Contents Spring–Summer 2001

Features 6 New York on the National Mall: Folklorists Interpret the City for the Smithsonian by Cathy Ragland 10 Poaching! Ethics in Folklore by Amy Godine 14 The Polish American Lullaby: A Case Study by Maryann McCabe 22 In 2/4 Time: The Polka and the Accordion in North America by Mark Kohan 28 Stand Clear of the Closing Doors! Occupational Folklore of New York City Subway Workers by Ryn Gargulinski 32 Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life by Lynne Williamson 34 The Magic of Pirate Gold: A New York Merchant and Captain Kyd’s Treasure by Robert A. Emery 37 Ike the Pike by Shirlee Kresh Hecker 39 The Tale of a Trail: Material Culture along Ridge Road by Allen G. Noble Departments and Columns 3 New York Folklore Society News 4 Upstate by Varick Chittenden 5 Downstate by Steve Zeitlen 12 Media Works by Barry Dornfeld 20 On Air by Kate Koperski 24 Eye of the Camera by Martha Cooper 26 Lawyer’s Sidebar by Paul Rapp 27 Archival Questions by Nancy Johnson Iroquois beadwork is the subject of an exhibition that can be seen in Quebec, New York City, 44 Book Reviews Toronto, and Mashantucket, Connecticut. Margaret Braylet’s 45 Announcements beaded outfit was made by her mother Jenelle. See page 32. Photo: Denise Wood

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 takes several months. Submission Guidelines for Deadlines permitting, authors read and correct galley proofs for typographical errors. Authors Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore receive two complimentary copies of the issue in which their contribution appears and may Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is spond; both pieces may be published together. purchase additional copies at a discount. Authors a membership magazine of the New York Any subject may be addressed or rebutted once of feature articles may purchase offprints; price Folklore Society (www.nyfolklore.org). by any correspondent. The principal criteria information is available upon publication. The New York Folklore Society is a nonprofit, for publication are whether, in the opinion of statewide organization dedicated to furthering the editor or the editorial board, the comment Submission Deadlines cultural equity and cross-cultural understand- constitutes a substantive contribution to folklore Spring–Summer October 31 ing through programs that nurture folk cultural studies, and whether it will interest our general Fall–Winter issue May 31 expressions within communities where they readers. Manuscripts should be sent by regular mail (not originate, share these traditions across cultural Letters should not exceed 500 words. e-mail) to Voices at the following address: boundaries, and enhance the understanding and appreciation of folk culture. Through Voices the Style New York Folklore Society Publications, 133 Jay society communicates with professional folklor- The journal follows The Chicago Manual of Style. Street, Schenectady, NY 12301. ists and members of related fields, traditional Consult Webster’s Third International Dictionary for Spring–Summer 2001 · Volume 27: 1-2 artists, and a general public interested in folk- questions of spelling, meaning, and usage, and lore. avoid gender-specific terminology. Voices is dedicated to publishing the content of Footnotes. Endnotes and footnotes should folklore in the words and images of its creators be avoided; incorporate such information into the and practitioners. The journal publishes research- text. Ancillary information may be submitted as based articles, written in an accessible style, on a sidebar. topics related to traditional art and life. It also Bibliographic citations. For citations of text features stories, interviews, reminiscences, essays, from outside sources, use the author-date style Editor Karen Taussig-Lux folk poetry and music, photographs, and artwork described in The Chicago Manual of Style. Senior Editor Sally Atwater (satwater@a-znet. Language. All material must be submitted in com) drawn from people in all parts of New York State. Photography Editor Martha Cooper Columns on subjects such as photography, sound English. Foreign-language terms (transliterated, Design Mary Beth Malmsheimer and video recording, legal and ethical issues, and where appropriate, into the Roman alphabet) Printer The Pressroom, Ballston Spa, NY should be italicized and followed by a concise the nature of traditional art and life appear in Editorial Board Steve Zeitlin, Varick Chittenden, each issue. parenthetical English gloss; the author bears Amy Godine, Kate Koperski, Cathy Ragland, Kay responsibility for the correct spelling and orth- Turner, Dan Ward Editorial Policy ographics of non-English words. British spellings Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore Feature articles. Articles published in Voices should be Americanized. is published three times a year by the represent original contributions to folklore stud- New York Folklore Society, Inc. ies. Although Voices emphasizes the folklore of Publication Process 133 Jay Street P.O. Box 764 New York State, the editor welcomes articles The New York Folklore Society holds copyright Schenectady, NY 12301 based on the folklore of any area of the world. to all material published in Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore. With the submission of mate- New York Folklore Society, Inc. Articles on the theory, methodology, and geog- Executive Director Ellen McHale raphy of folklore are also welcome, as are purely rial to the editor, the author acknowledges that he Director of Services Dale Johnson descriptive articles in the ethnography of folklore. or she gives Voices sole rights to its publication, Office Manager John Braungard In addition, Voices provides a home for “orphan” and that permission to publish it elsewhere must Web Administrator Patti Mason tales, narratives, and songs, whose contributors be secured in writing from the editor. Although Voice 518 346-7008 Fax 518 346-6617 are urged to provide contextual information. the editor welcomes inquiries via electronic mail, Website www.nyfolklore.org Authors are encouraged to include short please use regular mail to submit manuscripts. For the initial submission, send three paper Board of Directors personal reminiscences, anecdotes, isolated tales, President Todd DeGarmo narratives, songs, and other material that relates copies and a PC-formatted disk (preferably pre- Vice President Mary Zwolinski to and enhances their main article. pared in Microsoft Word and saved as Rich Text Secretary-Treasurer David Quinn Total length, including citations, should not Format). Ladan Alomar, Dan Berggren, Beverly Butcher, Copy must be typed double spaced, on one Cecily Cook, Pam Cooley, James Corsaro, Eniko Far- exceed 4,000 words. kas, Nancy Johnson, Madaha Kinsey-Lamb, Stan Ran- Reviews and review essays. Books, record- side of a sheet only, with all pages numbered som, Bart Roselli, Elly Shodell, Lynne Williamson ings, films, videos, exhibitions, concerts, and the consecutively. To facilitate anonymous review of Advertisers: feature articles, the author’s name and biography to inquire, please call the NYFS like are selected for review in Voices for their 518 346-7008 or fax 518 346-6617 relevance to folklore studies or the folklore of should appear only on a separate title page. New York State and their potential interest to a Tables, charts, maps, illustrations, photographs, wide audience. Persons wishing to review recently captions, and credits should follow the main text and published material should contact the editor. Un- be numbered consecutively. All illustrations should be clean, sharp, and camera-ready. Photographs Voices is available in Braille and recorded solicited reviews and proposals for reviews will versions. Call NYFS at 518 346-7008. be evaluated by the editor and by outside referees should be prints or duplicate slides (not originals). The programs and activities of the New York Folklore Society, and where appropriate. Follow the bibliographic style Written permission to publish each image must be the publication of Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore, are made in a current issue of Voices. obtained by authors from the copyright holders possible in part by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. Reviews should not exceed 750 words. prior to submission of manuscripts, and the writ- Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is indexed in Arts & Humanities ten permissions must accompany the manuscript Citation Index and Music Index and abstracted in Historical Abstracts and Correspondence and commentary. Short America: History and Life. but substantive reactions to or elaborations upon (authors should keep copies). Reprints of articles and items from Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore are available through the ISI Document Solution, Institute for material appearing in Voices within the previous Materials are acknowledged upon receipt. The Scientific Information, 3501 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. 215 year are welcomed. The editor may invite the editor and two anonymous readers review manu- 386-0100. ISSN 0361-204X author of the materials being addressed to re- scripts submitted as articles. The review process © 2001 by The New York Folklore Society, Inc. All rights reserved.

 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore NYFS New s

NYFS News Internship Program the gallery presents the art of New York’s lorist Mary Zwolinski assisted in planning The New York State Council on the Arts, in traditional artists from throughout the state and implementing the forum, and we had a partnership with the New York Folklore So- and offers information about the artists and good turnout. Folklorist Kathleen Condon’s ciety, has instituted an internship program for their media and art forms. Since opening, the presentation, “Folklife and Cultural Tourism graduate students in folklore to gain valuable gallery has hosted several traditional artists in the United States,” sparked discussion of work experience in the field of folklore and for day-long demonstrations of their work: tourism possibilities with examples from folk arts programming. In 2000 five graduate Walt Fleming of Ballston Lake, tinsmith; around the country. The role of folklorists students from throughout the United States Ben Raino, a wood carver, and Mary Ward, and community members was also dis- were successful applicants. Recipients of a quilter, both from Whitehall; Adela Nowak cussed. Timothy Holmes, of the Schuyler’s the first round of internships were Michael of Utica, Polish palm braiding; and Howard Canal Park in Schuylerville, New York, Murray of the University of Pennsylvania, Bartholomew of Middleburgh, fly tying and described the initiatives being tried along who interned at the Arts Center for the fishing rods. Go to www.nyfolklore.org for his stretch of the Champlain Canal corridor Capital Region; Elisabeth Dixon of Ohio information about the gallery and current close to the Saratoga Battlefield. Nicholas State University, who interned at Traditional artwork, and visit the gallery itself at 133 Jay Westbrook, director of Fort Ticonderoga Arts of Upstate New York; Kwali Farbes of Street, Schenectady, nine to five on Monday National Historic Landmark, recounted the the University of Pennsylvania and Denise through Friday and weekends by appoint- history of tourism in the Champlain Valley Lynn of Indiana University, who interned ment. starting from 1790. at City Lore; and Miriam Robinson Gould Besides the presenters were directors and of the University of North Carolina, who Cultural Heritage Tour- representatives from seven major tourism interned at the Genesee-Orleans Regional ism initiatives in the region: the Mohawk Valley Arts Council. Not only did these talented Forum Heritage Corridor; Champlain Valley Heri- folklorists gain valuable work experience, but Cultural heritage tourism has become the darling tage Network; Saratoga National Historical they also discovered the wonderfully varied of tourism industry officials in many regions of Park (National Park Service); Hudson River cultural experiences that New York offers. the United States. Why? Because industry insid- Valley Greenway; Parks and Recreation of With continued support from the New York ers have noticed its economic potential. Heritage Whitehall, New York; Vermont Center for State Council on the Arts, the program will tourists spend more money, are more likely to Tourism; and the Hudson-Mohawk Heritage be repeated in 2001 with five more graduate bring the whole family, and stay in an area lon- Area. Folklorists in attendance were Todd interns. ger than other visitors. New York is poised to Degarmo, Ellen McHale, Mary Zwolinski, take advantage of this trend, with initiatives in Kathy Condon, and Dale Johnson. New Gallery of New York the Hudson Valley, Mohawk Valley, and Lake York Folklore Society board members Ladan Champlain areas already in place. Alomar of Centro Civico of Amsterdam, The National Trust’s Heritage Tourism Pamela Cooley of the Upper Catskill Coun- Program defines cultural heritage tourism as cil on the Arts in Oneonta, and Jim Corsaro “travelling to experience the places, artifacts of the Rensselaer County Historical Society and activities that authentically represent the were also there. The discussions were infor- stories and people of the past and present. mative and lively. It includes cultural, historic and natural re- The participation of heritage tourism sources.” Although “cultural” and “heritage” leaders from this part of New York State in tourism are often one and the same, informal the forum bodes well for future collabora- surveys of programs across the country reveal tions with folklorists and the inclusion of that “heritage” programs are usually in rural aspects of contemporary culture in heritage Traditional artists demonstrate and display their work at the New York settings, and “cultural” programs are promoted tourism. They had a chance to meet each Folklore Society’s Gallery of New York in urban areas. Nevertheless, these programs other and become aware of complementary Traditions, in Schenectady. appeal to the same type of traveler and often projects going on in the state. The New York Traditions have similar content. Folklore Society hopes this dialogue will The Gallery of New York Traditions is a On October 5, 2000, the New York Folklore continue, and that folklorists will become new NYFS program that provides a place Society cohosted a forum with the Arts Center involved in these projects, which can affect for folk artists to sell their art in a public of the Capital Region entitled “Heritage and local community life in profound ways. Cul- setting. First opened in November 2000, Cultural Tourism in New York State.” Folk- tural heritage projects are here to stay, and despite—or because of—their economic benefits,Spring–Summer care must be taken 2001, that Volume they remain 27: 1-2 Going…going…gone? BY VARICK CHITTENDEN

My life—my study, my garage, TAUNY—is I have heard that copies of tapes or photos impart self-esteem and promote cultural tate full of boxes. For the past few months I have or research essays have ended up as special diversity, where are the folklorists and their s been packing and loading and unloading and gifts to family members, to be treasured far courses? Going, going, gone! I fear that the unpacking 36 years’ worth of professional into the future. state of teaching folklore is in crisis, that it life in teaching. The Big R officially came in Years ago, Bruce Buckley, my mentor and is considered—if it is thought about at all up July 2000. I taught a couple of classes in the folklife teacher in the old Cooper-stown by deans and presidents—a frill at best and fall, but in December I finally had to clear program, told me how rewarding teaching dispensable at least. out the files, throw out piles of what seemed folklore in a community college would be. The New York Folklore Society was like treasures at one time, and save the best Although SUNY Canton has always been a founded by great teachers like Harold for the next phase of my life. residential two-year school, most students Thompson and Louis Jones. For many years, In those boxes I have set aside hundreds come from nearby towns and either com- numerous institutions in the state had at of student projects, dozens of audio and mute daily or go home for weekends. Most least one or two courses. But now that the video tapes, scores of photographs, and remain very close to their families and small prospects for creating tenured positions in who knows what else. A quick calculation communities while still in college. Most folklore are slim at best, I call on my young tells me that as many as 3,000 students had have easier access to the rich variety of lo- colleagues with academic credentials in pub- taken my folklore and rural American studies cal customs and bearers of tradition than lic folklore positions all over to take charge. courses since the mid-1970s, and most of many folklorists dream of. I can now say Petition your local colleges to offer at least them submitted some kind of field-based that Bruce was right. If you believe that the one course a year—at night, on weekends, research, usually from their hometown or study of folklore is more than an academic online, by whatever means—so at least some family. It is quite a collection, and until I pursuit of rare texts of narratives or songs residents in our communities will be intro- had to handle it all again, even I had little or a social science with quantifiable results, duced in a disciplined way to studying the idea how it illuminated life in our region try it out on agricultural and technical stu- vitality and diversity of traditional life and and the interests of generations of college dents—kids learning air-conditioning or culture in our world. If you get lucky enough students. veterinary science or culinary arts—and to teach that course, and do it long enough, Their papers are a varied collection: ghost discover its relevance to their lives. you too will have a wonderful collection tales from one rural road in Lewis County, I will never regret that I went into teach- of resources from parts of the community a study of outbuildings on a century-old ing for a career, and I will always be grateful you might never get to otherwise. And, family farm in Franklin County, a discussion that I found folklore as a field to share with incidentally, you can look forward to boxes of pie-baking techniques in one genera- my students. But I leave with one major everywhere, too. tion of women in one neighborhood, and disappointment: no one is going to replace documentation of exotic dancers as “a folk me or teach my courses in the humanities group” in Cornwall, Ontario. And there are department or anywhere else at the college. dozens of collections of drinking games, I have heard of similar situations in other cures for hangovers, fraternity rituals, hockey places as our generation of professors leaves players’ superstitions: they were college teaching. Two folklorist colleagues who be- projects, after all. A few of them are gems, tween them have taught college students for as good as many graduate school papers I’ve more than 50 years—Dick Lunt at SUNY seen. Others are not very well written, and Potsdam and Bob Bethke at the University sometimes the research techniques are a little of Delaware—have recently retired and questionable. discovered no institutional commitment to continuing their work. Varick A. Chittenden But what a resource! What a compilation is professor emeri- Folklore courses for undergraduates of names and places and stories and leads to tus of English, SUNY an understanding and appreciation of local should be as basic to a liberal education as Canton College of life! I always told my students that these were Literature 101, Introduction to Psychology, Technology, and no ordinary library research assignments, and Calculus. Folklore should be as com- executive director of Traditional Arts in that they must take these projects very seri- mon at venerable Ivy League schools and small public colleges as at institutions with Upstate New York ously because in many cases, this might be (TAUNY). the only time their subjects and their infor- graduate programs in folklore. In this age, Photo: Martha mants would be written about. Occasionally, when we require educators at all levels to

 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore The House under the Roller Coaster BY STEVE ZEITLIN

Without warning, in the early morning hours of November 17, 2000, New York City bulldozers staged a surprise attack on one of Coney Island’s few remaining monu- ments, the long-neglected Thunderbolt roller coaster. In its twists and turns nestled the old Kensington Hotel—the “House under the Roller Coaster” made famous as the home of Alvie Singer in Annie Hall. The small hotel was also home to May Timpano and Fred Moran, who owned the Thunderbolt and The Thunderbolt was a Coney Island landmark. Built in the 1920s, it ran for almost sixty years— right over the 1895 Kensington Hotel—but was razed in 2000. Photo: Charles Denson © 2001 lived there for more than 40 years, the coaster rattling their living room with every ride. right through the building. “You don’t tear creaked and cracked, and pieces of wood fell The house and coaster were both slated for a down buildings in Coney Island if you can like branches of a great tree. secret demolition by the mayor, whose waterfront help it,” Moran said at the time. The hotel As the iron claw of a steam shovel gradu- development plans for a new, more profitable and the Thunderbolt, crown jewel of John ally tore the scaffolding down, the crumbling Coney Island will sever all ties to its glamorous Miller’s surviving wooden roller coasters, Thunderbolt took the form of an imposing, past. The demolition orders asserted that the created a unique landmark. In its nearly oddly beautiful wood-and-steel sculpture. We structure was unsafe (although it was completely sixty-year run, the Thunderbolt had carried felt dwarfed both by it and by our powerless- fenced), and that the City owned the property hundreds of thousands of screaming riders ness to stop the damage. We thought we had (maps show it did not). on its thrilling joy ride. The historic structure come to save the Thunderbolt, but instead we At 10 a.m. I learned of the bulldozers’ as- had even withstood two more recent fires, had come to stand witness as a work of great sault on the site from Dick Zigun at Coney only to face the mayor’s wrecking ball. beauty was destroyed—and perhaps to make Island USA. Dick is a Yale drama school May Timpano, the Kensington Hotel’s sure this story gets told. graduate who has spent his adult life creat- former resident, arrived on the scene in The wrecking team destroyed not only ing and sustaining the Mermaid Parade, her Sunday best for the sad occasion. “I Coney Island’s past but also the possibility of Sideshows by the Seashore, and the Coney wanted to see it saved,” she told reporters. a future that would honor its history as the Island Museum. Like the entire preservation She brightened as she began telling stories site of the first enclosed amusement park, the community, Dick was never informed of about living under the Thunderbolt. She place where the hot dog and the roller coaster the demolition until it was too late even to recalled finding in her yard false teeth and were invented. Plans had already been sub- mount a meaningful protest. I immediately other curiosities that had slipped from the mitted by preservationist Charles Denson to asked my office to call the television stations hands and pockets of the riders. “We had to stabilize the Thunderbolt. Landmarked and and the New York Times, then jumped on the straighten the pictures,” she said, “but the restored, perhaps with a boardwalk restaurant F train—running maddeningly slow that shaking wasn’t as bad as it appeared to be in the hotel, it might have been the gaudy day—in hopes that with Coney Islanders, in Woody Allen’s movie.” centerpiece of a revived Coney Island.

fellow preservationists, and a media blitz “Hey, you’re tearing down a priceless piece dow ns that never materialized, I might be able to of Americana!” I yelled to two workers stop this disgraceful act. inside the hotel. One raised his head as if

The Kensington Hotel, built in 1895, was to speak. “Don’t talk to nobody,” the other Steve Zeitlin is the last remaining waterfront structure in muttered. executive director Coney Island. It miraculously survived the State Assemblywoman Adele Cohen, of City Lore, 72 East First Street, New Bowery fire of 1903 and the Steeplechase Dick, and I winced every time the long arm York, NY 10003; fire of 1907. In 1926 owner George Moran of the crane brought another piece of his- [email protected]. His most recent hired the world’s most famous roller coaster tory to the ground. We talked about how book for children tate designer, John Miller, to build the Thunder- the coaster took a year to build, sixty years is The Four Corners to accrue memories, but just a few hours to of the Sky: Ancient bolt. They found a way to save the hotel by Myths and Cosmolo- running the steel supports of the coaster be razed. The steel bent and the old timbers gies from Around

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Folklorists NewNew YorkYorkon the interpret the city for the Smithsonian

By Cathy Ragland

The Smithsonian Institution’s annual Folklife Festival will this summer York “specialists” into the city to seek out, celebrate the multitude of cultures found in New York City. Folklorists who explore, and document everything from have spent the past year researching aspects of life in the city will share Broadway costume designers to Brooklyn their knowledge and coordinate presentations by musicians, actors, chefs, bagel makers, pigeon racers to water tower deejays, and many other specialists whose work—whether highly visible builders, Wall Street traders to high-fashion or behind the scenes—contributes to the vitality and excitement of life in industry insiders, neighborhood muralists to the five boroughs. theater curtain makers, spoken word artists or the first time in the 35-year history of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the spotlight to community wedding bands. Their work will be not on a state or region of an event that would reflect the city’s rich suggested the festival’s themes—Broadway, F the country but on one city: New vitality and mingled communities. “The idea Wall Street, fashion, music, urban sports and run JuneYork. 27–July The 1 2001 and Julyfestival, 4–8 onwhich the Mallwill was to reprise the work done by some local street games, mass transit, street parades, and in Washington, will celebrate the diversity, folklorists and look at the city as a ‘con- festivals and foodways. “New York City at excitement, and spirit that are New York by centrated state,’” she said. “Beyond issues the Smithsonian” is now much more than exploring the city’s music, culture, history, of urbanness, ethnicity, and geographic an ambitious idea, and its shape and focus and folklore. location, we are also looking at the folklore will reflect the very personal experiences, The goal of uncovering and presenting of occupations that are specific to the city as impressions, and vision of the researchers. “New York as New Yorkers see it,” as the well as the influence of different cultures on Fashion festival program publicists promise, pre- each other. Not much work has been done In her work for the Smithsonian Folklife sented a complex, even unruly challenge in these areas, yet they are central to New Festival, Marion Jacobson lived as a fashionista to organizers and festival goers alike. “The York culture and community life.” for several weeks while documenting the festival will be a snapshot of New York In 2000, Groce sent folklorists and New culture at the turn of the millennium,” said New York folklorist, author, and program curator Nancy Groce. “It will be a chance for people to explore serious aspects of city life and to understand how communities overlap and influence each other.” How does one take such a snapshot? Who will be holding the camera? From what angle is it possible to capture the “real” New York? And which New York is that? The fashion world, Broadway stages, Chinatown and Little Italy, Wall Street, the music industry? The concept of a multicultural America began in the maze of the city’s streets and neighborhoods and continues to thrive in New York City today. Groce engaged a team of professional New York City’s contributions to American cuisine are justly celebrated, and its street researchers and community insiders to bring fare is world renowned. This summer the Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., will together the multitude of New Yorks into give visitors a taste of the city in a foodways section. Photo: Martha Cooper

 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore hip and glamorous doings of New York’s fashion world. Her research began with mannequin factories and eventually led to rubbing elbows and handbags with the likes of designer Richard Tyler, Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour, and fashion writers from the Japanese magazine Figaro—who mistook her for a fashion icon. Jacobson also hooked up with DJ Javier, who created musical “mood design” for designer Carolina Herrera’s runways and became the subject of a paper Jacobson delivered at the “Local Music, Global Connections” conference, held in the city in March. Jacobson’s research will manifest itself at the festival in the form of a fashion show, complete with makeshift runway, and backstage talks and demonstrations about hair design, musical soundscapes for runway shows, mannequin making, and haute couture clothes design.

