but in the most pragmatic fish and fisherman. Perhaps his attraction to This content downloaded from 165.123.108.206 on Tue, 05 Sep 2017 17:30:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Obituary 321 maritime folklore His dissertation, publishedof theas A Guide forfishing communi- ties in Newfoundland and Labrador was also Field Workers in Folklore (1964; translated influenced by his own fascination with his into Turkish in 1977 and Chinese in 1982) zodiac sign. After his military service in put him at the forefront of the intellectual 1946, he enrolled in City College of New changes that were brewing in folklore stud- York, from which he graduated with a de- ies at the time. Richard Dorson counted gree in business administration in 1949; he him among the "young turks" that brought received his M.B.A. in 1951. Working as anew perspectives to folklore. Kenny's par- statistician at Fairchild Publications, he be- ticular contribution was the fieldwork gan his lifelong avocation of folksongs and revolution. Until he left for Scotland on a folk music of the British Isles, United Fulbright Fellowship for 1959-60, folklore States, Canada, and Australia. During the fieldwork followed mostly the expedition 1950s and early 1960s he produced and model. It involved journeys into, rather edited more than 500 records with the lead- residence in, the countryside. Weekends- ing labels in the field--such as Stinson, or at best, whole summers-served as the Folkways, Prestige, and Riverside Re- time frame for searching for and recording cords-recording such well-known singers singers and storytellers. Dorson's five- as Jean Ritchie, the Reverend Gary Davis, month trip into the upper peninsula of Lightnin' Hopkins, Ewan MacCall, A. L. Michigan which resulted in his book Blood- Lloyd, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, stoppers and Bearwalkers: Folk Traditions of the and many others. Among these records, the Upper Peninsula (Cambridge, Mass.: Har- set The English and Scottish Popular Ballads vard University Press, 1952) was an exten- (The Child Ballads) (Riverside, 1956) has sion of this very model. Anthropologists remained an unmatched classic. But others, who delved into folklore, following the many of them of field recordings, such as demands of their discipline, lived in a com- Banjo Songs of the Southern Mountains (Riv- munity for a longer duration but often had erside, 1957) and Folksongs and Ballads of the folklore only as a side interest rather than Southern Mountains (Riverside, 1957) have the main subject of their research. It was also become milestones in the folksong re- Kenny who introduced the methodological cords field, setting new standards for the shift into folklore fieldwork. After him oth- production of folklore records. The notes ers followed. for these and all the other records were Affiliated with the School of Scottish inevitably popular yet fully scholarly. They Studies at the University of Edinburgh, established Kenny as a leading authority Kennyon began to study the folklore of folksongs in the English language even be-Buchan District, Aberdeenshire, estab- fore he attended a single class on the sub- lishing residence at the northern Buchan ject. community of Strichen. Lacking any mod- Soon, however, he realized that he els for long-term folklore research, Kenny needed formal academic training in folk- literally had to invent his own method. lore. He enrolled at the University of Penn- Most of us knew him as a collector of songs, sylvania, at first in the Department of stamps, books, and broadside ballads, and Anthropology. Then when MacEdward therefore we would have assumed that Leach founded the Program of Folklore infieldwork collecting would have suited his 1962, Kenny switched to that and graduated personality the best. But Kenny was a sci- in 1963 with the first Ph.D. in folklore ever entist at heart. As a folklorist, he regarded awarded by the university. Soon after, he collecting as an essential stage but not a goal joined the faculty. He became cochairman unto itself. He searched for a method that (together with Don Yoder) of the Depart- would have turned the folklore fieldwork ment of Folklore and Folklife in 1969 and into his scientific laboratory. For that pur- its chairperson in 1971. From then on he pose he reached out for ideas not to anthro- served in this role, with a few interruptions, pology but rather to psychology and began letting us take our turns, until his retire- several projects of folklore experimenta- ment in 1992. tion, testing principles of transmission, in- This content downloaded from 165.123.108.206 on Tue, 05 Sep 2017 17:30:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 322 Journal of American Folklore 433 (1996) novation, and decline in the performance society.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • AMERICAN FOLKLORE ARCHIVES in THEORY and PRACTICE Andy