Music My experience as a folklorist and ethno- musicologist allowed me the opportunity to be involved in the Smithsonian Festival project as coordinator of the music programming on behalf of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance in Manhattan. I also assisted in producing a double-CD sampler, “New York City, Global Beat from the Boroughs,” featuring recordings from Each year in Brooklyn a street procession in honor of St. Paulinus features the Giglio tower New York’s ethnic music communities, and the singing of “O Giglio e Paradiso.” The popular song—a favorite among the city’s Italian to be made available at the festival by the Americans—is among the recordings now available on a new Folkways CD. Smithsonian/Folkways label. return of St. Paulinus from enslavement. but it was lost in the mail en route to New No task is ever as simple as one thinks “O Giglio e Paradiso,” has been used since York. We heard stories about the song’s it will be. In searching for the most repre- the late 1950s to coordinate the lifting and travels to Italy, where it was recorded by a sentative and musically exciting recording of “dancing” of the Giglio tower. famous Neapolitan singer—but no one in Italian American music, Executive Director John Caccavale was in tears as he lovingly Brooklyn had actually heard that recording. Ethel Raim and I met John Caccavale, the handed over his well-used LP recording, After we had resigned ourselves to leaving son of the late bandleader and composer along with several copies of a 45-rpm version. the recording off altogether, another Philip Caccavale. The father, along with All were too distorted by surface noise and unopened copy of the LP surfaced in Pasquale Ferrara and Antonio Rosalia, wrote warp to be used in the sampler CD, and the Brooklyn. Of course it was a lot of trouble the popular song “O Giglio e Paradiso,” and original tapes and master recordings of the to secure just one song, but once you hear his 1961 recording has become an anthem song had been destroyed years ago, in a flood. it among the other 30 examples from New of ethnic pride and solidarity among Italian Calls went out to Caccavale family members York’s ethnic communities, you’ll know why Americans in Brooklyn, particularly when it and friends in New York and around the we pursued every lead. is played over loudspeakers for the annual country for a clean copy of the album, Giglio Theater Giglio procession and community celebration. Melodies, which could then be put through Independent curator Andy Davis is The procession is part of the annual feast a newly developed restoration process. An working with the crafts and traditions of sponsored by Our Lady of Mount Carmel unopened recording turned up in California, backstage Broadway. For several months Church in Brooklyn and reenacts the safe

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 he has been interviewing costume makers, hat designers, makeup artists, prop and set designers, and other insiders who make Broadway theater happen from behind the scenes. The festival will feature a cast of actors and a director rehearsing on the festival grounds for a live Broadway-style theater performance. Festival attendees will be able to explore the behind-the-scenes craft and creativity that go into staging a successful Broadway play. “How often do you get the opportunity to talk to people who do this kind of work in the theater?” Davis asked. “The Broadway backstage section at the festival is a chance to do just that. We’ll have people like Linda Rice, from the set of Saturday Night Live!, who will be demonstrating wig-making New York City’s pigeons are not all “wild” birds; many are specially trained homing pigeons that belong to competitive “mumblers.” Photo: Martha Cooper techniques. And we’ll learn how vacuform props and set pieces are made from pressed subjects—like African American deejay based on the mixing of traditions, languages, plastic molds created by Nino Novilino of and New York cultural icon Hal Jackson of and customs. Costume Armor Inc.” station WBOS—will be doing live broadcasts “The level of immigrant association on Ethnic Radio on the festival grounds. Sapoznik’s work the ground, in local neighborhoods, is very Folklorist and musician Henry Sapoznik exemplifies one of the festival’s objectives, different from those on the air,” Sapoznik has been researching ethnic radio in New the presentation and documentation of explained. “You get a lot of mixing and York. He and some of his informants and grassroots community organizations and sharing of ideas and techniques. For example, WGBB-AM has two kinds of Chinese language programs and Caribbean gospel, along with Greek and Russian programs. You hear the same thing as in the old days of radio: birthday greetings, their impact within the community. With and local restaurant ads with the same kind that comes the focus on emerging cultures of reverb as on the Latin stations. It is community-based yet everyone who listens has access to it.”

Rooftop Culture Folklorist Kathy Condon’s festival work with water tower builders and pigeon fliers opened her eyes. “After spending a lot of my research time on New York rooftops, I realized that I had never looked at the city from that perspective before. Nor had I noticed all those pigeons flying around. Now I find myself looking up at the sky On opening night of Aida, chorus members reach out to touch the wearer of the Gypsy Robe all the time.” for luck as he circles the stage. The robe is passed along from production to production, with performers adding decorations. The wearer of the robe is traditionally the chorus member who The design of the all-wood towers, most has performed in the most different shows. Perhaps it is the unpredictable nature of the theater, of them constructed by the Rosenwach or the nature of the workers who make their careers in the theater, but few places are as rich in folklore and superstitions as Broadway. And no theatrical custom is more New York than the Company, hasn’t changed in more than Gypsy Robe. In 1959, Bill Bradley, a dancer in the musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, borrowed a hundred years. The work is dangerous a tacky dressing robe from a chorus girl, or gypsy, as the singers and dancers in Broadway cho- ruses call themselves. On opening night, he paraded through backstage, bestowing blessings on and requires the cooperation of a team of the production. The musical was a major hit, and a tradition had begun. Photo: Martha Cooper workers. The resulting bonds—and occu-

 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore pational folklore—have created a close-knit working community. While working aloft, Condon also discovered the world of the pigeon trainers who spend their days with the homing pigeons that race across the Brooklyn and Manhattan skylines. She met pigeon flyers, nicknamed “mumblers,” whose “fancy” pigeons engage in wars to capture the birds of other pigeon owners. “I got to know quite a lot about the rooftop culture of New York,” she said. At the festival, water tower builders will erect a tower on the Mall and will tell stories to illustrate the nature of this unique and dangerous trade. Pigeons trainers with coops and birds will tell festival goers about the culture and practice of pigeon keeping.

Food The goal for nutritionist and folklorist Annie Lawson was to cultivate, as she described it, “a food voice from New York.” “New Yorkers gloat about food,” she said. “They are always bringing food items to relatives living in other parts of the United States. Food reconnects people to their past, and the foodways section at the festival will allow visitors to eat their way back into history.” One example of such an experience is eating a hotdog from Katz’s Deli on a bun from the 123-year old German bakery, Holterman’s. “The moment you take a bite, you have created a food memory from the 1930s.” Lawson is developing a special “dough theme” for the festival by featuring bakers The staves of Manhattan’s wooden water towers are precision-cut in the Rosenwach factory but must be assembled in situ. The working conditions lead naturally to camaraderie and a rich trove from different nationalities preparing popular of occupational lore. Photo: Martha Cooper ethnic food items made from flour and water—bagels, to take an obvious example. as the global capital. Today, with more There will also be Chinese chefs preparing than 40 percent of its population having Cathy Ragland, who fresh noodles, Greek pastry chefs stretching been born abroad, the city’s communities serves as project coordinator for the filo dough on 12-foot tables, and Orthodox and cultural traditions are being redrawn Center for Traditional rabbis making schmora matzah balls. Only and rethought. It is the city’s ability to Music and Dance, is an ethnomusicologist and a handful of establishments in the country change and redefine itself with the shifting folklorist. She thanks prepare matzoh balls—and all happen to be and merging of its populations that makes Drew Magrattan, who located in Brooklyn. New York an exciting and unpredictable assisted with the interviews for this This celebration of New York City’s experience for locals and travelers alike. article. For more information on the Folklife culture and urban folklore in the new Festival, visit http://www.folklife.si.edu/. millennium will reveal the ever-changing and multifaceted meaning behind the city’s status

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Poaching! Ethics in Folklore BY AMY GODINE

t happened at a cocktail party in Saratoga took a lot of notes, and revealed very little of her derstood. Yet only now, in the last sentence I Springs. A friend introduced me to two own findings except to discount them and say of her e-mail, was Sheila offering to return demics.visiting One Manhattanites,of them had authored writers a andbook aca on- how much more research she had yet to do. At the favor: Would we like to see a copy of illegal immigrants in New York City. I have a a Timbucto-related roundtable, I watched her her paper? Sheesh, I never even knew she strong interest in ethnic and migration history in do what any good reporter would do: collect had a paper; she had represented her work northern New York, and when I was doing re- sources, quotes, and leads from those involved as just a mess of notes. So I replied, Yes, search for articles on turn-of-the-century illegal in this regional research. After my lecture she you bet. I also wrote that as for her inquiries Chinese immigration in the Adirondack region, pulled me aside to observe that while most regarding sources, sorry, this time I really this book had been very helpful; I had cited it in of what I said she of course already knew, couldn’t help. Wished her well, and hoped both my articles. I offered to send my clips. And she had further questions about sources: she understood. they were very pleased: they were collaborating Who was this person, where was that quote I never heard from her again. on a second, more ambitious book on a similar from, could I date this particular citation. The encounter got me thinking. I’ve subject, and what I had written might help. Now she said publication was a possibility been in Sheila’s shoes. I know the zeal that Then the research partner added briskly: for her (at our first meeting, she had assured overtakes the spirit of collegiality, the bright But what we really need is your documentation. We me it was not). Again I reminded her that this ambition that rationalizes playing fast and want sources. It saves us so much time. was unpublished research, that I would pre- loose with other people’s work. But I know Another time, it started with an e-mail. I got fer she wait until it had been published, and it mostly, sad to say, in hindsight. a query from a New York City graduate student she said, Sure, absolutely, completely understand. I also know how easy it is to be inappropri- in American history who knew about an exhibi- A few days later, I got an e-mail with ately, reflexively possessive. Some years ago, tion I was curating, “Dreaming of Timbucto.” kind words for the lecture, followed by still for instance, I approached the director of a The exhibition concerned an antebellum farm more questions, all aimed at gaining more prominent regional museum with an idea settlement for free African Americans in the Ad- specific information about primary source about an exhibition on ethnic history. She irondacks. It was a rich story and we were heady material. got me on board to do the research, which with some of our discoveries—the “we” being What is the sound of the straw that breaks was swell, but she also hired a consultant to the volunteer researchers who hoped to bring the camel’s back? In this case, something inventory archival resources—something I this lost chapter of Adirondack social history like a sonic boom. Stupidly, I had envi- knew a good bit about, and I couldn’t see to life. We were a motley bunch—in addition sioned a deal along the lines of “I’ll show what this other fellow was doing on my turf. to myself, a photographer for the state parks you mine, you show me yours.” Vague, In my petulant naïveté, I hadn’t considered department, a contractor, a labor lawyer, and hu- informal, even crude, but not unreasonable. that an archivist might own a methodology man rights activist Martha Swan. Additionally, Earlier that year, for instance, when the and an expertise quite separate from my we had a solid score of allies among town and Timbucto project researchers paid a visit to own. Then I read Albert Fowler’s report, county historians, independent scholars, librar- the Queens Historical Society, each of us which was, of course, terrific. It was, for ians, and teachers, who thrilled to the challenge had news for the other—the Queens team me, a pointed lesson in humility. I’m not of bottom-up history and the roll-your-sleeves- was hot for Gerrit Smith; we were running an archivist. I’m a journalist, a writer. And up archival research it required. down biographies of grantees from Queens writers—notwithstanding Sam Seabrook’s So sure, I told “Sheila,” we can meet and County—and we ladled out our goodies in idealized example on West Wing—do not talk; come to our roundtables and lectures. Just mounting portions as we gained trust and always get to do it all. bear in mind (I told her), I’m hoping to get this confidence about the uses to which our It’s a pretty greasy pole we shimmy between great material into print, so I have a proprietary findings would be put. Now, I knew Sheila asking, borrowing, filching, and outright theft, interest in my findings, which I’m assuming had explored a number of archival sources and everybody has a story. How aggrieved you’ll respect. we hadn’t yet pursued. Surely this could be, we let ourselves become depends in large Sheila was friendly, gracious, smart as a whip, should be, a two-way street. Surely she un- measure on how realistically we admit the and nice as pie. She asked a lot of questions,

10 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore limits of our expertise. I couldn’t see where tory in northern New York, a Schenectady and stewards of musical traditions. (It also archival work ended and my own interpretive professor tracked her down and invited her helped, of course, that Woods, a first-rate reporting began, so I got bent out of shape to help him develop a Native American reporter, turned out a crackerjack piece.) over nothing. program at his college. On the face of it, Ward’s conclusion: “It was hard to be consid- The Story of Sheila was more tricky: here the project sounded wonderful. But what ered a primary source, but in the end it’s just were two writers mining the same vein, and he really wanted was to rewrite her research, more important to get the story out.” the sound of Sheila’s pickax whistling past my adding nothing to it of his own, then slap A more bitter threat for a public folklor- head made me jumpy. To which Sheila might his name on it, and use it to justify a request ist like Vaughn Ward is poaching within her reply: For God’s sake, I’m an academic! You’re for program funding she would never see. own professional world. Ward, who runs the a regionalist! Yet as long as we’re both shoot- “I told him, ‘You’re certainly welcome to Black Crow Network from her home in Rex- ing for general-interest publication down the build on what I’ve done.’ But in the end, I ford, New York, can cite many instances of road, our trajectories were fated to collide. felt a little used.” folklorists’ heading up public programs who Maybe I’ve got a bad attitude about Or how about this one from a folklorist have horned in on her carefully cultivated academics. Maybe they’ve got a worse at- I know who is an authority on French Ca- sources. But what can you do? Says Varick titude about the likes of me—independent nadian building traditions in Northern New Chittenden, director of Traditional Artists scholars, lay researchers, public historians, York. She spends an hour on the phone with of Upstate New York, “We aren’t agents. We freelance journalists, and others of our a builder and architectural writer, spilling don’t own these people.” Still, it’s hard not proudly nonaffiliated ilk. I think they think everything she knows. Not only is she never to take a proprietary interest in somebody we’re lightweights, and I think their air of thanked, quoted, or even acknowledged you “found,” nurtured without any hope professional entitlement makes for lousy in the subsequent article, the ill-mannered or expectation of compensation, and also, manners. boor never even sends her a copy of the invariably, befriended. Ward, for her part, An Albany professor thinks it might be magazine. Another doozie: this same folklor- blames changing ethics in the field: neat to have her undergrads do research ist got a consulting gig doing oral histories In the Sixties, we were all trained that if on Tim-bucto. So do I! Sounds terrific! But with long-time employees of an Adirondack we did the primary work with an infor- before she can commit her class, she asks Great Camp. For a while they sat in cold mant, we were the gatekeepers. We were me to make her copies of all our primary storage. Then a regional preservationist considered the main repository because research material so that she knows what whipped them into an anthology without we had done the spadework. So you they have to work with. An annotated bibli- contacting the folklorist. Fair enough, only went through us, and when you were done, you gave us a copy of everything ography won’t do. She wants sources. Which the subjects were never contacted for their you’d found. And this was nonnegotiable. is easy for her to say, ensconced in a major permission to be quoted, and the release These were commonly held professional university department with secretaries and forms they had signed for the original study assumptions. a copy center at her disposal. But I’m not covered only educational and research (not Kinko’s. I’m a freelancer, I work at home. commercial) use of the materials. Nobody Ward is talking about folklorists, but I’m What she’s asking for will take me days. It would probably have minded, but the folk- thinking about myself. It strikes me that is unthinking and absurd. lorist is bothered by the breach of good nobody goes into folklore who doesn’t like Another story: an Albany professor calls faith. She observes, “This is the nature of people and isn’t drawn temperamentally to and demands I forward my clips about doing contract work.” However personally stories of the underdog. The field is predi- Jewish peddlers in the Adirondacks. He’s invested you become, you just have to kiss cated on the ability of the folklorist to gain writing a scholarly piece and needs them it good-bye. the trust and confidence of a source and to for background. I have to ask: Am I going I knew that folklorist Vaughn Ward and sustain that confidence over time. Enter the to be footnoted? Well, he says, a little cross, her husband George had spent decades min- thieving journalist, deadline-driven, byline- your work is all out there, it’s been published, ing source material about North Country buoyed, with little patience (or talent) for it’s in a magazine—as if the fact of (mere) musical traditions. I wondered how she felt the scrupulously culti- Amy Godine (agodine@ magazine publication somehow relieves him about Lynn Woods’s article on this same nycap.rr.com) curated Dreaming of Timbucto, a from the responsibility of acknowledging his subject in Adiron-dack Life. Vaughn told me traveling exhibition about sources. It’s a kind of poaching, but what the what I suspected: she had long hoped to a black antebellum farm settlement in the Adiron- hell. I send along the clips. write a story along these lines herself. But dacks (at the Adirondack Lynn Woods, another freelance journalist was this poaching? Not at all. First of all, Museum in Blue Moun- tain Lake through October with a strong interest in Adirondack social Lynn never presented Ward’s findings as 2001). She is available history, knows from poachers. Impressed her own and indeed took pains in this story as a lecturer through the New York Council for the Humanities speakers with her work on Native American his- to celebrate the Wards’ work as folklorists program. She lives in Saratoga Springs.

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Documenting Community BY BARRY DORNFELD

Cultural documentarians have long public broadcasting correspondent, wrote a park building project on a vacant lot, has ork s explored the creative combination of visual foreword and narrates the CD. flourished into a constellation of educa- image and sound in depicting social life with The Indivisible Project paired photog- tion, arts, neighborhood development, and W richness and depth. Their explorations often raphers and audio ethnographers (radio outreach programs. I worked on this site as focused on combining still image and spoken producers, folklorists, anthropologists) in audio ethnographer, collaborating with still word, usually rendered as written text. Walk- twelve sites around the United States where photographer Reagan Louie. er Evans’s and James Agee’s collaboration on grass-roots, community-based initiatives The photographs presented in the book, the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, for have thrived and enhanced the economy, and in a more limited version on the web, instance, stands out as an exemplar of how health, or cultural life of the community in display an extraordinary range of styles and

Media to integrate words and pictures to represent which they have grown. The project teams approaches, all within the genre of documen- a cultural world with complexity and passion, covered an impressive range of American tary—from grainy, evocative, black-and-white while not assuming these media accomplish communities: verité images to reflexive ironic color portraits the same things the same ways. Stony Brook, Long Island, New to carefully composed, Evans-like interiors The recently completed Indivisible Proj- York, where the Doula Service of University and landscapes to collages of multiple images ect is a descendant of those image-text Hospital and Medical Center trains women on the book page. The text comes directly collaborations, applied to contemporary to offer prenatal, labor, and early postpartum from interviews with local people and offers social issues. The book-CD combination support to mothers. a wide range of discussions with activists, Local Heroes Changing America: Indivisible, Eau Claire, South Carolina, where workers, cultural experts, artists, elders, and edited by Tom Rankin and produced by the a group of residents work through biracial, patients. The accompanying CD, also avail- Center for Documentary Studies at Duke faith-based initiatives to improve the com- able through download on the web, contains University, is the most tangible manifestation munity for all. audio pieces edited from ethnographers’ field of a complex project that also lives through The Yaak Valley Forest Community tapes into short compilations of interviews a traveling museum exhibit, an innovative in Montana, where residents interested in and verité sound material. postcard exhibit, and a well-developed web- environmental conservation balance their Working as an ethnographer and audio site at http://www.indivisible.org/. The Pew concerns with those of loggers, sawmill documentarian in collaboration with an Charitable Trusts funded the project, which operators, and others living off the land. accomplished still photographer presented was codirected by Rankin and Trudy Wilner North Philadelphia, where the Vil- both unexpected challenges and found Stack of the Center for Creative Photogra- lage of Arts and Humanities, a community opportunities. At times, Reagan and I had phy at the University of Arizona; Ray Suarez, organization begun by artist Lily Yeh as a to negotiate our work as a team so that we were intentionally documenting events and getting to know people together, or at least covering complementary subjects. When we worked together on site, I had to stay out of his frame, and I wanted his voice and shutter clicks off my audio track. On the conceptual level, I wondered how the editors would integrate still images and text in the various formats in which the project would be published. Given the specificity of Reagan’s images, I felt freed to include more ephemeral sound elements, like music, the sounds of work, the interior of a local tavern, and the broader city soundscape. As with other sections of the book, the images and text in our chapter are rarely literally coordinated, with photographs representing speakers or events depicted in text, but are more often sugges- tively connected, with text contexutalizing Boy playing hide-and-seek in Ife Ife Park, North Philadelpha. Photo: Reagan Louie

12 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Village staff members Sally Hammerman and Andres Chamorro performing with puppets on Earth Day. Photo: Reagan Louie

thousand points of light as the solution to documentation. Indivisible is a project of the social injustice and community disem-pow- The Indivisible Project museum exhibit Center for Documentary Studies erment. Nevertheless, one cannot help but can be seen at the Center for Creative Pho- at Duke University in partner- be moved by the efforts of the individuals tography in Tucson, Arizona, from July 14 ship with the Center for Creative through September 30, 2001. It then travels Photography, the University of depicted here and be impressed with the Arizona. Indivisible is funded by passion and resourcefulness we see. to Raleigh, Sarasota, La Jolla, Philadelphia, the Pew Charitable Trusts. Perhaps as important, though, is to look and finally Anchorage; check the www. in- to Indivisible as a model for documentary divisible.org website for specifics. images of places and people. Throughout projects. A generous budget funded the the book, these two symbolic tracks either many teams’ extended visits with these com- Barry Dornfeld (University of the Arts, drift apart, with a less motivated sense of munities, underwrote the products in several connection between image and words, or formats, and enabled mounting a traveling Barry Dornfeld stand alone, with a page dominated by either national exhibit. Not many initiatives will be (University of the Arts, 320 S. Broad photographic images or print. The audio able to recreate this level of support, but the Street, Philadelphia, material on CD or website adds texture and idea of pairing ethnographers, folklorists, PA 19102; dorn- [email protected]) soundscape. and writers armed with audio recorders and is director and asso- ci- A tone of optimism undergirds the Indi- still photographers to generate an archive of ate professor of the Communication visible Project, suggesting that community- images and digital tapes offers a productive Program at based initiatives alone can redress society’s model for documentation. And the abil- t h e U n i v e r s i t y of problems. The cynic in me wants to rebut ity to make material available in multiple the Arts, Philadelphia, and specializes in sound recording and documentary filmmak- this optimism, to point to the many ways formats is possible only when you have ing. He has published research on media that forces of power conspire against com- documented it in a high-quality format. I organizations, media reception, and cultural performance, including “Producing Public munity-based change, and to reject Bush Sr.’s hope that Indivisible will invigorate others to Television, Producing Public Culture,” an build on this model of creative community Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Polish American Lullaby A Case Study BY MARYANN McCABE

Interviews tape-recorded in New York City and in Boston in March 1988 from Saint Stanis»aw—Halina Kalitka—re- reveal how the different cultural experiences of Polish American women membered Polish lullabies. Born in Germany affected their use and transmission of traditional Polish lullabies. These of a Polish father and Ukrainian mother, Halina songs conform well to characteristics of the genre as described in the few has lived in the Polish communities of New secondary works devoted to the folk lullaby, but there remain areas for York for most of her life and attended Polish further exploration. The strong functional aspects of the lullaby explain school. As far as she can remember, “Nobody the occasional substitution of other genres in the lullaby context, as well sang to me but I sang to my children.” Halina as the degree of improvisation that mothers use. The lullaby functions is an organist. Sophie Klujsza, choir member intimately, socially, psychologically, and creatively for the caretaker and and soloist, was born in Greenpoint in the early her child. Although the women interviewed for this article can no longer 1920s of Polish-born parents. Sophie, youngest recall all the Polish lullabies they once knew, the lullaby is yet a living of three, had no children to whom she could sing manifestation of their culture. lullabies, so she flatly did not recall them—at least not right away. Polish immigrant Barbara y study of the Polish lullaby genre musicians offered me materials on the lullaby Pierzcha»a-StyÑ remembers singing lullabies M began with an effort to find infor- but declined interviews. Several individuals to her children but was at first unable to recall view elderlymants. and primarily I originally Polish-born intended towomen inter- noted that since they came from the city, they specific examples. Irene Owczarzak, born in at Saint Stanis»aw Roman Catholic Church in did not know many folk lullabies and could not Poland in the early 1940s, entered the United Manhattan’s Lower East side. When I asked sing them “primitively” enough. States in 1987. She did not remember lullabies the women whether they knew Polish lullabies My informants eventually came from two that may have been sung to her. Irene, a film- and whether they would be willing to sing locations: central and eastern Massachusetts, maker, reads to her own children instead. All of them, their responses were polite but negative. and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in New York City. my informants or their parents came from the Some women simply did not sing; others said My first informant was my mother, Con-stance capital, Warsaw, or its environs. they had never learned Polish lullabies. Most Samborska McCabe, native Polish speaker women, however, did not remember the songs: and the daughter of Polish immigrants from Themes and Functions they said their children were fully grown or they P»ock (a suburb of Warsaw). She was raised in There is scanty literature on the lullaby as had no grandchildren and that lullabies were no a tightly knit Polish community in Worcester, folklore in East Slavic communities. Noth- longer useful. Some questioned my interest in Massachusetts. ing deals with the Polish or Polish American such practical songs. The remaining informants were members lullaby. The literature regarding other Slavic Since lullabies are spontaneously expressive of the Saint Cecilia Choir of Saint Stanis»aw traditions—Ukrainian, Ukrainian Canadian, and with the goal of putting a child to sleep, it was Kostka Roman Catholic Church in Green- Russian—details the sociopsychological themes difficult to recall them out of context. These point. The director, John Bartosiewicz, spoke expressed in the texts as literature (Klymasz women, a possible precious resource, were now of my interest to four women before choir 1968; Spitz 1979). too old, and the genre, too functional. rehearsal, and when interviewed, the women In her perceptive study of the American lul- I encountered other problems as well. Polish responded openly. The joint interview, taped laby, Bess Lomax Hawes (1974) distinguishes organizations failed to take my project seri- after rehearsal, was initially chaotic. Once the content from function and asks whether we ously. Perhaps they were dismissive because group dynamics got under way, however, this define the genre by its function or by its the- the lullaby is a genre associated with women arrangement had its positive side. The women matic content. She poses two questions that and the oral tradition. These administrators helped one another to remember titles, texts, constitute the framework for my study: “Is were more interested in thematic content and and music. a song a function of its lexical content or its Polish “art music” lullabies. A few singers and Initially, only one of the four informants social usage? Is a lullaby a song about going

14 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Example 1 become a folk lullaby in many cultures, was Lulajóe Jezuniu, as sung by Constance curiously hummed by Barbara and Halina.

The Blurring of Genres My hypothesis, that the Polish lullaby is best defined by function, arose from my mother’s use of Polish Christmas carols as lullabies. These include composed lullabies to Jesus but also carols about the nativity. The theme of many “lullaby carols,” as well as their function, reflects the parallel relationship between Jesus Lulajóe Jezuniu, as sung by Sophie with improvised, chordal piano accompaniment played by Halina and Mary, and child and mother, and represents a strong tradition among Polish Christians. This theme exists within the Anglo-American tradition as well: In A Book of Lullabies Smith (1925) includes such categories as “The Child and the Infant Christ” and “Christmas Lul- labies.” Perhaps the Polish carol that is most revered is Lulajóe Jezuniu, which I would translate as “Lullaby, Little Jesus” (example 1). The English translator for this example, Marguerite Wilkin- son, chose to title it “Lullaby Carol,” further suggesting the song’s dual function. Lulajóe is “Lullaby Carol” (English translation by Marguerite Wilkinson) frequently sung in church at a special moment Lullaby, little pearl, dear baby Jesu, during midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Con- Lullaby, little pearl, dear baby sleeping; Lullaby, little one, dear baby Jesu, stance regarded it as a Christmas Eve medita- Mary is holding you, guarding and keeping. tion. Irene said emphatically: “I very much like

Additional verses of Lulajóe Jezuniu can be found in Botsford (1921, 1:87). this song.” It is an emblem of cultural identity for many Polish Christians. The text of Lulajóe Jezuniu is purely folk to sleep or is it any song on any subject that is singer chooses them for this purpose. On the poetry and recalls the story of the Three Kings used to induce slumber?” (Lomax Hawes 1974: opposite end of the continuum is the improvised who brought gold, incense, and myrrh after 141). I have found from my own research that lullaby, including the partly improvised types in Christ’s birth. Mary and unspecified others function more appropriately accounts for what which texts or melodies are changed or replaced appeal humbly and lovingly to baby Jesus that my informants sang and for the processes of to varying degrees. He fall asleep, and they invite Poles to give lulling they describe. My informants’ repertoires reflected that Jesus presents of almonds, raisins, berries, I also advocate defining the lullaby by func- continuum. Many knew Moniuszko’s lullabies bread and butter—kingly riches from the Pol- tion rather than by thematic content because but did not sing them, nor had these songs been ish countryside. any composed or improvised song can be a sung to them. The outcome is consistent with When I asked my informants whether they lullaby. The genre can perhaps be viewed as a the way in which these “lullabies” function: as would consider Lulajóe both ko»ysanka, “lul- dynamic continuum. On one end are the styl- stylized evocations of the poetic atmosphere of laby,” and kol“da, “carol,” they unanimously ized and thematic composed lullabies of the a lullaby. Would anyone sing Britten’s A Charm agreed. For Constance this song had been a Western art music tradition, such as those by of Lullabies after a long day’s work to a scream- specifically Christmas lullaby over the course Benjamin Britten, Gabriel Fauré, or Stanis»aw ing child who needs to go to sleep? Such com- of two generations. She recalled her mother Moniuszko. In between are the composed yet positions lack the immediacy so central to the singing it to her younger sisters while rocking orally transmitted folk lullabies of the Anglo- activity at hand. I mention this artificial sort of them to sleep during Christmas time. Then “as American tradition; an example is “All the lullaby, which typically requires piano parts for we got older, we all sang it together,” and “that Pretty Horses,” which exists in many versions. “performance,” to illustrate the extent to which got to be something that I sang to all of you until Similarly, other composed songs that are not the real lullaby is immediate, spontaneous, you learned it, too.” lullabies thematically function as such if the and functional. “Brahms’s Lullaby,” which has Barbara, who could not remember lullabies at first, later recollected having sungLulaj óe as Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Example 2 Kto rano staje as sung by Constance dren who did not marry Poles; she has lived in an English and Irish American environment for much of her life. Her experience has affected the transmission of traditions and language. Many of my cousins learned Polish at home and at school; although I understand some Pol- ish, I do not speak it. It is not surprising that Constance recalled singing the Irish American lullaby “Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral.” In contrast, the four women of Saint Cecilia Choir have lived in more homogenous Polish communi- ties, whether here or abroad. All sang strictly Polish songs, which, Halina said, “simply sound better.” Since Constance clearly remembered her mother singing lullabies to younger siblings and herself singing them to her own children, there is a richness of two generations through which to view change in repertoire. I compare “The Early Riser” (English translation by Constance) He who rises early, God blesses. her mother’s practice with her own to determine So little lazy one, don’t lie in bed. how the process of making and singing lullabies Look at the happiness around you; The sun is shining, calling people to work has changed. I also compare the repertoire and With its golden rays. So little dear one, procedures of the other informants. Fall on your knees and pray devotedly, The lullaby has two functional parts. These And the little angel will come from the highest heaven And bless all little children. parts represent separate activities and also al- low interaction between composed material and improvisation. Lomax Hawes (1974:144) a lullaby. She too considered it both lullaby and Jesus”), and Cicho Noc (“Silent Night”). calls these two parts “chats” and “lulls.” Chats carol. Although Irene likewise considered the Halina’s motivation for singing carols as include word games, rhymes, and lively rhyth- song to be of both genres, she suggested a more lullabies may have been slightly different mic singing; lulls involve soft, soothing singing thematic classification than one based solely on from that of Constance and her mother. The or humming with the intention of quieting the function. She described Lulajóe as a ko»ysanka: women who sang carols as lullabies would child into sleep. “not for people, but for Jesus.” not think of doing so outside the Christmas Constance’s description of the lullaby pro- Halina best expressed my conclusion: “It’s season. Also, Halina appeared to be building cess recalled Hawes’s categories. She linked a kol“da but it’s really like a lullaby because her own tradition. She sang to her children the process to the particular behavior of the you’re putting the baby Jesus to sleep and ev- for all sorts of reasons even though, she said, child and mood of the mother: “You have to erything is connected in this way.” She noted “Nobody sang to me.” Referring to Lulajóe, be in a certain mood to want to sing it.” In ad- that the soothing lullaby vocables in the Polish she commented, “I use it on my own children. dition, the chat and lull structure is sequential. language, lu, lu and li li li laj, are found in It doesn’t matter what time of year, just to put She continued: Polish lullaby carols in the context of putting them to sleep.” She also considered many Pol- Jesus to sleep. “You connect this with your own ish carols “very peaceful,” implying that they First you get the child interested and then you do something slow. First you enter- children,” Halina said. In fact, Constance used were appropriately used as lullabies. Halina’s tain and then you get the child settled these same vocables in improvised examples choice of the word “use”—seen together with down and contented. The child is not yet when she imitated her mother’s practice of her remark “sometimes [I] sing to children to ready to fall asleep. Yet you have to cap- singing lullabies. make them eat”—indicated that she was aware tivate them so that you have settled them in your arms, and so you sing something “ Halina and Sophie considered many kol dy of both her role and the power of music. By entertaining and catchy and then sort of to be ko»ysanki and expected them to be used “casting a spell” on her children, she effected drift into more of a lullaby with a slower, as such. From this carol repertoire Halina the desired end. soothing melody. specifically named Siano, Siano (“Oh, Hay, Oh, Hay!”), Gdy Sliczna Panna (“When the Performance Practice Constance recalled that most of her mother’s Beautiful Virgin”), Jezus Malusie½ki (“Little Constance was one of two from seven chil- chats and lulls, both text and music, were im-

16 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Example 3 provisatory and referred to daily events; for Koci, koci, »apci as sung and recited by Constance example: “When Baby wakes up from a nap, we’ll go for a walk.” The lullaby might start out with a Polish vocable pertaining to sleep, lu, lu, and then add sentences that describe the baby’s day. Con-stance suggested that her mother differentiated between chat and lull not melodically but rather by moderating rhythms, tempi, and textual choices to fit the situation at hand. Constance’s inability to remember specific examples of her mother’s improvisa- tory process reinforces the spontaneous and functional nature of these lullabies. Constance did recall, however, a number of nursery rhymes, or wierszk dla dzieci, that her mother used, which functioned as both chats and lulls. One was a poem from her grandmother that her mother set to a calming melody for rocking. Kto rano staje (“The Early Riser,” example 2) is Constance’s variation on the basic melodic patterns that she remembered. “Kitten paws, kitten paws” Her mother, Constance said, would know how (English translation by the author) Kitten paws, kitten paws, sleepy her children were by their reactions We will go to grandmother’s; Grandmother will give some money whenever she would change the melody a bit. And [baby’s name] will buy a cigar. Another example of how a nursery rhyme can serve as a chat or lull depending on the mood or context is the humorous verse Koci, laby through the use of religious songs. The be a “big poet.” Her children, she said, “just koci »apci (example 3). Constance’s mother set church calendar played a strong role in Polish wanted to hear my voice”: this verse to her own melody for the purpose life and influenced Constance’s mother’s choice My own mother did the same thing. The of lulling; Constance tended to recite the poem of melodies for lullabies. The texts may have point was to send a message to the baby at a fast tempo as a chat, while clapping the been chosen for her benefit, and the melodies, that you were there. The lullaby was baby’s hands together rhythmically. Note the for the children’s. Often, Constance noted, just to be a soothing assurance that you differences in rhythm between the sung and her mother would sing hymny, religious songs were there. recited versions of example 3. for feast days, especially those dedicated to Lullabies for the Mother A well-known rhyme that is used as a chat Mary. Of special interest are the autobiographi- is A, a kotki dwa (“There Are Two Kittens”). One hymn that Constance recalled her cal and psychological aspects of the Polish Constance sang a version learned from her mother singing is Serdeczna Matko (“Beloved American lullaby. Although Sophie could mother. The four choir members confidently Mother”). She had to concentrate to reconstruct hardly recall what was sung to her when she sang a different version. When asked about the text, but the melody came readily to mind. was young, after a few minutes of thought, she other melodies, each said that the melody she Although she had a limited repertoire of Polish did remember a love song (example 5) that her sang was the only melody associated with that songs and she had forgotten the texts, she said mother “strangely enough” sang to her often particular rhyme. she did remember the melodies. She would add and taught her to sing when she was six years her own words to these religious hymns and old. Sophie never knew the song’s title. Other Genres and Texts use them as lullabies. The rhymed texts were This love song is a dialogue between a bro- Constance recalled her mother singing other newly invented and highly situational. Given kenhearted young woman and her beau, who songs as lullabies, such as ballads and religious their occasional nature, she could not call to leaves her. In the second line the man answers songs. One nostalgic song, entitled Jak wie mind any in particular. Importantly, the texts that “he is not going far away, and that when he szybko mijaj chwile (“How Quickly the Min- were generally in English. returns he would be hers alone.” Sophie said, utes Pass,” example 4), bemoaned the passing Her experience illustrates the power of the “That’s not a lullaby because I was long past of time, separation, and death. melody in memory and the feeling of nostalgia needing to be put to sleep.” Context, however, Daily events were incorporated into the lul- for her past. It was not important to her that she suggests that this song was indeed a lullaby.

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Example 4 Jak szybko mijaj chwile as sung by Constance how she used to hear her mother sing religious songs very softly as a “lullaby to herself,” a personal and calming reassurance. One song that Sophie mentioned was a Lenten hymn or lamentation, translated roughly as “Who Is Knocking at Your Door?”; her mother, no doubt overwhelmed with difficulties, was pleading to God for help.

The Ambivalent Lullaby In the interview Halina sang a song entitled Stary niedwiedï mocno Ñpi (“This Old Bear Is Sleeping Soundly,” example 6), which she associated with the lullaby. She also described the activities that accompanied it, because it “How Quickly the Minutes Pass” (English translation by the author) functioned as a children’s game, nursery rhyme, How quickly the minutes pass, and lullaby. Halina summarized the text: How quickly time passes; In a year, in a day, in a moment, We will not be together. This old bear is sleeping soundly and we don’t want to wake him up because we are afraid to, and if he does wake up, he Example 5 will eat us up, or at least be very angry. Untitled love song, as sung by Sophie With that, too, you can put someone to sleep.

Halina is thus suggesting that this rhyme could be used as either chat or lull. She then described the game: You put one child in the middle and you have a bunch of children running around singing softly: Stary niewiedï mocno Ñpi. This child in the middle is making believe he is the bear and so you go around and sing, sing, sing, and then when you say, Jak si“ budzi tam na zje [“if he wakes, he will eat us”], the bear gets up and starts running around and picks the next child to be the bear and puts him in the center of the circle.

The topic of this versatile rhyme pertains (English translation by Sophie and Constance) Dearest Johnnie, to where did you vanish? to sleep, which is appealingly associated Leave, sadness, but not my dreams. Give me back my heart which you took; with makebelieve. Its psychological content Or in place of it, expresses projection and bargaining, which Give me yours. is reinforced by the activity. The child identi- Dearest beloved, fies with the bear—and thus with a twist, the I love you. O my dear angel, tale serves to give relief to the caretaker and I’m not going very far control to the child, appeasing the frustrations And when I return, I will be yours. of all concerned. The parents want the child to sleep: “If you (the bear, the child) wake up, you will eat us.” The portrayal of the child as Sophie’s father died when she was ten months 1987; Johnston 1987). It was in fact a lullaby something bad or wild and the themes of the old, leaving her young mother with three small for Sophie’s mother. death wish and bargaining have been explored children. Significantly, Sophie mentioned the Whatever my informants chose from their in a few studies (Lomax Hawes 1974:145; love song in the context of the lullaby, and it ap- experience to associate with the lullaby Klymasz 1968:177–79; Lebentritt 1987:3; Spitz pears to have served the psychological needs of validates its definition in this cultural con- 1979:19–23). The overwhelming demands that the widowed mother and her family (Lebentritt text. Later in the interview Sophie recalled

18 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Canadian Ukrainian Lullabies, East European oing ieldwork as an nsider Journal 12:176–83. D F I Lebentritt, Julia. 1987. The Lullaby Project, New York Folklore Newsletter 8(3):2–3. eing of Polish American extrac common to my experience, and the extent Smith, Elva S., comp. 1925. A Book of Lullabies. tion myself, I was an “observing to which this was true hit home when I was B Boston: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co. participant” while conducting my inter- analyzing my transcripts. views. That dual role was more influential My role as a “cultural bearer” (Burnim than I had expected. I felt my presence as 1983) was also an impediment. While sort- a Polish American while interacting with ing my data, I realized that I had missed my informants. At times my experience and failed to appreciate the variety of was helpful. For example, my hypothesis responses apparent from the interviews. regarding the use of Polish Christmas This reminded me that I am heir to a tra- carols as lullabies, generated prior to the dition that is more dynamic and broader fieldwork, derived from my experience than one hypothesis. I was reminded of as a Polish American. My questions to customs and of concepts and expressions my informants were neutral—“What that have existed in my mind only in the did your mother caretaker sing to you Polish language, even though I was born or your siblings before sleeping?” and and raised in a non-Polish community of “What did you yourself sing to your Boston. children?”—but they elicited responses

children make on their caretakers account for separation, and deep-seated memories. this violent imagery. Ultimately, the lullaby is a sad song of References separation, as is sleep for the infant. Although Botsford, F.H., comp. and ed. 1921. Folksongs of Many Peoples, vol. 1. New York: The Woman’s lullaby collector Julia Lebentritt approaches Press. the lullaby from a more psychological and less Burnim, Mellonee. 1983. Culture Bearer and Tradi- culturally specific slant, she offers a fine inter- tion Bearer: An Ethnomusicologist’s Research on pretation of Lomax Hawes: “A basic feeling Gospel Music, Ethnomusicology 29:432–47. of bedtime is loneliness. The mother is the one Hawes, Bess Lomax. 1974. Folksongs and Function: who waits—for the child to sleep, for the child Some Thoughts on the American Lullaby, Journal of American Folklore 87:140–148. to grow up, to leave her” (Lebentritt 1987:3; Johnston, M.E. 1987. Lulling Your Newborn, Mother- Lomax Hawes 1974:2). The lullaby is, in this ing (Fall):98–100. Polish context, too, living song about culture, Klymasz, R.B. 1968. Social and Cultural Motifs in

Example 6 Stary niedwiedï mocno Ñpi, as sung by Halina, Barbara, and Irene

Maryann McCabe received her PhD in musicology (New York University), MA in historical musicology (University of Toronto, Canada), and BA in music and German (Barnard College, Columbia University). She currently researches topics involving “This Old Bear Is Sleeping Soundly” gender and the sociology of music. She (English translation by the author) conducts summer seminars at Rutgers This old bear is sleeping soundly University (Newark, New Jersey) and It’s not wise to wake him up teaches at the Coalition School for Social Because we fear him. Change (Alternative High Schools, New If he does wake up, York City Public Schools). He will eat us.