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by IUScholarWorks ARCHIVING CULTURE: AMERICAN FOLKLORE ARCHIVES IN THEORY AND PRACTICE Andy Kolovos Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University October 2010 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Doctoral Committee Gregory Schrempp, Ph.D. Moira Smith, Ph.D. Sandra Dolby, Ph.D. James Capshew, Ph.D. September 30, 2010 ii © 2010 Andrew Kolovos ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii For my Jenny. I couldn’t have done it without you. iv Acknowledgements First and foremost I thank my parents, Lucy and Demetrios Kolovos for their unfaltering support (emotional, intellectual and financial) across this long, long odyssey that began in 1996. My dissertation committee: co-chairs Greg Schrempp and Moira Smith, and Sandra Dolby and James Capshew. I thank you all for your patience as I wound my way through this long process. I heap extra thanks upon Greg and Moira for their willingness to read and to provide thoughtful comments on multiple drafts of this document, and for supporting and addressing the extensions that proved necessary for its completion. Dear friends and colleagues John Fenn, Lisa Gabbert, Lisa Gilman and Greg Sharrow who have listened to me bitch, complain, whine and prattle for years. Who have read, commented on and criticized portions of this work in turn. Who have been patient, supportive and kind as well as (when necessary) blunt, I value your friendship enormously.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Pennsylvania Folklore Archive Student Papers 1972-2002
    University of Pennsylvania Folklore Archive Student Papers 1972-2002 Abrams, James (1985). “‘Interpreting Talks’ at the Liberty Bell: Narrative Style and Structure in the Performance of Public History.” Folk 534. Dell Hymes. Adams, John (1976). “Notes for ‘Green Beds,’ ‘Andrew Bergnine,’ and ‘Henry Green’.” Folk 428. Adams, Loren (1979). “Oral History of Mrs. Sara Elisabeth Thiermann.” Folk 230. Henry Glassie. Adelman, Pamela (1981). “Tasting the Forbidden Fruit: Learning How to Learn in an Israeli Yeshira.” Folk 999. Adler, Cathy (1975). “The American Way of Life has...” Folk 535. Barbara Kirschenblatt- Gimblett. Adler, Cathy (1975). “Sex Bias in School Readers.” Folk 535. Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett. Afford, Sandra Jane (1975). “An Autobiographical Record of My Childhood and Childlore.” Folk 535. Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett. Afford, Sandra Jane (1975). “Games and Other Activities of Elementary School Children.” Folk 535. Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett. Afokpa, Kodjo J.B. (1986). “Greetings and Societies: Concerning the American ‘Hi’ and the Greetings Among the Eve People of South Togo.” Folk 534. Dell Hymes. Aion, Etta Stern (1979). “An Ethnographic Concept of Aging: What Is Successful Aging?” Folk 564. Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett. Alexander, Judith C. (1975). “An Autobiographical View of My Childhood.” Folk 535. Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett. Alexander, Judith C. (1975). “‘I don’t play no games’.” Folk 535. Barbara Kirschenblatt- Gimblett. Alkalay, Susan (1976). “A Comparison of Three Ballads.” Folk 428. Kenneth Goldstein. Allen, R. Raymond (1982). “New Directions in Applied Folklore.” Folk 500. Henry Glassie. Alpher, Victor S. (1974). “Towards an Understanding of Urban Folk Revivalism.” Folk 222. Barbara K.G. Alvarez, Ana (1975). “‘The Professor’: An Analysis of a Campus Character and of the Lore That 1 University of Pennsylvania Folklore Archive Student Papers 1972-2002 Circulates about Him.” Folk 222.
    [Show full text]
  • The American Folklore Society
    THE AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY PROGRAM FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING NOVEMBER 11-14, 1971 HOTEL WASHINGTON PENNSYLVANIA AVE. AT 15TH STREET WASHINGTON, D.C. 20004 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 7:30-9:00 A.M. REGISTRATION (Lobby) 9:00-10:30 A.M. AMERICAN ETHNIC ENCLAVES APPLIED FOLKLORE MYTH AND LEGEND (Washington Room) (Sky Room) (Capital Room) Chairman: JOHN O. WEST, University Chairman: PATRICK B. MULLEN, Ohio Chairman: EDWARD D. IVES, of Texas at El Paso State University University of Maine 1. Esoteric-Exoteric Folklore of 1. Applied Folklore, A Comparative 1. The Structural Analysis of Bradford County Pooles. BONITA View. BENJAMIN A. BOTIaN, Genesis as Myth: A Response FREEMAN EDE, University of Croton-on-Hudson, New York to Edmund Leach. JOSEPH ARPAD, Pennsylvania University of California, 2. Folklore and Black Dialect. Los Angeles 2. The Origin of the "Jackson DARNELL WILLIAMS, Ohio State Whites": Legend and History University 2. The Importance of Salt in the among the Racially Mixed Cosmology of the Rama Indians People of the Ramapo Mountains. 3. Folklore and Minority Group of Eastern Nicaragua. FRANKLIN DAVID STEVEN COHEN, Rutgers Education. PATRICK B. MULLEN, o. LOVELAND, Duke University University Ohio State University ,­ 3. Science Fiction as Myth. DELL R. 3. Urban Black Folk Culture in SKEELS, University of Washington Late Nineteenth Century Cincin­ nati. ROBERT C. TOLL, Univer­ 4. The Gypsy Lane Explosion. MARIE sity of California, Berkeley A. CAMPBELL, Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania 4. Recent Italian Folktales from the Niagara Falls Area. CATHERINE AINSWORTH, Niagara County Community College 10:30-11:00 A.M. COFFEE BREAK THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 (cont.) 11:00 A.M.-12:30 P.M.