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Up-TempoUp-Tempo UpstateUpstate Polka in Western New York air o n

INTRODUCTION BY KATE KOPERSKI RADIO INTERVIEW BY JOYCE KRYSZAK WITH JOE MACIELAG AND JERRY DARLAK

The following interview with polka musicians, presented here with a brief porary sound, later called “Eastern” style. history of polka in the New World, is one of a series of radio documen- Influenced by the tremendous popularity of taries sponsored by the New York Folklore Society. Others in the series the era’s big bands, polka groups began to include “Square Dancing in Western New York State,” “Mark Hamilton: play tighter and faster. Emphasis on fiddle Folk Fiddler and Square Dance Caller,” and City Lore’s 1999 People’s Poetry and bass gave way to brass sections often Awards. The documentaries have been produced by Dale W. Johnson, fronted by virtuoso clarinetists. Although the society’s director of services, and Lamar Bliss. Packaged as Voices of Eastern style dominated in many cities until New York Traditions, they will be available later this year to public radio the mid-1960s, a new sound began to take stations and classrooms. shape in Chicago during the 1950s. Band leader Li’l Wally Jagiello is credited with cholars have traced the roots of the music trends. As polka musician Mark inventing what we now call Chicago-style Spolka to the 1830s. According to Kohan puts it; polka. Featuring the concertina rather than polkaethnomusicologist originated when Charlespeople livingKeil, the in the accordion, Chicago polka is slower and Bohemia, on Poland’s southern border, Polish American polkas are a con- less orchestrated. It is sometimes described coction of Polish folk melodies, imitated a dance done by Polish women. American country melodies, a dash by musicians and fans as “polka from the In spring 1844 the polka became a craze in of Dixieland and a pinch of jazz—all heart.” Some aficionados further subdivide Paris and London. European newspapers packaged in a lively 2/4 beat. They Chicago polkas into “honky” and “dyno” are as unique to America Polonia as report that during the height of the polka Blues are to Black America. styles. mania, people danced in the streets of Polish American polka continues to Paris day and night. The earliest recorded Polish American change and evolve. In response to the per- By the 1860s, the polka had spread polka music drew heavily on a Polish ception that the polka had become increas- across continents and oceans. It became “folk” sound. The melodies and lyrics of ingly influenced by country-and-western the national dance of Paraguay and was early Polish American polkas were often music and other mainstream sounds, many played by the Papago and Pima Indians adapted from historic Polish folksongs. The contemporary bands are committed to play- in the American Southwest. popular “Malgorzatka” (Margaret) polka, ing material derived from Polish folk music The distinctive sound of Polish Ameri- for example, was sung by students at the and singing in the Polish language. Even can polka music developed during the late Jagiellonian University in Krakow during Górale-style fiddling has enjoyed a bit of 1920s as the recording and radio indus- the sixteenth century. a comeback. The up-tempo folk tunes and tries began simultaneously to popularize During the 1920s, Chicago-based orches- dances that once enabled peasants from mainstream American music and cater to tra leaders Karol Stoch and Jan Krysiak the southern region of Poland to tolerate ethnic tastes. Polish Americans in search were well-known for their Górale-style fid- their hard life are now providing Polish of a sound they could call their own—a dling—a traditional style that originated in Americans with new material—and keeping music that would distinguish them from the Tatra Mountain region. The fiddle and a traditional music alive. other ethnic groups—came up with a bass were emphasized over the accordion. unique style of polka that drew on both By the mid-1930s Polish American polka Joe Macielag is a second-generation Polish Old World music traditions and popular music had begun to acquire a more contem- American who, interviewer Joyce Kry-szak

20 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore discovered, is helping carry on the polka Macielag: The word was popravena, “the of what is called the eastern polka band tradition. This western New York musician next day.” Guests would again assemble and scene: a big-band sound with twelve musi- had one of the longest-surviving—and most in many cases eat the leftover food from cians playing strings, brass, and wind instru- successful—polka bands, the Pic-a-Polka the wedding feast and just get together and ments. But just as big bands faded away Orchestra. regale again. Sort of a continuous party. with economies of scale, so, too, have polka Macielag: When the people came here Kryszak: Now, Macielag says, that’s all bands had to evolve. The 1960s gave birth at the turn of the century, they brought changed. There are adult receptions, sound to the Chicago style, with fewer players and this with them. And we here in this country systems, and children learn to watch TV a more contemporary sound. were given these traditional songs that were instead of play the accordion. Polish com- Jerry Darlak is a western New York polka passed on from family member to family musician who started with Chicago greats member, from generation to generation. We like Little Wally. Over the years, Darlak says, became preservationists. We clung to what bands have struggled to keep an audience. they came with here to the United States. They’ve blended in country-and-western Kryszak: Preserving Poland’s musical tunes and gone to English vocals. Darlak heritage once was a central part of Polish says there’s plenty of work for his band, but American communities. Polkas were at the he worries about polka’s future. core of Polish social, religious, and family Darlak: I see bands every year folding life in the early 1900s. Macielag says his up because of lack of work. If you don’t boyhood memories are intertwined with draw the crowds, you’re not going to get the music. rebooked. Consequently, the bands don’t Macielag: People would get together, work, and consequently, they go other ways. they’d play cards. I remember sausage be- They go other routes. ing put out on the table and people would Kryszak: But Joe Macielag says polka eat, and then they’d have a couple beers and Polka has been central to Joe Macielag’s music will always be here. He says it will just life, and his Pic-a-Polka Orchestra has drinks, and then they’d start singing. It was helped preserve—and expand—this keep changing. It has to—because culture a festive time. traditional music in western New York. is the mirror of society, and change is part Photo: Kate Koperski Kryszak: And he remembers his early of culture. Macielag believes it’s the soul of days as a performer. In the 1940s and 1950s munities have drifted apart, and with them polka that will endure. talented polka bands were in heavy demand. the demand for polka music. And Macielag Macielag: It was part of my life, and Macielag says back then, weddings were an says the music is also changing. The many you know, it’s something I almost deem all-day gig. The polka band would play in the rhythms of Polish folk music have become sacred, because like I said, music is the soul morning at the bride’s home, on the way to one. The mazur, the oberek, the kwakowiak, of people, and this is my soul. the church, and at the breakfast reception, the czardasz: these are all three-quarter time, ne of the best ways to learn and then into the night. Macielag says the very similar. Here in the United States, in Oabout Polish American polka festivities followed the old Polish village today’s day and age, the polka bands play is to hang out with local fans and traditions, lasting for days. these different rhythms identically. boosters. Western New York has Macielag’s orchestra was at the forefront three active clubs whose talented members are always ready to share at the Polish Falcons on Columbia Street Kate Koperski is curator of folk art at the their knowledge of polka dance and in Depew. Castellani Art Museum of Niagara Univer- sity. She coordinated the Polka History Polka Originals p m music. They welcome you to their The meet at 7 . . and Dance Workshop at the Cheektowaga monthly meetings. on the last Thursday of the month at the Polish American Arts Festival in August Fr. Justin Hall on Union Road in Cheek- 2000. Interviewer Joyce Kryszak is the arts The Polka Variety Club meets at 7 p.m. towaga. and cultural affairs producer for WBFO, on the first Wednesday of the month at 88.7 FM, in Buffalo; she lives in nearby the Moran Post on Center Street in West Seneca. The Polka Boosters Club meets at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 In 2/4 BY MARK KOHAN

here are two universal truths about ac- polkas on record. academics. It is believed that Polish musicians T cordions. The first is that the accordion Still, if only by association, the accordion adopted and adapted the accordion and con- is almost always associated with polka music. belongs to the polka. certina to fit popular music styles within their The second: a concertina is the same thing. communities. To trace the use of these instru- To what do we owe the association of the The “Stomach Steinway” ments in today’s polka bands, we must look to accordion with Polish dance music? The ac- The accordion is, for all practical purposes, early recordings by Polish artists. cordion is not exclusive to the polka. Its sweet, a portable piano, powered by air driven over The earliest American Polish-language re- reedy sound has been the musical backdrop tuned reeds. And hence its popularity: it is cordings were made by the Berliner Company for scenarios of lonely cowboys in the Texas easier to carry an accordion than a piano down in 1897, featuring a tenor with piano accompa- Panhandle, romantic interludes under the to a church basement wedding reception. niment. It wasn’t until the next decade, when Eifel Tower, and Cajun house parties deep in The accordion’s popularity among polka recording techniques had improved, that full Louisiana’s swamps. Surely accordions are not bands can be attributed to that fact. Although instrumentation could be added. played just by Polish Americans. most polka bands are dedicated to their art The first recording of either the concertina There is a mystique about the accordion, form, they must play a variety of music for or the accordion by a Polish artist is hard albeit often a negative one. When Madison bread-and-butter receptions, dances, and to trace. Columbia did not begin a separate Avenue wants to demonstrate “cool” versus parties. It was not until the late 1970s, when numbering system for ethnic recording series “uncool,” it sometimes calls upon the ac- synthesized keyboards replaced the accordion until 1908; Victor’s began in 1912. Apparently cordion to demonstrate the latter. But the as the portable keyboard, that gig-playing polka the first known Polish artist to record the ac- accordion was a respectable instrument until bands could make use of both instruments. cordion was Jan Wanat, on the Victor label the advent of rock ’n’ roll. Songs of love and Most such bands today have both an accordion in 1917. Wanat’s discs of traditional Polish devotion were then sung over the electrified and a synthesized keyboard. dances, played in a conventional, formal style, strains of guitars, and teen idols who played The concertina lacks the accordion’s key- were hot sellers. His accordion solos were the six-stringed talisman of rebellion created a board. It is usually small and hexagonal, with played on a custom instrument that brought charisma for themselves equal to that of guys buttons to be played by both hands as they out the bass. who drove fast cars. push and pull to work the bellows. Early Polish recordings can be classified as Beginning in the mid-1980s, accordions folksong, light and grand opera, patriotic and regained some lost ground. Credit is due a First-Generation Polka traditional song and dance, popular music counterculture movement in the rock ’n’ roll The early polka bands in the United States played and sung by Poles, and dialogue— industry. Seeking an alternative to the guitar, made little use of the accordion—or none mainly comedy skits. At the time many of bands incorporated the accordion into some of at all. They played what has become known these recordings were made, the polka was their music. Among the bands and musicians as “village” music on violins, bass violins, a very popular, especially outside Polish com- not afraid to let the instrument demonstrate clarinet, and a bowed cello or bass. One of munities. A majority of Polish folksongs its versatility were the Talking Heads, Bruce the early band leaders was Franciszek Dukla (particularly songs of war, such as parade music Springstein, Billy Joel, David Lindley, Los of Chicago, who with vocalist Frank Zielinski and marches) were already in cut time, the 2/4 Lobos, even the Grateful Dead. began a recording career for Victor Records polka tempo. Other Polish folk and dance And it is the Irish who can lay claim to the on December 7, 1926, with the song Na Okolo songs—the mazurka, krakowiak, polonaise, first recordings of accordion and concertina. Ciemny Las. “Around the Dark Forest,” as and kujawiak—were easily adapted as polkas, Traditional Irish dance music played on fiddle, it’s known in English, is part of the standard obereks, and waltzes, which are the dances still uilleann pipes, concertina, accordion, flute, tin literature for today’s polka bands. popular today among Polish Americans. whistle, tenor banjo, pianos, and combinations How the music of Franciszek Dukli Wiejska The recording companies sought Polish art- thereof was captured on cylinder recordings Banda (Frank Dukla’s Village Band) evolved ists whose music would appeal to newcomers before the portable piano was heard playing into today’s polkas has become a debate among who yearned for music of the homeland, but

22 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore the record executives were at a loss as to what music that was. According to Alvin Sajewski, son of Wladyslaw Sajewski, founder of the W.H. Sajewski Music Company in Chicago, the record executives knew there was a huge eth- nic market but did not know how to tap it:

The records were by people from the city who liked the classical singers, the high-pitched sopranos. People wanted simple pretty melodies, but they would buy these records because there was at least something Polish on them. The people wanted folksongs (Spottswood 1982). In 1927, when this photo was taken, polka music had already been captured on record. The photo The Successful Hybrid is apparently the oldest surviving image of polka dancing in the New World. Photo: Joseph E. In 1923 Columbia recorded a “duma,” a waltz by Henry Lewandowski. This old-time music of the village bands. Wally Jagiello, the son of Polish immigrants, fiddler led the way for newer bands that were The Concertina and the Polka who often sang with Zima’s band at picnics in beginning to play polkas and other Polish One early artist who greatly influenced the Chicago. Although Jagiello’s early recordings dances in a livelier and less formal fashion. hybrid Polish American polka was a concer- made use of the accordion, he is most famous One of Columbia’s hottest artists was the tina player and singer from Chicago, Bruno for his work on the concertina, and for Ukrainian fiddler Pawlo Humeniuk. The Rudzinski. His work, like Lewandowski’s promoting Chicago-style polka to national company “polonized” Humeniuk by changing and Humeniuk’s, was less formal—a mix of prominence. His recording of Zosia (“Sophie”) his name to Pawel Humeniak, and with Pol- traditional Polish folk melodies influenced by so startled some disc jockeys that they thought ish vocalists, his records sold well in Chicago. American jazz. Rudzinski’s recordings made it defective, but the song’s slow, heartfelt The January 1927 recording of Zareczyny, him the Polish Spike Jones of his day, as he tempo won it nationwide popularity. Today, Czesc 1 (“The Engagement, Part 1”), with would often repeat or forget lines and start Chicago-style polkas dominate the polka singer Ewgen Zukowsky was the genesis the vocals over again. His first recording, recording industry. of the Polish American polka. The playing Przyszedl Chlop do Karczmy (“A Man Came Jagiello in turn has inspired many of today’s technique of the anonymous accordionist is to the Saloon”), was on the Victor label and virtuoso concertina players, including Wally almost identical to that used today. released in 1928. Maduzia, Lenny Maynard, Rich Benkowski, Al Columbia and its competitors—Victor, It wasn’t until the late 1940s, however, that Piatkowski, Richie Kurdziel, Scrubby Sewer- Okeh, Odeon, Brunswick, and Vocalion— the concertina made its way into mainstream yniak, Bill Czerniak Sr. and Jr., Ronny Mar- realized more than modest profits from polka music. The instrument was promoted cusiuk, Tom Kula, and Teddy Kiewicz. the hybrid Polish American polka. During by bandleader Eddie Zima, probably the most the 1930s the Polish recording business famous of all polka concertina players. He was References exploded. In 1931 Victor alone released 176 born in Chicago in 1923 and began playing Breathnach, B. 1971. Folk Music and Dances of Ireland. Dublin: Talbot Press. recordings in its Polish series, including 38 the concertina by ear when he was six. His Camp, T. 1992. Weird Al finds a vein of fun in rock by village orchestras (playing what is known record of “Circus” polka, which became a hit parodies. Milwaukee Journal, July 7. Ethnic Recordings in America. 1982. Washington, D.C.: variously as Górale, Mountain, Highland, or in the nation’s Polish communities, introduced American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Old Country music) and 12 by what Richard hundreds of thousands to both Zima and Spottswood, R. 1982. “The Sajewski Story” in Ethnic Recordings in America: A Neglected Heritage. J. Spottswood has called “new-wave polka the concertina. He recorded for the Capitol, Washington, D.C.: American Folklife Center, bands”—the forerunners of today’s bands. RCA, Dana, Chicago, and Jay Jay labels, and Library of Congress. These new-wave recordings, made primarily his orchestra later formed the nucleus of the Treasured Polish Folk Songs with Translation. 1953. Min- neapolis: Polanie Publishing Co. by Ignacy Podgórski from Philadelphia, and still-popular Ampol-Aires. He is considered by Edward Królikowski of Bridgeport, Con- the godfather of Chicago-style polkas, which Mark Kohan is editor-in-chief of the national necticut, blended brass, accordion, and violin are slower and bouncier than the traditional monthly newspaper Polish-American Journal and leader of Steel City Brass; he plays both and combined “the energy of the village “Eastern” style, named after the big bands accordion and concertina. With the permis- orchestras with a smoother, more emphatic from the East Coast that played these zesty sion of the publisher, this article was adapted from “Squeezebox Jam,” a publication of the melody line” (Spottswood 1982). polkas from the 1940s until the late 1960s. Polish-American Festival held in August 1992 Podgórski, whose popularity extended Zima influenced a multitude of musicians in Cheektowaga, New York. The annual event into the 1940s, also sold sheet music of his who found the concertina a natural for the is sponsored by the Town of Cheektowaga and made possible with public funds from the material, much of which was based on the polka. Among those he inspired was Li’l New York State Council on the Arts.

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 a m era Which Film? BY MARTHA COOPER

Very soon we will all be working digitally without flash. The corresponding high-speed stand to hold it steady and use a macro or with flash cards and pixels. Until then, slide films are of much lesser quality. closeup lens. Your slides will be a little less before taking a photo, we must first put film 3. Print film can be purchased and focused and a little more contrasty than the in the camera. For years most folklorists processed everywhere. Slide film usually has original but good enough for presentations have chosen slide film as their standard, to be processed by a professional lab, and where subject mater is more important than backed up with black-and-white prints. They good labs are as hard to find outside big photographic technique. primarily needed slides for presentations cities as slide film itself. I recently ran out It’s important when shooting color print and grant applications, and black-and-white of slide film while on a shoot in Queens, film to develop a good relationship with a New York. I went to a huge mall and several reliable local lab. The quality of processing the c e y o f for publications and exhibitions. It’s time to reevaluate these choices. one-hour photo shops but couldn’t find a varies enormously from lab to lab so it First of all, it’s not a good idea to single roll. is worth it to shoot a few test rolls and shoot two kinds of film at once. Most 4. The color balance of print film can try out different labs. The best labs have photographers find that the quality of easily be corrected by the processing lab. You sophisticated machines and knowledgeable, their work suffers if they have to switch can shoot film balanced for daylight under patient operators who are willing to work back and forth between two cameras with tungsten or fluorescent lighting, and the with you to achieve prints you will like. The different film in each. Since black-and- lab can fix it later. With slides you must buy most modern processing equipment will white is composed and exposed differently different film, filter the daylight film, or be generally be found in stores with a high from color, aesthetically and technically content with green or orange photos. volume of business. I’ve had very good it’s difficult to handle them both at once. 5. Making a print from a slide experiences with Wal-Mart, for example. Additionally, shooting two kinds of film is is prohibitively expensive and often Disappointing prints are often the result expensive—a point that budget-conscious unsatisfactory. Exhibition prints from of an inexperienced lab technician. Because folklorists must consider. slides can cost hundreds of dollars, but print film is so flexible, most negatives The question, then, is which film to even smaller prints are costly. With print can yield very good results when properly shoot. My personal choice is color print film, you can order a duplicate set of the printed. Do not give up! There are always (also called color negative) film. It’s the whole roll for $3 and present the extras to variables from day to day. The code may also most versatile and forgiving for several your subjects. vary from machine to machine, so check reasons. If you do need slides to accompany with the lab to make sure you understand 1. Print film has a lot of latitude. You lectures or grant proposals, it isn’t difficult the code on your prints. can overexpose it or underexpose it and to make them yourself from prints. Just Newer machines can produce index prints still get decent prints from the lab. Slide (or photograph the print with slide film. For that look like minicontact sheets and usually positive) film must be exposed much more best results, put the camera on a copy cost $1.50 extra. These are useful reminders accurately because it isn’t easily adjusted afterward. When I’m shooting slide film, A copy stand holds the camera directly over the photo or other flat artwork, allowing I bracket (change exposures) a lot to make you to position it precisely and shoot at slow shutter speeds if required. sure I get the perfect exposure, since To smooth a curled photo, you could flatten it under glass, but glass is reflective and difficult to keep clean. I prefer to put strips an overexposed slide looks awful when of black paper around the edges of the photo and weight the projected and is nearly impossible to print paper down with flat objects that won’t make a shadow, such as booklets. Since many of the things you are copying will not be the well. The more film I use, the more it costs, same dimensions as your 35mm camera’s frame, the black paper and the more good shots I miss because of provides a neat frame-filling border in addition to holding down the edges of the photo. incorrect exposures. Some tripods can be turned into copy stands. Ready-made copy stands often come with The high-speed print films that are two lights attached to the center pole but I have found these difficult to work with. I gener- 2. ally copy things in daylight using a corner window so that the lighting is even from both available are excellent for low-light situations sides. You can also use floodlights with tungsten film and position them on either side of the copy stand. Used and reasonably priced stands are available on eBay.

24 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore of what’s on each roll even though the images are too small to show details. The better machines also print a “reproduce code” on the back of each print, with the The reproduce code, decoded: negative number, color balance, and density. W. SIDE 1 Hr: Name of lab. This code enables you and the operator to : Negative number, also corresponds to number on index print. adjust the color and density of the print 935: Roll number (if you reprint from this roll, it will have a different number). if you don’t like the way an image turned N N –1 +1: Color balance and density, where N = normal. In the example, yellow and magenta out, or to duplicate it if you do. I strongly are normal; cyan is minus 1; and density (light or dark) is plus 1. If you like a particular print, recommend using a lab that codes its refer to this code and have it reprinted the same way. Or request a change in the reprint and see exactly what was adjusted. prints—I find this information invaluable. Such labs will be able to make reasonably reprint from the same roll, the roll number photographs can be one very personal way priced machine prints that look like custom on the back of the reprint will be different to thank them for their cooperation. I like to quality. from the original roll number, so you may think that our photos will find their way into Storing prints and negatives is always want to make note of that. Water-based Martha Cooper, the a problem, since the prints tend to get markers and ballpoint pens won’t write director of photog- separated from the negatives. File the index on the plastic-coated paper; use a fine-line raphy at City Lore, documents the art print with the negatives so that even if you permanent marker. and folk culture give the prints away, you’ll still be able to For me, one of the most persuasive reasons of New York City, largely in print film. find the roll by looking at the index print. to shoot prints instead of slides is the ease Her images have If there’s one outstanding print on a roll, with which I can give prints to the people appeared in museum exhibitions, books, indicate it on the index print so that you in the photos. Slides are harder to share and and magazines. If you have a question can find it again. It’s helpful to write the often wind up stuck in an inconveniently about photography roll number on the negative envelope, the located file drawer. Folklorists work with the that you’d like her to address in a future column, send your suggestion to the editor print envelope, and the index print. If you same subjects for years, and giving them good of Voices.

Book Reviewers Needed 21st annual Voices is looking for reviewers for the following books. If you are interested, contact Sally Atwater, 2621 West Lake Rd., Skaneateles, NY 13152; e-mail [email protected]. Information on review length and format may be found in the Submission Guidelines (see page 2). of Traditional Music & Dance Gordon Hall Gerould, The Grateful Dead: The History of a June 22, 23 & 24 Folk Story (University of Illinois Press, 2000). Altamont Fairgrounds, Altamont, NY Glenn Hinson, Fire in My Bones: Transcendence and the Holy Spirit in African American Gospel (University of Pennsylvania u u u Press, 2000). Music Crafts Camping u Elaine Lawless, Women Escaping Violence: Empowerment Participatory Dance through Narrative (University of Missouri Press, 2001). u Singing u Family Activities 2001 PERFORMERS Martin Carthy & Norma Waterson • Karan Casey Mamadou Diabate • Silk City • Lou & Peter Berryman Beverwyck String Band • David Kaynor • Tom Spiers Tom, Brad & Alice • Montcorbier • Arrogant Worms Joel Mabus • Laurie Riley • Harmonia • Steve Tilston Alison McMorland • Stillhouse Rounders • Ruth Pelham Sally Rogers & Howie Bursen • Fred Breunig • Artisan Donna HÉbert • Ben Murray & Siobhan Quinn • The Sevens Akire Bubar • Roger the Jester • Sara Grey • Simple Gifts peter & mary alice Amidon • Scuttlebutt • Mark Ross Cindy Mangsen & Steve Gillette • Finest Kind • storycrafters

Call/write for free brochure: Old Songs, Inc. PO Box 399, Guilderland, NY 12084 (518)765-2815 Email: [email protected] V i s i t o u r w e b s i t e : www.oldsongs.org

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Work for Hire BY PAUL RAPP

A basic and perplexing legal issue con- over someone’s status. The courts have de- the federal copyright law) and is meant to fronting people who create things for money veloped tests to help resolve these disputes, protect the creator from what was perceived (and companies that hire them to do so) is typically looking at such things as where as prior abuses of artists. In response to the the “work for hire” doctrine. The doctrine, and how the work is done, who has creative work-for-hire law, companies and institu- which is codified in the federal copyright law, control, and whether the payment for the tions have increasingly insisted that indepen- attempts to define who owns the copyrights to work involves tax withholding or employee dent contractors and artists assign all rights, a creative work in a situation where the creator benefits. including copyrights, to the purchaser upon is paid to make the creation. Where there is no employer-employee completion and delivery of the work. Such Simply, copyrights in a creative work vest in relationship, things can get very dicey. After an assignment (which must be in writing the creator as soon as the work is in “tangible” paying a creator a substantial amount of and signed by both parties) makes it crystal and “fixed” form (in other words, when the money to make something, people are often clear to everyone involved who owns what thing’s done). Copyrights are a bundle of rights surprised, to say the least, to learn that they and can prevent big and expensive problems that may be doled out by the copyright owner …the purchasers think they own down the road. one at a time. These rights include the rights Some creators refuse to make any such y er’ s idebar Law to duplicate, distribute, alter, display, or publish all the copyrights upon buying blanket assignment of their copyrights the work, and the right to make derivatives, or the artwork, and the artist seeks unless they receive a significant dollar pre- mium. Other possible alternatives include modified new versions, of the work. A painter, to protect the integrity and use of for example, owns all copyrights to a painting the assignment of only certain of the when it’s finished. He can sell the painting, her work… bundle of rights, or entering into a license and with the painting, the purchaser gets the agreement whereby copyrights are licensed right to display it. But the painter keeps the to the purchaser for a limited and defined rights to, for example, make and sell prints don’t own the copyrights to the thing they period of time. of the painting, and to create another work just bought. In the world of folklore, work-for-hire in a different medium based on the images I had a sculptor client who was com- issues typically arise when the creator is a in the painting. missioned to make a large human-form freelancer (i.e., not an employee), and the “Work for hire” is an exception to the gen- sculpture for some doctors. There was no work is a commissioned contribution to a eral rule that the creator owns the copyrights written agreement. The piece was displayed “collective work” (like an article for a maga- in her own work. Under this doctrine, if in the doctors’ waiting room and was very zine or a chapter in a multiauthor book), any the creative work is created by an employee popular with the doctors’ patients. After type of contribution to a film or video, or a as part of her job, the copyrights vest in several months the doctors decided that foreword, afterword, or annotation attached the employer. If the work is created by an the image of the sculpture would make a to a preexisting work. Note that a work of independent contractor or results from any great logo for their medical practice. The these types will be considered a work for relationship other than that of employer-em- sculptor was shocked to see a primitive line hire only when there is a written agreement, ployee, the copyrights stay with the creator drawing of her exquisite work in a newspa- signed by both parties, formalizing the work except (1) when the work is a collective work, per advertisement for medical services; the for hire relationship. part of a motion picture, a translation, a doctors were equally surprised to get a let- Whichever side of the transaction you compilation of other works, a textbook, a ter from a lawyer (that would be me) telling may be on, when faced with a transaction test, an atlas, or a supplementary work (for them they had absolutely no right to use this

example, illustrations or a foreword for a copyrighted image in such a way. The ads Paul Rapp book), and (2) if the parties expressly agree never ran again. The case illustrates perfectly (prapp@capital. in a written and signed document that the the typical tensions in the work-for-hire net) is an at- torney with the work shall be considered a work made for scenario: the purchasers think they own all Albany law firm hire. Only when both of these qualifications the copyrights upon buying the artwork, and of Cohen Dax & Koenig. He also are met do the copyrights in a work belong the artist seeks to protect the integrity and teaches art and to someone other than the creator. use of her work—a concept that purchasers entertainment The employer-employee situation is fairly of creative works often fail to appreciate or law at Albany Law School. straightforward: if you feel like an employee, understand. Write to him or you probably are an employee. Occasionally, The current work-for-hire law is fairly the editor of Voices if you have a general- interest question or topic you’d like to see however, there is a difference of opinion recent (it was part of the 1976 overhaul of discussed in print. Photo: Buck Malen

26 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore ar c hiva l que s tio ns Before You Put Your Collection on a Database… BY NANCY JOHNSON

When anyone with an archival collection decrease the need to enter information more torical information about the collector or thinks about getting things in order, thoughts than once. Learn the software, and know source; a concise narrative description of naturally run to databases. A database is an when to ask for help. the material (“scope and content”); where it incomparable tool for providing description People power. Databases do not build came from (“provenance”); where it is now; and access. But do a lot of thinking and plan- themselves. Who will design the tables? restrictions, if any, on using the collections; ning before you plunge in. Who will enter the data? Will the data entry and subject terms that can be used for key At the very outset, define your goal. What people need special expertise, like the ability word searching. will the result be: a printed finding aid for visit- to identify materials? Calculate staff hours Another aspect of consistency is using the ing researchers, online access for the public, realistically; it will take much longer than same terms both to describe items and to staff-only use? What kinds of information are you think. create the index or searching terms. If eth- needed: can the database be a simple inventory, nicity is something you track, for example, it or must it be fully searchable? Who will use it, Designing Your Database is essential to use exactly the same descrip- how do they approach the subject, and how This is the hard part, and it assumes that tors each time to facilitate good searches. can you make it easy for them to find what there is some order to the collection to begin Clarity. Use language that can be under- they’re looking for? with. A scholar’s box of notes on a project, stood by everyone, and avoid jargon. Make just pulled from the attic, must first be ar- your table structure and links between tables Basic Tools ranged into logical series—correspondence simple, clear, and easy to work with. Expertise. Seek advice from colleagues sorted chronologically, photographs identi- Scale. Start small. The purpose of a da- involved in similar projects and call in the fied and arranged by subject or date, material tabase is not to recreate a collection. Avoid experts—a computer guru, an archivist to relating to other projects removed—with the temptation to overload your database arrange the collection and translate that items placed in labeled folders or boxes so with information; start instead with a very arrangement to a database format, a pro- that they can be found. A database, by itself, general overview. A database with just a few grammer to help with indexing. Take full will not banish chaos. fields that describe an entire collection is advantage of anyone who knows the col- With the collection in order, a database much more valuable than one that provides lection—the collection creator, staff of an designer can create an arrangement, or very detailed information about just a small organization, someone with special subject structure, for the database. For example, part of a collection. You can always go back expertise. if there are groups of photographs, audio and add more. Funding for short-term consultancies for tapes, videotapes, and files, your database archival, computer, and database expertise will most likely need a separate table for Test Your Design is available from several sources. See An- each group. Relationships can be created Confirm that your database structure works nouncements in this issue of Voices (page between tables using consistent descriptors by entering at least twenty records to see 45) for more details. or indexing. Or if items in different tables all whether the fields you have set up actually Hardware. Do you have a computer with pertain to one event or theme, they can be work. If the same problem recurs, go back to sufficient memory to build a database? Will related using a common identification field, the drawing board. It is worth the effort to get it be available for users? Relying on an old such as an event or collection number, or a your database to do exactly what you want it machine or on a work station that is often in consistent subject term. What fields will you need in your data- Nancy Johnson use for another purpose will yield frustration is a freelance rather than results. base? Keep these concepts in mind: archivist and a new Software. Consistency. Collect the same type of member of the There is no one “correct” archi- New York Folklore val database program. If you have a package information about everything and use the Society Board. you know and like, consider using it. If you same language to describe it. Archivists She has worked with NYFS on its are starting from scratch or considering a generally look for the person or organization archives project, new software package, find out whether it that created the material; its title; its date; as well as with the Center for is a flat file (like Excel) or a relational da- how much of it there is (“extent”); how it Traditional Music and Dance, City Lore, the tabase (like Access). A relational database is organized and arranged, both physically Calandra Italian American Institute, and the Association for Cultural Equity/Alan Lomax allows more searching possibilities and may and intellectually; brief biographical or his- Archives.

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Standof the Clear

Occupational Folklore of New York City Subway Workers By Ryn Gargulinski

tudies of occupational lore vary widely, talking to conductors on the job while riding unstable environment, hero narratives, and their subjects ranging from factory the train, and frequenting subway stations. tales that deal with humor, pranks and the and hospitalworkers, workers librarians, to window college washers professors, and Only two subjects allowed me to tape their absurd. For this article, I focus on a single lawyers. Some dangerous occupations that interviews. Some even looked wary when I category: tales of death. have been examined include police officers, produced pen and paper, and I had to com- Air Force pilots-in-training, miners, and mit my finds to memory until the informants Examples firefighters. In the transportation category, were out of sight. All exchanges were in the Dismemberment. Severed heads and dismem- researchers have looked at New York City manner of a formal interview rather than a berment are a major theme found again and taxicab drivers, porters, and flight attendants. “natural” setting where the stories would again in the subway tales. Ask any subway In almost all such studies, the emphasis is on normally be exchanged. worker about a corpse (or parts of it) and he logocentrism—the spoken over the written After collecting a number of subway or she will be sure to come up with at least word. “Let the people speak for themselves,” stories, I categorized them, analyzed them, one story. Take, for instance, the homeless as folklorist Jack Santino (1988) put it. and examined their functions. I also exam- guy who got his head smashed by an incom- Subway tales can be found in Sally Char- ined their themes and variations—which ing train. When he fell, head gushing blood, now and Steven Zeitlin’s folklore and oral are what make them folklore. How does a woman on the platform took off her shirt history of transit, I’ve Been Working on the the transmission of these stories illustrate to use as a tourniquet on his skull. Subway (in which workers term a number formulation and dissemination of folklore? Then there was the conductor who had of narratives “war stories”), Robert Snyder’s Who tells them and why? worked the subway for more than 40 years. collection entitled Transit Talk, Marion I realized that accident and cautionary nar- One day he was concerned about some Swerdlow’s book Underground Woman, and ratives were the most common. They would rowdy kids in the rear cars. He stuck his columnist Jim Dwyer’s book Subway Lives. be my topic. I then took a fresh approach in head out the window to investigate—only With those sources as background, I decided my interviews, searching only for that type to have his skull shattered by a protruding to hear for myself what New York City of subway story. I chose the accident and signal. “He was in a million pieces,” said my subway workers had to say. cautionary stories that came up the most informants. My fieldwork began in July 1998, when I frequently, struck me as the most interesting That narrative is similar to the story of the approached a token booth clerk and said I (or gruesome), or contained examples of the conductor found dead in his cab:

was doing a thesis project on the New York types of details I wished to discuss. A conductor pulled out of the station City subway system. First he asked, “Why?” What I found amid all the debris, rats, with no problems—no one was stuck Then he held his nose in the universal gesture and grime in the subways was a community between the doors—and the train pulled safely into the next station. that says, “It stinks.” It has been a long road of close-knit workers who share, besides But after it reached the station, the ever since. I have interviewed at least 50 New their jobs in the bowels of the most diverse doors didn’t open. The train operator York City Transit employees—conductors, city on the planet, a number of stories that radioed his conductor to ask him what the problem was. There was no train operators, token booth clerks, office adhere them. Many of the tales that bind answer. He radioed again. No answer. employees, track workers, subway manag- fall into the accident and cautionary genre He tried a third time to no avail. When ers, even the Transit chaplain—wherever and can be broken down into five major the operator finally left his post and walked back to the conductor’s booth, I could find someone willing to talk. This categories: accounts of death, near-death he found the conductor dead, still meant catching workers between shifts at the (and close-call) stories, tales highlighting the standing, with half his head shorn off. Stillwell Avenue terminal in Coney Island, He must have left his head out too

28 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore The city’s Transit Authority workers tell and retell stories that entertain, instruct, and horrify. The use of insider jargon

long and been partially decapitated by of the platform. This story came from an coming in to hit his head. Boom! It one of the signs jutting out from the instructor who tells it in his safety classes at hit his head, it cracked, blood splat- tunnel walls. tered. And the other man made the the Transit Authority (Charnow and Zeitlin Also in the decapitation category is local just before the doors closed up. n.d.: 32): He didn’t even realize he’d killed a the story told by a conductor about kids man. That man was a DOA. On the jumping up and down on the roadbed I was off duty and my wife had some- platform, dead. adjacent to the tracks where his train was thing to exchange in Gimbel’s. It was still the rush hour, and I’m waiting pulling in to the station. A young passenger Suicides. Suicides are another theme in for her toward the middle of the plat- had apparently been goofing off between form near the down stairs from the accident and cautionary narratives. “It’s cars and fallen under the train. The cops mezzanine. And you see, they always the worst around holidays,” one worker have a habit, the local will pull in the had cut power to the tracks where the kids informed me, relating a story of a young station, and the express is already three had congregated and their dead friend lay. quarters at the receiving end of the mother on the platform, holding her child’s The conductor was one of the first workers station. Well, the local, as soon as he hand, who jumped in front of an oncoming pulls into the station, he’ll open his on the scene to see the lifeless body of the train on the Fourth of July. And a newly doors, let people out, and right away child on the tracks. “A chunk the size of a close the doors before the express trained conductor talked about the 18-year- softball was cut out of his head...his brains train comes to a full stop. Meanwhile, old who jumped to his death in front of a this man’s running down the stairs, were spilling out of his head.” One employee train the week before Christmas. and I hear, “Hold it! Hold the train! in yet another incident said he would never Hold the doors! Hold the doors!” “I refuse to drive my car under the el- forget a decapitated head he had seen smol- And I look, and there’s another guy at line,” began one transit worker. “Let me the edge of the platform reading the dering on the third rail: “It was a gruesome tell you why.” He then related the tale of a newspaper—this is a true story. The sight. The skin was turning gray and there man running nudged him accidentally motorman on the overhead line who had was steam coming out of its nose.” because he jumped down the last few the misfortune of blasting into someone stairs and lost his balance. He nudged There is also the tale of the passenger jumping in front of the train—a “jumper.” him far enough for the express train who was waiting for the train at the edge Although chunks and arms and legs were

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 found on the track under the train, there a homeless man on the tracks or a passenger the B line is Bravo (formerly Boy), the Q was no head. Not to worry. It turned up the who was pushed, careless, or attempting train is Quincy, and the No. 2 train is the following day in the back seat of some guy’s suicide. In some cases he dies the second Deuce. The use of this specialized language, convertible. Evidently it had fallen from the the train pulls out of the station; in others, like knowledge of the decapitation stories, overhead line to the street below, not to be the emergency team lifts the train from the proves that the speaker has “earned his noticed by the driver until the next day. tracks with air bags and transports him to the stripes” in the profession—and also keeps Another tale involves a jumper who hit the hospital before he perishes. He is sometimes the outsiders out. front of the train with such a force that he granted his last request: a cigarette or a beer, More importantly, it is the telling and smashed through the train’s front window, or both. This story is so popular that it be- retelling of certain subway narratives that breaking the train operator’s arm. came an episode of television’s Homicide: Life creates the community of folklore. In many “I’ve never seen a suicide, thank God,” on the Street; in turn, a show was then aired instances, the transit workers would have one worker said. A fellow worker was not so about the making of this particular episode. nothing else in common besides the bond lucky. A man jumped in front of the train a Some transit workers may not even be aware they share through their work environment. week before the train operator was about to that they are participating in what we know The stories act as a glue that reinforces the retire. “Now he has to live with that image as “narrative folklore”—the passing down bond and brings the community together. the rest of his life.” of wisdom through their stories. Explains Besides being part of the occupational Brunvand (1981: 1), community, through their storytelling they distinguish themselves as members within Analysis When we follow the ancient practice The first issue that must be addressed is of informally transmitting ‘lore’... by that community: “the guy who tells the what, exactly, makes these subway narra- word of mouth and customary exam- story about...,” “those who have heard the tives folklore. Writes Jan Harold Brunvand ple from person to person, we do not story about…” concentrate on the form or content (1981: 3) in The Vanishing Hitchhiker, “All true of our folklore; instead, we simply Another element common to the accident folklore ultimately depends upon continued listen to information that others tell and cautionary tales is their function. They oral dissemination, usually within fairly us and then pass it on—more or less all serve to encourage safety by reinforcing accurately—to other listeners. homogeneous ‘folk groups,’ and upon the the importance of remaining alert and care- retention through time of internal patterns For example, a subway worker asking a ful. In toto, they can be taken as a big list of and motifs that become traditional in the fellow employee whether he has heard about “don’ts.” Don’t let your guard down; don’t oral exchanges.” Certain internal motifs— the young track worker who was “smeared by feel safe and comfortable; don’t forget to the five major themes of death, close calls, a train in this very spot” is doing much more use caution; don’t underestimate the power the unstable environment, heroes, and hu- than relaying information. He is participating of a roaring train; don’t become distracted. mor—run throughout the subway accident in a tradition. In some of the narratives, the workers and cautionary narratives. That tradition is played out among a ho- themselves explain the purpose of the The scariness inherent in the accident mogenous folk group—in this particular case, story. For instance, after relating the tale of and cautionary subway stories can be found the subway employees. They are all working the dead-on-arrival on the platform in the in tales presented by the Brothers Grimm: for the same boss, New York City, under the Gimbel’s story, the safety instructor com- “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Hansel and same hazardous conditions. They also work mented, “I tell that story to [emphasize] Gretel,” and “Cinderella.” They all contain very closely with one another. Subway work by safety with the workers. Never stay too close a dark shadow of foreboding, warning the its very nature is social. Subway employees are to the edge of those platforms; workers have listeners to act in a safe manner. Of course, regularly assigned to work together. The train a habit of doing that. You never know who’s accident and cautionary stories are, by their operator–conductor relation is similar to that of running for a train or who may get a dizzy very nature, gloomy and full of gruesome police partners: one becomes the other’s right- spell and fall against you. Always maintain humor. hand man. Track workers are always assigned safety: stay away from the edge of platform Another factor that makes the subway to work in groups. On the job or on breaks or levels” (Charnow and Zeitlin n.d.: 32). tales occupational lore is their manner of in locker rooms, transit workers have ample The death tales warn workers about the transmission: these stories are told, re- opportunity to talk to one other. dangers of their work and remind them that shaped, and told yet again—sometimes with As in any occupation, subway workers they are reckoning with forces mightier than slight variations. In one tale I heard several use jargon to signal their standing within they. The third rail is a force beyond their times, a story about a man pinned between an elite, privileged group. Their terms control. Trains are brutal and fatal. Workers the subway car and the platform, the victim include “roadbed,” “jumper,” “tube” and must always be on guard against mechanical is sometimes found between the car and “indication.” They also use nicknames to failure as well as human error. People can be the tunnel wall. Always a male, he is either differentiate the subway lines. For instance, cruel—and sometimes just as dangerous as

30 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore anything else workers find in the subways. are, indeed, meant to horrify the listeners, versal. Although their phrasing and jargon Token booth clerks have been torched to but not without an underlying lesson. Sub- may be unique to a particular field, the tales death, and workers should be scared. way accident and cautionary narratives are share the language of everyday life. They And they are also warned to expect the not told for the sole purpose of enjoyment. have a universal application that transcends unexpected. Nowhere is safe, as exempli- Every tale of death and destruction is closely the boundaries of a particular occupation fied by the tale of the worker who left the followed with a message of caution. Some and can be appreciated by everyone, regard- lighting department after many years. He of the gory stories encourage the listener less of his or her job. Everyone loves a good finally had the chance to get off the tracks to let his imagination run: “What if I had story, and almost everyone should be able and transfer to the telephone department. slipped just one inch to the right and fallen on to relate to the subway narratives. Their One day he and his partner were crossing the third rail?” “What if I didn’t happen to primary purpose—to teach and warn—has the tracks between platforms and boom—he look the other way and see the train racing universal appeal. stepped right into the path of a roaring train. toward me from the opposite direction?” In The subway itself is universal. It is an The narrators of the tales themselves at this category is the tale of the track main- important part of the life of all New York- times concluded their stories with cautions: tenance supervisor who took the day off, ers—the millions of passengers and 55,000 “This is a very, very dangerous job…” (Sny- only to hear that the man filling in for him transit employees alike. The subway is a der 1997: 53). Some of the warnings could was fried while cutting a cable on the tracks: microcosm of this diverse city. Although the perhaps be prefaced with the line, “Oh, the “He went up in a ball of flames” and spent subway train itself is constantly in motion, things that you’ll see!” Suicides. Severed more than six months in a burn unit. The its territory remains constant, stable. The heads. Smoldering corpses. supervisor lives with the thought, “What stories travel through the vast array of tun- In addition to the many tales about worker if I had gone to work that day? That could nels—656 (some sources say 714) miles of fatalities, there are other stories in which have been me.” track—to the hundreds of token booths in workers have a brush with death. Being which workers sit, to the B line, the N line, cautious and being prepared are lessons to Conclusion constantly on the go. be learned—so are being alert and knowing Occupational accident and cautionary This study shows that a simple exchange limitations. Tales remind workers not to narratives are alive, well, and circulating in between subway employees can be more rush or try to “make up time” by speeding today’s workplace. They reflect the dangers than it seems. A final case in point is the through dangerous curves. Postings in the and concerns of workers in hazardous jobs. conversation of two subway workers I over- subway stations even warn, “Most accidents They serve a variety of purposes and, as part heard while riding a train. “What a jackass,” happen when people are in a rush.” Workers of occupational lore as a whole, constitute a one said, referring to a young worker who who are tired, anxious, or drunk or on drugs major part of oral tradition. They also give showed up drunk his first day of training and are also hazards. workers “at least a measure of personal was instantly fired. The kid’s father, a subway The tale of the fatal Malbone Street train control over [their] working lives (McCarl bigwig, had gotten him a plum assignment, crash (Cudahy 1999) continues to be told 1988: 35). The narratives reveal “a variety of but as the other worker said, “He didn’t precisely for the benefit of such workers. strategies used by workers to insure informal know how good he had it.” An exchange This crash, which killed 93 (some sources control of work safety. The seriousness of that brief (and seemingly inconsequential) say 102) in 1918, had the fatal element: a the fatality account resulting in a new safety between subway employees in reality does a fatigued and poorly trained operator. The procedure and the catharsis of the near-miss lot more. As in the subway accident stories, tale continues to serve as a warning and is narrative underscore the way verbal ac- the workers are weaving their on-the-job circulated among current workers as well counts of work techniques provide insiders knowledge into communal subway worker as found in almost every book on the New with necessary information in a compelling knowledge, venting their emotions, provid- York City subway. form” (McCarl 1988: 40-41). This measure Ryn Gargulinski is Another lesson is community. Subway of control is extremely important, especially a journalist, poet, employees must work together to ensure in unstable environments like the New York cartoonist, and humorist. She wrote the safety of all involved. “Out of such City subway system. The tales tell workers her master’s thesis shared dangers and work routines emerges what to look out for, how to avoid potential on the occupational folklore of New York a sense of camaraderie…” (Snyder 1997: disasters, and how to do things differently City subway workers 90). The working relationship is not just a than a fellow worker who was not so cau- for Brooklyn College (CUNY), where she partnership—it could be a matter of life tious—and paid the price. also received a BFA and death. Two aspects common to all occupational in creative writing. “People of all ages love a good scare,” accident and cautionary narratives stand out: She contributes a monthly column, poems, and illustrations writes Brunvand (1981: 47). Some narratives they are simultaneously specialized and uni- to 12gauge.com.