    [Show full text]
  • American Folklore Society Keeping Folklorists Connected
    American Folklore Society Keeping Folklorists Connected Cultural Sustainability 2013 Annual Meeting Program and Abstracts American Folklore Society Officers for 2013 American Folklore Society Staff President Executive Director Diane E. Goldstein, Indiana University Timothy Lloyd President-Elect Associate Director Michael Ann Williams, Western Kentucky University Lorraine Walsh Cashman Executive Board Administrative Associate Brent Björkman, Western Kentucky University Rob Vanscoyoc Lisa Gabbert, Utah State University Maria Carmen Gambliel, independent, Boise, Idaho American Folklore Society Executive Offices David Todd Lawrence, University of St. Thomas Sabina Magliocco, California State University, Northridge Mershon Center, The Ohio State University, Solimar Otero, Louisiana State University 1501 Neil Avenue, Columbus OH 43201-2602 USA Leonard Norman Primiano, Cabrini College Pravina Shukla, Indiana University 614/292-3375 Carolyn Ware, Louisiana State University 614/292-2199 Juwen Zhang, Willamette University 614/292-4715 Timothy Lloyd, American Folklore Society, ex officio 614/292-2199 fax 2013 Annual Meeting Committee [email protected] [email protected] Coordinators [email protected] Dillon Bustin, Madison Park Development Corporation Maggie Holtzberg, Massachusetts Cultural Council www.afsnet.org Andy Kolovos, Vermont Folklife Center Winifred Lambrecht, Rhode Island School of Design Gregory L. Sharrow, Vermont Folklife Center Committee Members Michael E. Bell, Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, retired Michael J. Bell, Suffolk University Carol Dickson, Sterling College Michael A. Lange, Champlain College Pauleena MacDougall, Maine Folklife Center Kathleen Mundell, Cultural Resources, Inc. Bonnie Blair O’Connor, Hasbro Children’s Hospital and Brown University Laura Orleans, Working Waterfront Festival Jessica Payne, Jessica Payne Consulting Jo Radner, American University, retired Jeff Todd Titon, Brown University Stephen Wehmeyer, Champlain College Lynne Williamson, Institute for Community Research Margaret R.
    [Show full text]
  • Macedward Leach and the Founding of the Folklore Program at the University of Pennsylvania
    ROSINA S. MILLER OF POLITICS, DISCIPLINES, AND SCHOLARS: MACEDWARD LEACH AND THE FOUNDING OF THE FOLKLORE PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA On November 4,1962, newspapers large and small across the United States announced the founding of a new department of folklore at the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia's Sunday Bulletin and Inquirer wrote the longest articles, but one-sentence notices to several paragraph discussions could be found in the daily newspapers of such cities as Washington, D.C.; Williamsport, Pennsylvania; New York, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; Toledo and Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; Dew Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; Corpus Christi, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; and Sacramento and Fresno, California (University of Pennsylvania Archives, a).1 These papers picked up the announcement released by the University's News Bureau, which wrote: "The first graduate department of folklore in the United States has been established at the University of Pennsylvania." The press release explained that folklore studies at the university had previously been undertaken in the English department and boasted, "Only two other American universities, Indiana University and the University of California at Los Angeles, have programs in folklore, but not departments." While the news item awarded attention and prestige to folklore at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), it was, in fact, disseminated on a misstatement. What began at Penn in 1962 was not in fact a new department; it would take many years and other misleading communication for folklore to actually become a department at the university. What was approved in May of 1962 was a graduate group in folklore, capable of granting Ph.D.s, but not an independent department.
    [Show full text]