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 AcrossAcross BordersBorders

BY LYNNE WILLIAMSON

he concept of border crossing rever- fered opportunities for Tuscarora artists to things to remember is our way...What T berates in Haudenosaunee (or Iro- sell their work not only in the museum shop we create, tourist item or not, serves as a reminder of our spiritual, economic, quois) consciousness as a fundamental right, but also directly to the public at meet-the- and cultural survival (Rickard 1992). guaranteed by the Jay Treaty of 1794 and re- artist sales at the museum. (Still to come are enacted every year in July, of native people to a catalog and website that will enable visitors In some ways, the decorative beadwork cross the border between the United States to buy beadwork from the artists.) tradition calls to mind the powerful and sa- and Canada without restrictions. A traveling Across Borders also makes a persuasive cred wampum belts, whose designs provide exhibition of Haudenosaunee beadwork, statement about the process of cultural historical information, tell stories, and express organized and circulated by the McCord representation. The interdisciplinary team Haudenosaunee concepts and values through Museum of Canadian History in Montreal guiding the project’s development brought symbolism. Haudenosaunee cosmology, and the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara curatorial, art historical, and folklore ex- rhetoric, oral history, and expressive culture University, takes its name from this concept. pertise as well as deep knowledge of the are extraordinarily poetic and symbolic, and Across Borders refers not only to the binational experiences of bead-work artists in the community members retain a high degree of project team but also to the two featured Tuscarora and Kahnawake communities. cultural literacy in their metaphors and sto- communities, Kahnawake in Québec and Many bead-workers participated in project ries. Drawing on the knowledge of its native Tuscarora in New York. The two museums research on historical museum collections curators and the beadworkers themselves, mounted the exhibit in collaboration with the and contributed to the exhibit’s video the exhibit grounds its interpretation in the Kanien’kehaka Raotitiohkwa Cultural Center programs and signage texts. This kind of Haudenosaunee world view and in a Haude- of the Kahnawake, the Tuscarora Nation collaboration between insider and outsider nosaunee way of seeing. community beadworkers in New York State, perspectives encourages a clearer, more ac- In its own installation, the Castellani Art and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. curate, and more sensitive interpretation by Museum added a dramatic introduction to Designed to present the history, context, incorporating the complexities and realities the traveling exhibit. One wall in the main hall and contemporary expression of a long-stand- within the communities represented. featured a painted and photographic montage ing traditional art form that is deeply impor- For instance, although it is possible to gain of beadwork designs from a woman’s skirt tant to the Haudenosaunee, this informative awareness of Haudenosaunee symbols such interspersed with portraits of local artists. A and evocative exhibition succeeds on several as the Sky Dome or Celestial Tree through projected video of Niagara Falls thundered levels. The project situates Haudenosaunee study and scholarship, a full understanding down an adjacent wall as a reminder of the beadwork in both its historical roots and of the power of these symbols for Hauden- site’s historical importance to beadwork its present-day strength. The exhibit goes saunee people and the significance of the marketing. Visitors then proceed through beyond excellent scholarship, however, to traditions and stories for their lives and sections on the Iroquois universe, the devel- honor in a compelling and profound way sense of community identity comes most opment of beadwork, creating, marketing, how Haudenosaunee cosmology, expressed compellingly from within this experience. and continuing. They come away with new through symbols, metaphors, and motifs, According to Jolene Rickard, Tuscarora understandings of the history and principles gives meaning to the art and continues to artist, assistant professor of art and art his- of the Haudenosaunee, the origins and evolu- inform the lives of the artists. Curators tack- tory at the State University at Buffalo, and tion of early beadwork, the process of making led such issues as innovation and cultural member of the curatorial team, beadwork, the development of new forms for continuity in traditional arts—subjects often marketing, the use of beadwork in traveling debated in museum, art history, and folklore In my community there is a relation- ship between all the objects that we and performing shows, selling to tourists, forums. Marketing, so central to Haudeno- create and the words that surround us. beadwork markets today, use of beadwork in saunee beadwork, has been addressed both The words are here to teach and guide the community and for diplomacy, and ex- in the exhibit interpretation and in practice us through life; the objects are here tending the tradition through contemporary by the Castellani Art Museum, which of- to serve the memory and meaning of the word. The practice of looking at art. At several points along the route, one

32 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore The richness of the Across Borders exhibit comes from the collaboration of contemporary beadworkers with curators and historians. By honoring the significance of their art in their world, traditional artists from several Native communities link past and present for museum goers. Photo: Biff Henrich, Keystone Film Productions passes through a longhouse—a metaphorical to demean and adulterate a tradition, has The contribution of Across Borders comes door that reinforces the sense of movement served to inspire Haudenosaunee women from its clear expression of complex ideas, and exchange between spaces. especially to create items encoding their beliefs its vibrant native voices, its organization The exhibit provokes consideration of and sense of identity while at the same time feed- and design, and the well-written interpre- change and continuity within a tradition by ing their families. tive texts. The project has stimulated artists adding historical examples of beadwork in This reviewer found the beadwork breath- from the nearby Tuscarora community to diplomatic, commercial, and “wild west” taking and noted an expansion of the art form form the Tuscarora Beadwork Study Group, show contexts, and also by having com- and the number of artists, even during the last for example, and the Castellani Art Mu- missioned contemporary native artists to ten years. Many of the historical pieces have seum has published a special edition of its explore and even reinvent the concepts and not been exhibited before and are eloquent calendar newsletter with the exhibit texts uses of the form. The multifaceted nature expressions of Haudenosaunee cosmol- included. The project generated a two-part of Haud-enosaunee beadwork and its con- ogy—for instance, the bag dated 1820–40 beadwork conference cosponsored by the tinuing popularity and resonance suggest the depicting the twins from the Creation Story, museum and the art history department of need for a sophisticated understanding of and Sophronia Thompson’s Tree of Peace the University of Buffalo. And the proposed complex and changing interactions—border from the late nineteenth century. Many illustrated catalogue and website will bring crossings, perhaps—between cultures and contemporary examples reflect the forms the significant ideas, the dynamic collabora- also within cultural groups. The role of and designs of older pieces; other creations tive process, and the fascinating world of marketing, for instance, sometimes thought exhibit individual touches. beadwork to a wider public.

xhibit chedule Reference E S Rickard, Jolene. 1992. Cew Ete Haw I Tih: The Bird That May 25–October 28, 2001 June 21, 2002–October 13, 2002 Carries Language Back to Another. In Partial Recall, Lucy Lippard, ed. New York: The New Press. Canadian Museum of Civilization Royal Ontario Museum Hull, Québec Toronto

December 9, 2001–May 19, 2002 November 23, 2002–February 16, 2003 National Museum of the American In- Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Lynne Williamson is director of the Con- necticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program dian Research Center with the Institute for Community Research George Gustav Heye Center Mashantucket, Connecticut in Hartford. New York City Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 The Magic of

By Robert A. Emery

Being one of New York City’s most successful merchants was not enough 1806 he moved to New York City and the for Abraham Thompson (1776–1851). He yearned for still more riches—Cap- larger business opportunities of what was to tain Kyd’s pirate treasure. His hunts began with use of folkloric formulae become America’s greatest port. to find the treasure that legend said had been buried on his native Long Thompson was not satisfied with making Island, and when those failed, he created public treasure-hunting compa- money in conventional ways, however. The nies seeking the investments of fellow enthusiasts. Finally he undertook Long Island of his youth was the legendary systematic studies of the tenets of ceremonial magic by which to locate site of the treasure said to have been buried buried pirate gold. by Captain William Kyd (or Kidd) before his eal-world commercial acumen coexisted with a belief in the fantastic in the person capture and execution for piracy in 1701. of Abraham Gardiner Thompson Poe’s “Gold Bug.” A nation familiar with the Some situated the treasure on Gardiner’s R (1776–1851). A leading New York spiritualistic revelations of the Fox sisters Island, some near Montauk, and long before out his Citybusiness merchant, career Thompsonwas fascinated through by the- and the attempts to establish mesmerism the Revolution the likely spots had been legendary riches of Captain Kyd’s hidden as an exact science would not have found pockmarked with treasure hunters’ digs. It pirate treasure. Thompson’s interests altogether eccentric. mattered not that reputable scholars called To some extent, Thompson’s preoccupa- Perhaps Thompson acquired his interest Kyd’s treasure fiction; ever since the early tion with treasure hunting was a product of in buried treasure early in life. His mother eighteenth century, hopeful adventurers had his time, and he was not the first hard-head- was a Gardiner of Gardiner’s Island—a continued to search for it. ed business person to be bit by the treasure place long associated with pirate lore—and bug. Goodwin Wharton (1653–1704), for his father’s family was among the settlers With Rum, Rods, and Spells instance, a member of Parliament and Lord of Long Island in the seventeenth century, In his old age, Abraham Thompson of the Admiralty, combined advice from the heyday of the pirates. After receiving a recalled his treasure-hunting efforts in the fairies with modern technology—diving scanty early education, Thompson began days before he moved to the city. Despite bells, albeit invented by angels—to hunt for his business career in Islip. He early dis- the passage of time, his recollections ap- sunken treasure (Richards 1971). In antebel- played the commercial ability and public pear to have been accurate; in fact, one of lum America treasure was in the air, so to spirit that later characterized his mercantile his fellow treasure hunters independently speak. Interest in hidden gold ranged from career. He was, for example, largely respon- reported much the same efforts, albeit in Joseph Smith’s treasure-seeking activities, sible for establishing the first public postal less detail. which ultimately led him to discover the system on eastern Long Island—no mean Solomon Davis, Thompson’s long-time plates of gold, the basis of the Book of achievement in light of the isolation that coachman, recalled that his employer “knew Mormon, to extremes of ratiocination, as in then characterized Suffolk County. In about a place at Montauk where Kidd’s money was buried”—Fort Pond Bay at Montauk Point.

34 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Once, Thompson went there with an old New York. The law also limited the lucrative luck. In 1844, a successor firm (in which man and one David Mulford of Sag Harbor, import business to only thirty-five licensed Thompson had also invested) used a diving armed with “a rod that would attract to the auctioneers, of whom Thompson was one. bell and actually recovered some timber, a money.” The rod worked better in Mulford’s This measure, coupled with the construction cannon, and (Thompson said) a cask of hands than in the old man’s because Mulford of the Erie Canal (in the financing of which silver. It was probably in this connection (who “drank more rum”) “had more of the Thompson also had an interest), made New that Thompson interested himself in the Water of Life in him.” Using the rod, Mul- York City the commercial metropolis of invention of a “submarine telescope.” ford “found where the deposit was, struck a North America: by 1825 it handled more Thompson himself may have written a crowbar down on it, and it sounded; formed than half the nation’s total imports. pamphlet, Account of Some of the Traditions and his ring and commenced digging.” When Thompson’s wealth grew with the city’s. Experiments Respecting Captain Kidd’s Piratical he broke the turf, a huge black-and-white From 1815 on he traded as an import auc- Vessel, published in New York in 1844; five bull ran over the hill, pawing “as if he was tioneer in the firm of Boggs & Thompson, copies survive. This pamphlet recounted mad” and looking “as big as a mountain.” at 62 Wall Street, and made enough to be various Kyd stories (many of them based Then nearly a thousand cattle ran over the named among the “Rich Men of 1822,” on sources “on whom we place the utmost opposite hill, acting the same way. Mulford with $27,000 in real and personal property. reliance”), suggested that “immense loot” exclaimed, “By God, we have got it,” and all By 1845 he was worth some $500,000 and could be found at the Hudson River site, and the cattle stopped and began to feed. The was included among the “Wealthy Citizens solicited investments in the salvage firm. It crowbar sank into the earth a foot deep; but of New York City.” noted that Thompson would receive one- Mulford’s exclamation “broke the spell,” and Thompson did not confine himself to third of the value of any treasure salvaged, when they dug down, all they found was a the auction business. At various times he as well as be “banker and receiver” of the little piece of mother-of-pearl. served as a bank president and as director firm. Investments must not have been forth- Another time Thompson went to Fort of another bank, two railroad companies, coming, since nothing more was heard of Pond Bay with Sullivan Moulton and “old and two insurance companies. Neither was the salvage efforts. Mr. Brower.” Brower had “a needle” to lo- he oblivious to the wider interests of his cate the treasure. “They centered the spot community: he was an active member of Turning to the Occult where the treasure was, began operations,” Brick Presbyterian Church and a trustee of Abraham Thompson carried on private but when Brower’s old “bull-bitch” lapped the Seamen’s Friends Society. Sometimes studies in the occult while he conducted his their pail of drinking water, Brower cursed Thompson’s more speculative business deals successful commercial career. His studies the dog and again broke the spell. Brower backfired, but in sum, as one of his business diverged from the stories he had absorbed remembered much digging, with spells and associates said, “In money matters he was as a youth on Long Island, which were based incantations. considered rather a shrewd man.” on belief in ghosts, clairvoyants, and dreams While living on Long Island, Thompson that foretold the future. Rather, their aim did some searching on Gardiner’s Island as The Public Treasure Hunter was gold, and they came from a book. He well, presumably using similar tactics and Abraham Thompson’s business reputation told some of his associates about these tools. lent plausibility even to his treasure-hunting studies but did not (perhaps understandably) ventures. In fact, rumor had it that his Gar- mention them to such men as his pastor, “Rather a Shrewd Man” diner ancestry gave him secret information Dr. Gardiner Spring, a pillar of New York Although Abraham Thompson had on the location of hidden gold. In 1829 respectability. established himself as a merchant in New Thompson and others formed a syndicate Thompson carefully read The Magus, or Ce- York City before the War of 1812, his busi- that purchased 100 acres of shoreline and lestial Intelligencer , by Francis Barrett, a teacher ness career soared only after the war ended. the right to mine a portion of the riverbed of (and presumably practitioner) of ceremonial Determined that Great Britain’s postwar the lower Hudson, just below the Highlands, magic, active in England around 1800. He exports should come to New York rather where legend held that Kyd had scuttled his was also a notably unsuccessful balloonist. than go to competing ports, in 1817 the pirate ship. The syndicate probed and bored city’s import auctioneers chose Thompson the property without much as their lobbyist to seek a favorable auction law from the state legislature. Thompson was successful: the new auction statute, by assuring the sale of all imported goods put up for auction, attracted British exports predominantly to

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Barrett’s Magus, a tome of some 500 pages, It is unclear how far Thompson actu- ter of life”—which involved shutting a man was devoted to “natural magic”: the “natural ally attempted to practice magic. After his for six months a room lined with Irish linen sympathy and antipathy amongst all things death, in adjudicating a suit that challenged and keeping him drunk on strong beer or throughout the whole universe.” It described the validity of Thompson’s will (which left London porter—“he had the receipt and all in general terms the philosopher’s stone, $347,000 to charity), the judge suggested that the ingredients to make” the philosopher’s the elements of alchemy, and in somewhat he had merely dabbled in chemistry, electric- stone. When he succeeded in making this, he more detail, the raising of planetary spirits. ity, and mesmerism. Thom-pson’s claims to would be able to transmute metals into gold, Thompson, with his attraction to things magical attainments may reflect more his find treasures in the earth, cure diseases, and occult, read The Magus with intense interest. beliefs than his achievements, although he prolong life. The book suggested that one could obtain himself believed that spirits tormented him A similarly miraculous instrument, a min- gold and wisdom through magic but pro- for engaging in occult experiments. eral rod, could be made to locate buried trea- vided no specific formulae. Thompson stated that except for “the wa- sure, and in fact Thompson experimented in using one to find a hidden purse of gold. The mineral rod (made of one-third each For Further Reading and Research of silver, bismuth, and white copper, plus unspecified herbs) had to be rubbed 25 days Albion, Robert Greenhalgh. 1939. The Rise of Our Own Land. Philadelphia: J.B. by a magnet before use; it also had to be put of New York Port. New York: Charles Lippincott. into a hollow quill and placed in the Bible at Scribner’s Sons. This history details Smith, William Jr. 1972.The History of a particular chapter. Thompson’s lobbying efforts and the Province of New York. Cambridge: Thompson believed that looking in an ap- the effect of New York’s auction law Harvard University Press. propriately prepared “glass” (possibly a mir- (L.1817, c.275). Thompson, Abraham. 1844. Auction ror) would allow him to use planetary spirits Barrett, Francis. 1801. The Magus, or Celestial System in New York. Merchants’ to see things at a distance and locate hidden Intelligencer; being a Complete System of Magazine and Commercial Review 10:154– treasure; the glass had to lie on the eyes of Occult Philosophy. London: Lackington, 57. Thompson wrote his own account a corpse to concentrate its spirit. Witnesses Allen. of lobbying for the auction law. The differed on Thompson’s statements that his Bonner, Willard Hallam. 1947. Pirate auctioneers’ quasi-monopoly lasted house on Columbia Street, in Brooklyn, was Laureate: The Life and Legends of Captain until 1838, L.1838, c.52. set up for magic experiments: some denied Kidd. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Thompson v. Quimby, 2 Braf.Surr. 339 it altogether; others mentioned a mysterious Press. (1853), aff’d Thompson v. Thompson, room that he alone entered. Emery, Robert A. 1989. “Fragments of 21 Barb. 107 (1855). This is the primary Beliefs such as those must have been a product 19th-Century Folk Belief in New York source for Thompson’s treasure- more of Thompson’s study of ceremonial magic Court Reports,” New York Folklore 15(1- hunting interests. The case, concerning than of the stories derived from his Long Island 2):111 A discussion of court opinions Thompson’s competence to write a youth. As the judge in his will contest suggested, as a folklore source. valid will, included extensive testimony Thompson may have regarded them, if anything, Furman, Gabriel. 1968. Antiquities of Long regarding his activities and beliefs. as scientific. In Abraham Thompson’s eyes, ritual Island . New York: Port Washington. Thompson, Harold W. 1967. New York magic of the sort expounded by The Magus may 1968. State Folktales, Legends and Ballads. New well have seemed an intellectually systematic King, Francis X. 1992. The Flying Sorcerer. York: Dover. Originally published occult system that could find the pirate trea- Oxford: Mandrake. The book contains under the title Body, Boots and Britches sure his early folklore beliefs and his gold- what little is known about Francis Folktales, Legends, Ballads and Speech of hunting investments had failed to locate. Barrett, author of The Magus. Country New in 1939, this book makes Murphy, Henry C. 1846. The Piracy of clear that belief that Kyd’s treasure select one of these for inclusion under Captain Kidd, Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine could be found on Montauk persisted “further reading”? 14:49–50. A contemporary comment on into the 20th century. Barrett, Walter. 1870. The Old Merchants treasure-hunting efforts. Watson, John F. 1846. Annals and of New York City, 3, pt.1 (New York: M. Ritchie, Robert C. 1986. Captain Kidd and Occurrences of New York City and State, the War against the Pirate. Cambridge: in the Olden Time. Philadelphia: Henry F. Robert A. Emery (e-mail: remer@mail. als. Harvard University Press. The author Anners. The author cited “Mr. Brower” edu) is reference librarian at the Albany Law School Library, 80 New Scotland discusses the realities and legends of on treasure hunting—the same Brower Avenue, Albany, NY 12208. Kyd’s treasure. who figures in Thompson’s account. Skinner, Charles M. 1896. Myths & Legends Wilkins, Harold T. 1937. Captain Kidd

36 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore lmost two weeks before Passover to the other, wondering who was going to A my father brought home a live fish win the battle. I counted on my father, but for the holidays.in order Of for course, my mother he knew to thiscook fish it my mother would not relent. would be of the finest quality, since it came “Izzy,” she said, “if you make me kill this from his landsman on the East Side. Papa fish, I will never forgive you.” made the trip from Brooklyn by a trolley “Well, Rosie,” my father replied, “if you car that passed right in front of our house want to see him dead, you be the murderer,” He had this fish in a bucket and presented and he sadly left the house. it to my mother so she could put it in the I watched my mother as she picked up washtub and fatten it up until she was ready A short story a big towel, walked over to the tub, caught to prepare it. by Shirlee Kresh Hecker the fish in the towel, and went out to the This fish became the family’s new pet, and backyard with it. soon it had a name. “Look how he knows “Stop!” I screamed. “Don’t kill him. me,” my father said after just one day, as I thought, being as imaginative as any five- Please. Please!” But to no avail. “Ike the Pike” settled in the washtub in his year-old should be. My mother raised the hammer and aimed new home. “You know,” added my father, “when for the fish’s head. I screamed, “Murderer!” Each time my father lifted the washtub’s people die, they can come back as anything at the top of my lungs and held on to her, lid, the fish perked up his head and opened or anyone.” but she pushed me aside and struck the fish’s his mouth. My father would feed him little “Even a fish?” I asked. head again and again. But the fish wouldn’t pieces of bread and talk soothingly to him, “That’s what Levine came back as,” my stop moving and jumping around. and every time my father would approach father said convincingly, and I truly be- “Die, Levine, die!” she pleaded, and with the tub he would say, “Watch how he greets lieved it. the third blow, the fish finally stopped mov- me.” Sure enough, the fish would jump up Then came the fateful day when Momma ing. It was then that my mother, whom I had to the direction of the light and open his asked my father to kill the fish. never seen in real tears, burst out crying and mouth. Ike seemed to know that my father “Kill him, are you crazy?” my would be there to feed him. father said. “That might be Levine. My father was fascinated with Ike’s intel- He stays in the tub forever.” ligence, and soon Ike became one of my My mother just stared at my father’s favorite pets. Papa would show off father and then said quietly, this fish’s so-called talents to whoever came “Take that fish out in the to the house. yard and bring it back dead Although I was very young, I knew that so I can cook it, and stop my father had a way with all animals. I also telling the child that the believed this fish to be just what my father fish is your friend. Your claimed—“very smart.” I knew nothing of friend is dead, and that’s the word “conditioned.” how I want that fish.” One day, my father beckoned me over to But my father refused, the tub to look at Ike. “Can you see how and he walked out of the much he looks like my friend Levine?” he house, muttering that he whispered. “The eyebrows, the one larger would never, as long as eye that held his monocle, the thin lips with he lived, lift a hand to his the cigar always in place, and the high friend. cheekbones?” This went on for almost two Why, he really does look like Mr. Levine, days, and I stared from one parent

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 ran in the house with the fish. under her breath about how she was going Are you... When Papa came home he passed by the to kill my sister (who had locked herself in new to the New York tub, but he didn’t lift the lid to look inside. the bathroom). He knew, just looking at my mother’s face, Needless to say, the fish was not eaten, nor Folklore Society? that his friend was really gone. was it saved the next day. As far as we know, The first seder was the next night, and after my mother, who never wasted food, threw missing back copies what seemed like endless praying, Momma it in the garbage. As for my father, he never of the journal? got ready to serve. By that time everyone brought home a live fish again. was on edge. I got yelled at a dozen times for various things I claimed I didn’t do to my This story was previously published in You can order the complete set or sister, and my sister almost got hit for the Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of fill in the gaps in your collection. things she did do to me. As for my oldest Jewish Storytelling, edited by Steve Zeitlin Members: Order at the members-only sister, she said she wasn’t very hungry and (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997). discount. To join the New York left the dining room. Folklore Society, see page 48. It was then that my mother brought out the gefilte fish platter. When she uncovered Single Issues it, there on the very top was a fishball with Date or volume: ______a face: horseradish for a mouth, a carrot $8 $10 nonmembers $______for a nose, and raisins for its eyes, and on The youngest of three one eye was my Charlie McCarthy doll’s daughters, Shirlee New York Folklore Quarterly monocle, just like the one Mr. Levine wore. (Shanna) Kresh Hecker was born in Dickson 1946 –1974 In its horseradish mouth was a small piece City, Pennsylvania, and 58 issues of celery in place of a cigar. My sister had grew up in Brooklyn during the Depression. $110 $125 nonmembers $______done a real good job on the face, but no one She began writing stories about her child- appreciated it, no one laughed, and no one hood as a legacy to her New York Folklore ate any gefilte fish. grandchildren so that they would learn what 1975 – 1998 My father left the table, saying he didn’t things were like when she was a child. 32 issues feel good. My mother did nothing but mutter $85 $95 nonmembers $______New York City’s soundscape is as varied and distinctive as its sky- New York Folklore Quarterly line. But the cultural diversity and musical virtuosity featured on and New York Folklore New York City: Global Beat of the Boroughs will surprise listeners who think they know the “real” New York City. Featuring outstanding 1946 – 1998 grassroots ensembles from more than a dozen of New York’s most 90 issues vibrant ethnic communities, this release pairs the traditional with $150 $175 nonmembers $______innovative cross-cultural fusions. Includes over 2 hours of music features Irish ceilis groups, Caribbean steel pan orchestras, Gypsy To order trios, Korean orchestras, African American gospel choirs, Latin jazz, and much more. Produced by the Center for Traditional Music and Publications subtotal $______Dance. Shipping and handling Special Offer for new subscribers! Receive the new Smith- Add $4 for 1 to 5 issues, $20 for complete sets. $______sonian Folkways release New York City: Global Beat of the Boroughs Total $______when you become a member of the New York Folklore Society! Available while supplies last. Join today! Enclose check payable to New York Folklore Society and mail to New York Folklore Society, P.O. Box 763, 133 Jay St., Schenectady, NY 12301.

______Name Available from record and book stores, on-line, or mail order. ______Call or write for a free catalog. 800-410-9815, [email protected]. Shipping Address ______City, State, Zip www.si.edu/folkways

38 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore of approximately four miles, the ridge The disappears, probably because of a wide embayment of Lake Iroquois. In this area the ridge was pushed south against the escarpment of the Niagara dolomite in the Tale vicinity of Lockport. The practical result of those geological and hydrological features was the detour of Ridge Road around the swamp that o f lies between Wrights Corners and War- Trail rens Corners. The diversion added about M a t e r i a l C u l t u r e three miles to the journey but followed along Ridge Road an elevated (and dry) route as it ran along present-day Lake Avenue, old Niagara BY ALLEN G. NOBLE Road, and Stone Road. In 1825 a toll road was built across the swamp, initially on corduroy logs. It was known as the Long An ancient east-west route across western New York State acquired Causeway Turnpike (Pool 1897). Late in commercial importance in the westward expansion of the early nine- the nineteenth century an improved and teenth century. A combination of physiogeographic features and early straight road was built across the now- immigrant life created a strip of material culture whose remnants can drained swamp. Because of the poor be seen today. A drive along Highway 104, Ridge Road’s latest incarna- drainage and the lack of an elevated ridge tion, reveals early burial grounds, old orchards, cobblestone houses, routeway, none of the early material cul- one-and-a-half cottages in the Greek Revival style, and rectangular barn ture features typical of the rest of the ridge doors painted to look like arches—but no log homes survive. appear along this section of Ridge Road. idge Road, from the Genesee River to the Niagara River, became in the nineteenth Another aberration in Ridge Road century one of the two routes open- follows this route between Rochester on occurs just west of Molyneaux Corners, R ing up for settlement the extensive the Genesee River and Lewiston on the where it splits into two arms for about four York State.wilderness In its ofprehistoric northwestern days, itNew of- Niagara. miles, enclosing an essentially flat and level fered a more-or-less dry route through What made Ridge Road significant was space. Nowhere else in the entire 85-mile vast, almost impenetrable swamplands. its constant elevation, 25 to 40 feet above length of the ridge between the Genesee Native Americans, unencumbered by the lake plains to the north and the glacial and the Niagara does one find a similar heavy wagons with baggage and house- till plain to the south, and its continuity. bifurcation. hold effects, had worn a rough trail along The ridge represents the shoreline of Lake The elevation, east-west direction, and the ridge. Westward-moving American Iroquois, the glacial-period ancestor of continuity of the ridge determined its settlers in the early nineteenth century present-day Lake Ontario. In only one utility as a pioneering route, but other followed this path of least resistance, but place is the basic east-west direction of characteristics helped ensure its continued at every stream, log corduroys and extra the ridge interrupted. Between Wrights importance, resulting in a unique combina- teams were needed. Today Highway 104 Corners and Warrens Corners, a distance tion of material cultural artifacts represen- tative of northwestern New York.

Early Graveyards The ridge is composed of sand and gravel, which allow good drainage. A num- ber of sandpits are scattered mostly along the northern lower slope, but gravel pits are much rarer (and only one remains in operation). The combination of sand and gravel and good drainage encouraged use

What is today Highway 104 began as a trail on high ground through swampy land and became a of the ridge for graveyards. well-traveled route in the nineteenth century, as settlers followed the pioneers into the Midwest Two small burial grounds vie for the and beyond.

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 these origins. Many cemeteries can be found along Ridge Road, or close to it. The sandy Apple and Cherry Orchards soil was easy to dig, and A second consequence of the combi- the number of travel- nation of good drainage and sandy and ers and canal workers created local demand. gravelly soil was an early concentration of Cemetery records from apple, peach, and sweet cherry trees rather Gaines indicate that than field crops (Thomas 1870). The prox- most early settlers came from the east, especially imity to Lake Ontario and the moderating New England. climatological effects of this large body of water, three to eight miles distant, also attracted fruit growers (Historical Album of Orleans County 1879). Encouraged by extensive drainage efforts and growing market demand (Signor 1894), after 1845 the settlers expanded their apple and cherry orchards to the lake plains. Com- mercial prospects caused a shift away from the pioneer varieties of apples and their replacement by more marketable ones, especially Baldwins, which by the 1880s had become the dominant type grown on distinction of being the oldest on the ridge along the ridge may in some instances be the ridge (Historical Album of Orleans (Thomas 1870), one at West Ridgeway, and sited a short distance off Ridge Road on County 1879). At present, because com- the other just to the east of Gaines. Early crossroads, but they are still on the geo- mercial growers change varieties as often graveyards are of two types: cemeteries logical ridge. as every ten years, very few Baldwins are close to a church (the Gaines cemetery Many of the ridge cemeteries are the now produced in Orleans County (Breth is an example), and small, isolated burial final resting places of the pioneer settlers 2000). grounds that served local families—and who traveled along Ridge Road. Most of Even today, more than 150 apple and sometimes just one family (like the West these individuals had been born or had cherry orchards, including orchard rem- Ridgeway burial ground). first settled in the Yankee-Yorker cor- nants and abandoned trees, persist along By the middle of the nineteenth century, ridor of westward movement that began the ridge. Some are commercial properties, no fewer than twenty cemeteries were in New England. The birthplaces of but many others are untended or kept up found on the ridge, an average of one prominent early Ridge Road settlers are just for the owner’s family use. Although every four and a half miles. Cemeteries in given in Thomas (1870), which contains orchards are scattered the length of the surrounding areas, both north and south, the most exhaustive such listing. With one ridge, three areas remain the sites of are more widely dispersed and usually exception, all the people came from the extensive fruit culture. In the vicinity of postdate the draining of the lower-lying Yankee-Yorker corridor. Consequently, Clarkson in the east and Molyneaux Cor- lake plain to the north and the intermit- many of the material culture aspects of ners to the west are small concentrations tent swamps to the south. The cemeteries Ridge Road are ultimately drawn from of orchards. The greatest agglomeration stretches eastward from near Ridgewood to just west of Gaines. In all likelihood the eastern margin of this third area is where the Burgess family laid out the first small apple orchard on the ridge about 1810 (Thomas 1870). West of Dickersonville, apple and cherry orchards now give way to the vineyards of the Niagara Frontier wine area. Cobblestone Structures Apple orchardists took advantage of the good drainage on the ridge; many of the old Wave action along the ancient shoreline trees are still standing.

40 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore of Lake Iroquois deposited not only sand 23). The problem of cobblestone build- the route in the nineteenth century. and gravel but also large numbers of wa- ings was not the integrity of the walls but ter-rounded cobblestones, ranging from the necessity to guard against roof leaks, One-and-a-Half Cottages egg-size to those larger than a doubled fist. which could rapidly lead to disintegration Another relatively common house type Such deposits proved more attractive to of the walls. along Ridge Road—one that did not sug- the stone masons thrown out of work by As the use of cobblestone became pop- gest affluence—was the “one-and-a-half” completion of the Erie and other canals ular, new sources of stones were required. New England cottage. This house type than the nearby dolomite of the Niagara The shore of Lake Ontario, just a few came to New York State in the 1830s with escarpment. Quarrying, sizing, and cutting miles away, supplied the need. The local immigrants from New England and rep- the dolomite involved considerable labor abundance of cobblestones and their ease resented a stage in the evolution of New and expense; the cobblestones, however, of use made them one of the cheapest England vernacular housing (Noble 1984). could be picked up at or near the surface building materials for domestic structures. The façades of these modest frame, or and required only sorting by size to be Moreover, cobblestone walls did not more rarely brick, houses were decorated used as a building material. Schmidt (1944, require painting (Schmidt 1958). Paint with vernacular Greek Revival details, 16) notes that “the children and often the was expensive in the second quarter of including pediments, entablatures, and women aided in gathering the stones from the nineteenth century, and timber frame cornice returns. Their most distinctive the fields, creek beds, and gravel pits.” structures required at least one coat of feature was the half-windows that light On some occasions, the “young and old paint and preferably two or more. the upper half-story. from the neighborhood would gather at Although cobblestones were a relatively One-and-a-half New England houses the farm of the man who was planning to inexpensive building material, consider- are more or less evenly distributed along build a cobblestone house where they all able skill was required in their use. Only the length of Ridge Road, with a slight would participate in gathering stones for experienced stone masons could erect a concentration near the village of Murray. several hours. Then they would sit down to cobblestone structure. Hence, a cobble- Elsewhere, clusters of two or three such a great outdoor supper followed by music stone house signified a well-settled and houses may indicate construction by the and dancing.” reasonably affluent owner. That almost same builder, but detailed information on The number of stone masons who had fifty of these structures were erected along their construction is often lacking. been drawn to the area or learned their Ridge Road testifies to the importance of trade to work on the nearby Erie Canal was certainly a factor in the popularity of cobblestone construction in this area (Noble and Coffey 1986). Beginning in the 1830s and continuing through the Cobblestone 1840s and 1850s, cobblestone houses structures were popular along and other structures were built along Ridge Road, at the ridge. Today, at least 46 cobblestone least among buildings still stand along Highway 104. those who could afford to build As Schmidt (1944) notes, Ridge Road has them. Erie Canal more cobblestone houses per mile than stone masons supplied the any other road. Details of most of the skilled labor. The cobblestone structures along Ridge Road map plots their can be found in Schmidt (1966). incidence along One factor that has contributed to the long life of cobblestone houses is the nine- teenth-century lime-sand mortar used to bind the stones. Unlike modern Portland cements, this mortar hardened very slowly. The process required many months and sometimes even years, but “This slow rate of hardening gave the new building time to settle and adjust to the site without cracks appearing” (Shelgren et al. 1978,

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 are possible. First, the arch recalls Norman doorways and may be an attempt to mimic a feature The “one-and-a-half” cottage was a New of some European barns, even though the England house type door itself is not rounded. In both Eng- built mostly in the land and Germany, the most important Greek Revival style, with half-windows sources of American rural settlers in the just above the floor eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Nor- on the second level. man doorways occur on the large barns of As settlers came west in the 1830s, profitable farms. These structures were they brought this generally built of stone or brick, and here style of farmhouse with them and built and there in North America (but not along many such structures Ridge Road) a comparable example can along Ridge Road. still be found. Most American barns, how- ever, were built in wood frame, a material that does not lend itself to curved forms. To gain the prestige associated with the use of Norman arch doors, early builders may have painted the arch on rectangular wooden doors. Eventually, the style be- came popular. A second possible explanation is that the rounded-arch form is related to the mid-Victorian penchant for decoration, which can be seen on American barns over a wide area. Elaborate wooden lanterns, Log Houses that mention them. Gothic-style window frames, slatted lou- In many twentieth-century studies of vers and ventilator openings, tinted glass early American housing it was an article Painted-Arch Barn Doors balls on lightning rods, and delicate owl of faith that the westward-moving New Another distinctive feature of material holes on barn gables are other aspects of England Yankees built no log houses culture found along Highway 104 is the such decoration. because their building tradition lacked occurrence of rounded-arch doorways such construction. But a careful reading painted on wooden barns. This entirely The Future of the Ridge of nineteenth-century histories of Orleans decorative feature is identical to that found The volume of traffic on Highway 104 and Niagara counties, such as those ref- in the eastern Midwest and in east-central is steadily increasing, and conse-quently erenced in this study, and especially the New York State. Noble (1993) suggested the agitation to “improve” the road is, original memoirs and accounts of the first that the idea of painted-arch doors was too. Fortunately, the construction of the settlers, confirms that log structures were taken to the Midwest from the lower New York State Thruway to the south regularly and commonly built. An excel- Mohawk and Schoharie valleys. The con- and a lake shore–hugging expressway to lent description of the characteristics and centration of painted-arch doors on barns the north have allowed Highway 104 a construction of pioneer log houses is given along the Ridge Road—the likely route of certain respite. How long the highway in Thomas (1870). those who settled the Midwest—strongly and its rich material culture will be Log houses were universally looked supports this conclusion. able to withstand the pressures for upon as an expedient, to be replaced No one has yet advanced an adequate “improvement” remains problematic, as soon as convenient by timber frame, explanation for the adoption of this however. Further comp-licating the stone, or brick dwellings. As early as decorative device, which apparently be- situation is the fact that the route 1824, brickyards were in full production came popular sometime in the nineteenth passes through two counties. Thus, local in settlements along the ridge (Signor century. The rounded arch, rendered in initiatives for preservation and opposed 1894, 452). Today, as far as I know, not a paint, does not follow the construction of to development are made more difficult. single log structure remains on the ridge, the door, which actually has a square top. Finally, little local preservation lead- despite the numerous original accounts Two explanations for the painted form ership has arisen. The Cobblestone Society,

42 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore NY: Carl F. Schmidt. Shelgren, Olaf William, Jr., Cary Lattin, and Robert W. Frasch. 1978. Cobblestone Landmarks of New York State. Syracuse: Syracuse Univer- Wood-frame sity Press. barns with paint- Signor, Isaac S., ed. 1894. Landmarks of Orleans ed-arch doors are County, New York. Syracuse: D. Mason. fairly common on Ridge Road, Thomas, Arad. 1870. Pioneer History of Orleans as shown in the County, New York. Albion, NY: H.A. Brun- map below. The er. decorative idea apparently began in New York’s central valleys and spread west into Ohio.

Allen G. Noble is distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Akron in Ohio. He is the author or editor of several books on cultural landscapes, including Wood, Brick and Stone: The north American Settlement Landscape; An Ethnic Geogra- phy of Early Utica, New York: Time, Space and Community; To Build in a New Land; and The Old Barn Book. A native of New York City, he spent his boyhood in the Mohawk Valley.

headquartered in a group of cobblestone Noble, Allen G. 1984. Wood, Brick and Stone: The structures in the crossroads village of North American Settlement Landscape, vol. 1. Am- herst: University of Massachusetts Press. Childs, has too narrow a focus at present to ———. 1993. Barn Entry Porches, Pent Roofs For more information be effective as a preser-vation focus for the and Decorated Doors of the Eastern Midwest. about preserving entire route. A regional, or perhaps even a Journal of Cultural Geography,14(1): 21–34. Ridge Road state, preservation effort will be needed to Noble, Allen G., and Brian Coffey. 1986. The Use maintain the material culture integrity of the of Cobblestones as a Folk Building Material. Contact the Cobblestone Society P.A.S.T.Pioneer American Society Transactions 9: Museum, Routes 98 and 104 at ridge, one of our most important routes of 45–51. Childs, P.O. Box 363, Albion, NY nineteenth-century westward settlement. Pool, William. 1897. Landmarks of Niagara County, New York. Syracuse: D. Mason. 14411; 716 589-9013 or 589-9510; References Schmidt, Carl F. 1944. Cobblestone Architecture. [email protected]. The society Breth, Deborah, Cornell Cooperative Rochester (?): Carl F. Schmidt. maintains a fine group of six Extension, fruit specialist. October 2000. ———. 1958. The Cobblestone Houses of cobblestone structures, the earliest Telephone communication. Central New York State. Journal of the American Historical Album of Orleans County, New York. Institute of Architects 29: 229-35. dating from the 1830s. 1879. New York: Sanford and Co. ———. 1966. Cobblestone Masonry. Scottsville,

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Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Spiritual Trekking and Urban Legends Star Trek and Sacred Ground: figure when he offers to sacrifice himself for oth- that although scholars from many disciplines had Explorations of Star Trek, Reli- ers in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Ian Maher collected and studied and analyzed these stories sees the voyages of the Enterprise as metaphors in the past, Richard Dorson was first to subject gion, and American Culture for the human spiritual quest for meaning and the urban legend to serious folkloristic scrutiny, in Jennifer E. Porter and Darcee L. McLaren, purpose. Jeffrey Scott Lamp argues that as long his 1959 textbook, American Folklore. In the years eds. Albany: State University of New York Press. as the focus of sacred narratives is ethics—as that followed, many other folklorists, including 1999. 315 pages, bibliography, index. $20.95 opposed to supernatural interpretations—and as Linda Degh, concentrated on documentation and paper, $62.50 cloth. long as the dominant secular environment is not analysis of urban legends. This profoundly interesting and important threatened, individual expressions of religion are Clearly, though, Jan Harold Brunvand has volume is the very first to examine religious permitted in the Star Trek universe. taken an important extra step. More than anyone themes in Star Trek, “the most popular television “Religion and Ritual in Fandom,” Part Three else, he has transformed the urban legend genre show ever produced,” and in its spinoff films. of the book, explores the various ways in which from merely a subject of folkloristic interest into Considering the sheer quantity of people whose fans throughout the world find meaning in Star a household word. According to Brunvand, a lives are influenced by the Star Trek franchise, book review s Trek. Michael Jindra and McLaren are in agree- turning point in his career as a folklorist came in such a well-written and deeply thoughtful en- ment, for instance, that many fans live by Star 1980 when, already the author of the standard deavor is long overdue. Twelve religion scholars Trek folk philosophy—the Prime Directive (PD), college text in American folklore, he revised a explore themes of resurrection, sacrifice, im- which forbids interference in the development of college lecture on urban legends for publication in mortality, faith, and spiritual quest in relation to other worlds, and the Infinite Diversity in Infinite Psychology Today. The following year he published science and technology, secular humanism, and Combination (IDIC), which espouses tolerance. a popular survey text, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: scientism, as well as fandom. McLaren asserts that Star Trek can be viewed as American Urban Legends and Their Meanings. In The first section of the book, entitled “Religion a myth that provides individuals with models subsequent years he produced a string of increas- in Star Trek,” includes an overview of religious for human behavior, and she and Jindra both ingly engaging and popularly received sequels, themes in episodes since the television series give evidence of the practical manifestation of including The Choking Doberman; The Mexican Pet; began in 1964. In it Ann MacKenzie Pearson such behavior in the lives of fans through charity Curses! Broiled Again!; and The Baby Train. For maintains that the agnostic humanist philosophy work, fundraisers, and community service. Finally, five years, beginning in 1987, Brunvand wrote of founder Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991) is Porter sees Star Trek convention attendance as a popular newspaper column on urban legends evident in the original episodes; only after his secular pilgrimage to a place where individuals that was published twice weekly and syndicated death was there overt exploration of religious can truly experience IDIC and a sense of com- worldwide. His comprehensive urban legend themes. The question of whether God is dead munal belonging. anthology, published in 1999, is titled Too Good was an idea posed in the 1967 episode “Who I strongly recommend this text to anyone in- to Be True. Mourns for Adonais?”; according to Robert terested in the extent to which Star Trek reflects, This new collection offers twelve case studies Asa, Star Trek suggests there is no longer a need informs, and critiques American society in its on various aspects of the urban legend and in- for a god (or gods) because such beings do not attitudes toward religion, especially in relation to cludes an essay by Brunvand’s computer scientist offer humankind anything that the individual scientific and technological progress. son, Erik, about computer hacker legends traded does not have the potential to develop within Beverly J. Butcher, Ph.D. on the Internet. Each essay is revised and updated himself or herself. Similarly, Gregory Peterson Folklorist, Schoharie County Arts Council from a conference paper or an academic journal observes in his analysis of Star Trek: The Next Adjunct Humanities Instructor, SUNY Cobleskill article. Original sources are indicated in the notes. Generation (1987–1994) that religion and science Cobleskill, New York In his concluding chapter on the future of urban are portrayed as being in conflict and that the legends, Brunvand notes that with help from new evolutionary eschatology for human beings (i.e., media channels and several recent movies, the “wherein the species as a whole is saved inasmuch The Truth Never Stands in the Way of a Good Story future looks very good for urban legends. But, as it reaches the highest echelon of evolutionary he contends, as long as people communicate with By Jan Harold Brunvand. Urbana and Chicago: being”) is what is put forth in these episodes as one another, the truth will never stand in the way University of Illinois Press. 2000. 217 pages, being desirable (76). of a good story. index. $22.95 cloth. Peter Linford finds in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine This book is a welcomed addition to the folk- “A woman bathes her pet poodle and, in a (1993–1997) a more sophisticated portrayal of lorist’s reference library. The case studies draw hurry to dry it, decides to pop the animal in her religion than in the days of classic Star Trek, when upon Brunvand’s substantial knowledge of the new microwave for a few seconds. The poodle Roddenberry was alive, but finds that the episode genre and upon the unrivaled archival resources explodes.” suggests that societies ultimately do outgrow the he has amassed as both a respected scholar-expert Jan Harold Brunvand, professor emeritus of need for religion. Porter and McLaren find a more and as a celebrity author-columnist. The academic English specializing in folklore at the University positive portrayal of religion in Star Trek: Voyager study of legend aside, it’s also just plain fun. of Utah, is arguably the foremost expert in the (1995–1998), which, they claim, demonstrates a Daniel Franklin Ward, Ph.D. world on the subject of urban legends. He is new-age spirituality and proposes that science and Folk Arts Program Director also a wonderful writer. His newest collection spirituality can indeed coexist (109). Cultural Resources Council of essays on the urban legend, The Truth Never In Part Two, “Religious and Mythic Themes,” Syracuse, New York John Wagner explores issues of immortality and Stands in the Way of a Good Story, serves as both a death through an analysis of Star Trek narratives valuable contribution to the study of legend and involving androids, resurrected characters, uni- an enjoyable read. verse doubles, and other alternative life forms; Brunvand was introduced to the urban legend the message is that death is not a necessary conse- genre during an undergraduate class he took quence of life. Larry Kreitzer’s chapter on biblical from folklorist Richard M. Dorson at Michigan imagery in Star Trek suggests the “ongoing fruit- State University in the early 1950s. In those days, fulness of the Christian theological message”: for Dorson still labeled these stories “urban belief example, Spock can be interpreted as a Christ tales” or “modern legends.” Brunvand contends

44 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore aNN OU NC E M N T S

Announcements

Botkin Celebration Japanese arts and culture. In her youth, Spiced Winter Squash, and Magnolia Lane The Library of Congress, in cooperation Katz learned the folk arts of origami and Roast Duck. The book costs $19.95 plus with the New York Folklore Society, will floral arrangement in Kumamoto, Japan. $5 shipping and handling; order it from present a celebration in honor of folklorist Today, she resides in Scarsdale, a temporary TAUNY, P.O. Box 665, Canton, NY 13617- Benjamin A. Botkin on November 15 and home to many Japanese business executives 0665, 315 386-4289, www.tauny.org. 16, 2001. Botkin, who described himself as on assignment to their companies’ New a “Yorker by choice,” was the folklore editor York offices. Katz brings Japanese women 2001 North Country for the Federal Writers Project from 1938 to together to practice and then present their Heritage Award Recipients 1941. He later served as head of the Archive language, crafts, and arts to the community Recipients of New York Folklore Society’s of American Folk Song at the Library of as a whole. The resulting outreach programs 2001 North Country Heritage Awards are Congress and president of the American and events have helped create a place of Catherine Labier, Whitehall, a French- Folklore Society. Upon relocating to Croton- prominence for Japanese arts and culture American storyteller; Erwin Quigley, Og- on-Hudson, he became an important figure in Westchester County and ensured further densburg, a stone wall builder; and the in the founding of the New York Folklore understanding between Scarsdale’s East Redford Feast of the Assumption picnic in Society in 1944. and West. Redford. The awards ceremony takes place As a collector of folklore, Botkin wanted on September 16. to help people understand how much art and TAUNY, Winner of the Gov- wisdom that they possessed, created, and ernor’s Arts Award Two TAUNY Events recreated. His first publications of folklore, The folk arts received statewide attention The art of Lavern Kelley will be on display Folk-Say, A Regional Miscellany (1929–1932), last fall, when Traditional Arts in Upstate at the Traditional Arts in Upstate New York were published while he was at the Univer- New York (TAUNY) was honored with a Gallery from June 2 through August 11, sity of Oklahoma. He later released five New York State Governor’s Arts Award. 2001. Curated by Sydney Waller and distrib- popular treasuries of folklore—A Treasury TAUNY’s executive director, Varick Chit- uted by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, of American Folklore, A Treasury of Southern tenden, traveled with staff and the board of “A Rural Life Drawn and Carved” includes Folklore, A Treasury of Western Folklore, A directors to New York City in November to drawings, wood carvings, photographs and Treasury of New England Folklore, and A Trea- receive the award. The award was presented diary excerpts of the artist, a resident of sury of Railroad Folklore. He also published to Chittenden by Kitty Carlisle Hart and Otsego County whose work depicted rural an entire volume devoted to New York City, Martha Stewart. Other recipients in 2000 existence. entitled New York City Folklore. included the North American Fiddlers Hall TAUNY will sponsor the Borderland Fid- The two-day celebration in Washington, of Fame, the Bronx Arts Council, artist dling Festival on the campus of St. Lawrence D.C., will feature Alan Jabbour, Jerrold Mark di Suvero, ballet dancer Peter Martins, University, Canton, on Saturday, November Hirsch, Steve Zeitlin, Margie Hunt, Joe and jazz musician Jimmy Heath. 10, 2001. The day’s activites are designed to Hickerson, John Cole, and Stephen Wade draw attention to traditional fiddling in the as speakers. Scheduled performers include National Cookbook Award borderland region, where influences from Cherish the Ladies, Pete Seeger, and Kings Good Food Served Right, written by Lynn Ontario, Québec, northern New York, and of Harmony. For further information, please Case Ekfelt and published by TAUNY, is New England come togther. contact the New York Folklore Society at the national first-place winner of the 2000 518 346-7008, and newyorkfolkloresociety Tabasco Community Cookbook Awards. Music Festivals @juno.com. The judges selected the book unanimously, The 20th Annual Old Songs Festival stating that it “epitomizes the essence of will take place June 22–24, 2001, at the Kuniko Koga Katz Honored a community cookbook.” Each section fairgrounds in Altamont, New York. For In April 2001, Kuniko Koga Katz was effectively highlights a part of the traditional information and tickets, contact Old Songs, honored with the Westchester Arts Council’s culture and variety of food customs found Inc., P.O. Box 399, Guilderland, NY 12084; Fourth Annual Tradition Bearer’s Award. in upstate New York communities, and the 518 765-2815; fax 518 765-4344; e-mail Katz is the executive director of the Japan recipes represent the breadth and depth [email protected]; website www. America Community Outreach, in White of local cuisines. Recipes include Apple oldsongs.org. Plains, an educational organization she Walnut Cake, Black Lake Pan Fish with founded to promote understanding of Almonds, Maple-Candied Sweet Potatoes,

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Long Island Bay House Tour Haitian and Latino Folk Arts Prizes On Sunday, June 24, 2001, Long Island Program The Folklore Program at the University Traditions will sponsor its annual bay house On Saturday, July 28, 2001, the Hun- of Louisiana at Lafayette invites submissions tour in Freeport, hosted by folklorist Nancy tington Arts Council and Long Island for the annual Alcée Fortier prize of $250, to Solomon, director of LI Traditions. The bay Traditions will celebrate Haitian and be awarded for outstanding work in the area houses history date to the mid-nineteenth Latino traditional culture. An afternoon of French or Francophone folklore studies century, when baymen harvested salt hay workshop and music session will feature during 2000–2001. The selection committee for farmers during the winter. The bay National Heritage award winner Frisner will consider books, articles, films, record- houses provided shelter, along with stor- Augustin, a traditional Haitian drummer ings, exhibitions, or other media covering age for fishermen’s traps and duck decoys. and his ensemble La Troupe Makandal any part of the French-speaking world, They have been used by duck hunters and of Brooklyn, along with Dominican including Francophone Europe, Québec commercial fishermen and have been passed composer and musician Luis Cordero y and other parts of Canada (e.g., Ontario, down from generation to generation within Los Amigos del Amargue of Freeport. the Acadian Maritimes), Louisiana (includ- many families. Ethnomusicologists Cathy Ragland and ing the original territory), New England, Tickets cost $15 if requested by June 17, Lois Wilcken are documenting Haitian the Antilles and Haiti, Sub-Saharan Africa, $20 after June 17. No children under 10 are and Latino traditions as part of the pro- the Indian Ocean, the Maghreb, the Medi- allowed. Times for the tours are 10:30 a.m., gram. Local traditional artists will also terranean, Southeast Asia, and Polynesia. and 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Space is limited. participate in the program. The culminat- Send submissions to Barry Jean Ancelet, Call LI Traditions at 516 767-8803 or mail ing event will be a free concert at 8:30 p.m. Box 4-3331, USL, Lafayette, LA 70504, by payment to LI Traditions, 382 Main Street, at Heckscher Town Park in Huntington. For September 15, 2001. Port Washington, NY 11050. The program more information, call LI Traditions at 516 The American Folklore Society Fellows is funded in part by the New York State 767-8803 or the Huntington Arts Council student prize recognizes and encourages Council on the Arts and the National En- at 631 271-8423. outstanding contributions by students to dowment for the Arts. folklore studies. Eligible are published professional works in folklore (e.g., journal Members: Order your copies of New York Folklore Society books at a articles, essays, monographs, exhibition members-only discount. To join the New York Folklore Society, see page 48. catalogs, websites) that have appeared in print or been accepted for publication (or Add these essential resources the equivalent) between July 1, 2000, and to your library! June 30, 2001. Works in English and other WorkingNew York with State: Folk A MaterialsManual for in A Guide for Traditional Artists languages are eligible. The award recipient Folklorists and Archivists and Performers in New York State will receive $100. Send three copies of the By Patricia Atkinson Wells Edited by John W. Suter nominated work before July 31, 2001, with a With contributions by leading New York State This handbook is a must for traditional artists archivists and folklorists, this manual intro- in New York State interested in managing and cover letter to Prof. Jay Mechling, American duces folklore to the archivist and archives marketing their own businesses. Topics in- Studies program, University of California, to folklorists. It is required reading for those clude promotion, booking, contracts, keeping working with collections of folklore materials records, taxes, and copyright. One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616 USA in any part of the country. 148 pages, loose-leaf notebook (e-mail: [email protected]); submis- $30 $40 nonmembers $______168 pages, loose-leaf notebook sions should not be faxed or e-mailed. The $25 $35 nonmembers $______submission may be nominated by the author To order Folklore in Archives: Books subtotal $______or, with the author’s permission, by someone A Guide to Describing Folklore Shipping and handling else (such as a journal editor). The cover let- Add $4 for the first book, and Folklife Materials $1 for each additional item. $______ter should identify the program in which the By James Corsaro and Karen Taussig-Lux Total $______Written primarily for archivists and others who student is enrolled, current student status, care for collections of folk cultural documen- Enclose check payable to New York Folklore So- student’s address and phone number, the tation, this manual describes the theory and ciety and mail to New York Folklore Society, P.O. date and place of the publication (or accep- practice of folklore and provides essential Box 763, 133 Jay St., Schenectady, NY 12301. information on how to accession, arrange, and tance for publication) of the work. ______describe folklore materials. The recipients of both the AFS Fellows 128 pages, loose-leaf notebook ______Name $25 $35 nonmembers $______student prize and the Alcée Fortier prize will Self-Management for Folk Artists: ______be announced at the 2001 AFS meeting in ______Shipping Address Anchorage, Alaska.

46 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Funding Opportunities NYFS Mentoring and Professional Coming Next Issue Development Program. The New York Folklore Society invites readers to apply to its Mentoring and Professional Development Bob Marley and the Proverb Program, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. A partnership with the Folk Voice and Visions: Arts Program of the New York State A Curriculum of Acceptance and Respect Council on the Arts enables the society to offer small grants in the following categories: Bluegrass and Origami: quick-response consultancies, short-term consultancies, long-term consultancies, Japanese Culture in Westchester folk artist mentoring, and professional development exchanges. The program is Italian American Musicians flexible and responsive to individual needs, in Western New York and the application process is simple. For guidelines and application forms, contact Growing Up in New York City Ellen McHale at NYFS, P.O. Box 764, Schenectady, NY 12301; 518 346-7008; Digital Photography: website www. nyfolklore.org. MAAF Peer Assistance and Mentoring Is It Time to Switch? Program. The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation’s Peer Assistance and Mentoring Program helps people engaged in the practice, presentation, or conservation of folk and information, contact Mark Puryear at 202 ries Play and Culture Studies is edited by Dr. traditional arts in the mid-Atlantic region. 682-5522; e-mail [email protected]. Jaipul Roopnarine of Syracuse University. The program has two goals: to provide SOS Grants. Special Opportunity The series addresses research on play in all access to folk arts resources in the region, Stipends, a project of the New York its forms—children’s play, leisure studies, and to strengthen the ability of artists and Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) in sport, drama, festival, and other work that organizations to carry out their work. It collaboration with arts councils and cultural is based on play theoretical constructs. provides a subsidy of $250 per day for organizations across the state, are designed Manuscripts for volume 7 are due July up to five days. For information, contact to help individual artists of all disciplines 1, 2001. Manuscripts should follow APA Carlos Fernandez, Institute for Cultural take advantage of opportunities that will style and not exceed 35 pages, including Partnerships, 3211 Front Street, Harrisburg, benefit their work or career development. tables, figures, and references. Mail three PA 17110; 717 238-1770; website www. Visual, literary, media, and performing artists copies (do not send via e-mail) to Felicia culturalpartner ships.org. may request support ranging from $50 to McMahon, Department of Anthropology, NEA Traditional Arts Growth Grants. $500 for specific opportunities (distinct 209 Maxwell Hall, Syracuse University, The National Endowment for the Arts in from work in progress). The next deadlines Syracuse, New York 13244-1090; fax 315 cooperation with the National Council for for applications are September and February. 443-4860; office 315 443-2200; home office the Traditional Arts announces the expansion Applications and information are available 315 696-2443. of its technical assistance support to at NYFA’s website, http://www.nyfa.org/sos/ traditional arts organizations and programs index.html, or contact NYFA at 144 Avenue Next Announcements with the commencement of its Traditional of the Americas, 14th Floor, New York, NY The deadline for submitting notice Arts Growth initiative. TAG supports one- 10013; 212 366-6900 ext. 217. of future events to be announced in the to three-day consultancies on a wide range Fall–Winter 2001 issue of Voices is Sep- of topics, including organizational planning, Call for Papers tember 1, 2001. Send copy to emchale@ specialized traditional arts expertise, and The Anthropological Association for choiceone mail.com audio production. Funds for professional the Study of Play is soliciting papers for development and travel to professional Volume 7, Special Issue on Festival, Sports and meetings outside the field are also available. Community Play, under Guest Editors Felicia Consultancies are limited to $1,500. For McMahon and Brian Sutton-Smith. Targeted date for publication is 2002. The annual se-

Spring–Summer 2001, Volume 27: 1-2 Join the New York Folklore Society to- day

Join NYFS and become part of a community The NYFS raises awareness of folklore among that will deepen your involvement with folklore, the general public through three important o Yes, I want to join the New York folklife, the traditional arts, and contemporary channels... Folklore Society. culture. As a member, you’ll have early notice Print. Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore, of key events... published twice a year, brings you folklore in the Name______Fall Conference. People travel from all over to words and images of its creators and practitioners. Organization ______meet in a different part of the state each year for The journal’s new look distinguishes it from other the NYFS Fall Conference and Annual Meeting. publications in the field. Read Voices for news Address ______Professionals in folklore and related fields join you can use about our field and legal issues, City, state, zip ______with educators and practitioners to explore the photography, sound and video recording, and culture and traditions of the area. Lectures and archiving. Country ______discussions are balanced with concerts, dancing, Radio. Voices of New York Traditions is a series Telephone ______and tours of cultural sites. of radio documentaries that spotlight the folklife E-mail ______New York State Folk Arts Forums. Folk arts of the state, to be aired on public radio. Stay professionals, colleagues in related disciplines, tuned! $35 Basic member and lay people come together each year to Internet. Visit www.nyfolklore.org for the latest $20 Full-time student address a topic of special interest–whether it news on events in folklore. Updated weekly, the $20 Senior (65+) be folklore and the Internet, heritage tourism, NYFS website is designed to appeal to the public $50 Joint (two or more at the same address) cultural conservation, or intellectual property as well as keep specialists informed. $50 Organizations and institutions law. Please add $5 for additional postage for foreign memberships.

Advocacy o New member. Join now and get a free Help When You Need It The New York Folklore Society is your advocate Smithsonian Folkways CD. Become a member and learn about technical for sympathetic and informed attention to folk o Gift membership. Introduce a friend or assistance programs that will get you the help arts... relative to the world of folklore! you need in your work. • We represent you on issues before the state Mentoring and Professional Development legislature and the federal government when Make a tax-deductible donation and help Program for Folklife and the Traditional public policy affects the field. Visit the advocacy support the organization that supports folklore! Arts. Receive technical assistance from a pages at www.nyfolklore.org to learn what we’re mentor of your choosing. You can study with doing and how you can help. My donation over and above my basic member- a master traditional artist, learn new strategies • The society partners with statewide, regional, ship fee will entitle me to the following for marketing, master concert and exhibition and national organizations, from the New York additional benefits: production, organize an archive, or improve State Arts and Cultural Coalition to the American o $60. Supporting member. A NYFS T-shirt. your organizational management. Folklore Society, and frequently presents its o $100 and up. The Harold W. Thompson projects and issues at meetings of professional Circle. A NYFS T-shirt and choice of a Folk Artists Self-Management Project. organizations in the allied fields of archives, complete set of New York Folklore Quarterly If you’re a traditional artist, you know the history, and libraries. 1946–1974* or a complete set of importance of business, management, New York Folklore 1974–1998.* and marketing skills to your success in So Join! the marketplace. NYFS can help you with workshops, mentoring, and publications. Become part of a community that explores and 2001 2002 nurtures the traditional cultures of New York Folk Archives Project. What could be Membership dues $______$______State and beyond. Membership in the New York more critical than finding a repository for an Folklore Society entitles you to the following Tax-deductible important collection? The NYFS is a leader in benefits: donation $______$______the preservation of our cultural heritage. Attend • A subscription to Voices: The Journal of New our workshops and order copies of NYFS York Folklore. Total enclosed $______$______books at a discount. • Invitations to conferences, workshops, The amount of memberships greater than $20 and all donations are Consulting and referral. The NYFS offers meetings. tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. informal counseling and referral services to the • Updates on technical assistance programs. members in the field. Contact us by telephone, • Opportunities to meet others who share your Make your check payable to New York Folklore e-mail, or letter. interests. Society and send it with this form to: Publications. Members receive discounts on all • Discounts on NYFS books. New York Folklore Society NYFS publications. See pages 38 and 46 or visit Plus the satisfaction of knowing that you support P.O. Box 764 , Schenectady, NY 12301 www.nyfolklore.org for current titles. the only organization devoted to folklore across New York State. *Some sold-out issues are only available as photocopies. A Public Voice

48 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore