H ILL INO S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007. olume 4, Number 3 (whole issue 18) February 3, 1964 FOLKSINGS; ANNIVERSARY; VOTING -- We Are Three Years Old And Busy-- 461ksingg and elections are the duties facing Campus Folksong Club's active embership this month, as the Club begins its fourth straight year of operation. The first folksing of the new semester will be held on February 7th at 8:00 'clock in 112 Gregory Hall. The second.sing of the month will be held two weeks ater at the same location and time, on the 21st of February. This will be the hird Anniversary Sing, and will feature a collection of the Club's best talent rom the past year. Although plans are not yet definite, it is the intention of the Club to present, s a momento of its recent recording success, some of the artists who graced the econd long-playing record album in the Club's career--Green Fields of Illinois. (le Mayfield will be on hand, and he has promised to bring along his wife Doris idsome of his musical friends from Southern Illinois. He is especially hopeful lat Stelle Elam, the fiddler featured on the Club's record, will be able to appear Sthe sing. It was just one year ago that Mrs. Elam made her debut on our stage, id those who were there will remember the excitment she generated with her old- lmey fiddling style. Less entertaining, but ultimately perhaps more important, is the annual businesE !eting, scheduled for February 12th at 8:00 p.m. in Room 273 Illini Union. This ithe one meeting during the year when all members of the Club can vote--specific- ly, for the five officers, President, Viee-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and wrresponding Secretary. Although preliminary selections for these offices have ýen made by a nominating committee, the decisions of the committee are not final; ey are only guidelines, and any legitimate (dues-paying) member can propose his n choices for any of the above offices and vote for them. As an added attraction for those contemplating attending the business meeting, film will be shown free of charge. It will feature the folksongs of the Ozark igion and will deal with the folklore scholar's job of collecting songs and in- Irmation about them. Finally, plans are afoot for the further advancement of the Club's seminar ,ogram. Dr. Wayland Hand of UCLA, one of the country's most prominent folklorists, ,11 speak here on the 12th of March as part of the Humanities Division's program 'guest speakers. It is hoped that Dr. Hand will have time to share some of his owledge with Club members during his stay on campus. CONSTITUTION OF THE CAMPUS FOLKSONG CLUB-------- --- January, 1964. ARTICLE I - NAME This organization shall be known as the Campus Folksong Club. ARTICLE II - AIM The aim of the Campus Folksong Club is to facilitate the study, exchange, and enjoyment of traditional folk material (excluding dance). ARTICLE III - MEMBERSHIP Section 1. Membership in this organization shall be open to University of Illinois students and staff and their families who have paid dues. Section 2. Other persons may join as contributing members by paying equivalent dues. Contributing members shall not be eligible for Club elective office; nor shall they vote at meetings. ARTICLE - DUES Section Dues shall be $2.00 per annum, to be collected in the fall semester. Section 2. For members joining the organization in the spring, dues shall be $1.00 for that semester. Section 3. Dues shall not be refunded. ARTICLE V- OFFICERS, ELECTIONS, AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Section 1. The elected officers shall be: President, Vice-President, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, and Treasurer. Section 2. Committee chairmen for the various phases of activity shall be appointed as necessary by the President. Section 3. The elected officers and committee chairmen shall constitute the Club's Executive Committee. It shall be the Executive - 2 - Committee's duty to plan and coordinate activity for meetings, sings, concerts, and such other functions as the membership authorizes. Section 4. All officers shall be elected at the business meeting of the spring semester and shall serve for a year. In the event that no officers are on hand at the opening of any semester a temporary presiding officer shall be designated by the faculty advisor to serve until the next business meeting. Section 5. Vacancies in office during the calendar year shall be filled by presidential appointment. Such officers shall serve until the next business meeting, at which time the office shall be filled by election. Section 6. All members shall be notified in writing of business meetings. Section 7. All voting other than for constitutional amendments shall be decided by a simple plurality of members present at a meeting. ARTICLE VI - MEETINGS A business meeting will be held at least once a semester. Additional meetings and activities will be specially scheduled. ARTICLE VII - RULES Section 1. All student members shall be required to abide by the University Code on Student Affairs. ARTICLE VIII - ADOPTION AND AMENDMENTS Section 1. This constitution shall be effective upon adoption by a majority of the members of the organization. Section 2. All constitutional amendments shall be decided by a 2/3 vote of members present at a meeting. true life adventure series AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY CONVENTION A Worm's-eye View of Folklorists at Work and Play Detroit, 1963 After three years of rubbing elbows with the great and near-great of the folkloristics game your correspondent finally seized the chance to do the job proper and attend a convention of the country's most prominent folklore practi- tioners. The instigation for this foray into the midst of my betters came, as one might suspect, from Archie Green, the eminent advisor to Campus Folksong Club and a long-recognized leader in the study of traditional music. Archie had suggest- ed, as long ago as last year, in fact, that I drop in at one of these solemn gatherings and stretch my brain with a well-researched paper or two. Circumstances, the press of business, and a chronically moribund pocketbook had prevented such ramblings in past years, however, and I had to rest content with secondhand reports from the above-mentioned advisor as well as A. Doyle Moore, Preston Martin, Larry Klingman, and other migratory workers. But in December of the year just past I found myself in better circumstances and, thanking Archie for his good offices, resolved to join the assembly of brains on the second day of its convention. Since the conclave was to be held in Detroit, only half a day's journey from my home, the trip would be neither arduous nor pro- hibitive in expense. On the 28th of December I strode into LaSalle Street Station in Chicago, crossed the ticket agent's palm with thirteen pieces of silver, and then entrusted my destiny to the Michigan Central Railroad for the ensuing five hours, all of which were pleasantly spent, mostly in the bar car, where I performed a study in folklore all my own, to wit: the observation of Homo americanus railroadiensis under the influence of a fast train and eight-year-old Scotch. The conclusions of this research, only tangentially germane to the present narrative, will be published as a separate project as soon as I can secure a grant from the Association of American Railroads. Suffice to say that, after a pleasant afternoon of watching my fellow passengers going into eclipse and the ingestion of an epic meal (terminated by a symphonic plum pudding with brandy) I dismounted from the train in Detroit's venerable Central Station and boarded a bus for the Park- Shelton Hotel, center of the festivities and gypsy camp for the Illinois delegation of Green and Moore. I arrived in the lobby and found it deserted. The clerk con- firmed that my mentors were indeed putting up on the premises, but were nowhere to be found at the present moment. Plumping into an armchair, I resolved to wait until they showed up. An hour passed, and a second threatened, but still no sign of a folklorist. Suddenly, there strode from the elevator toward the street, in great haste, a man I recognized. It seemed to be Roger Abrahams of Texas, who gave a lecture here last year, and I strode up to him politely. "Pardon me, are you Roger Abrahams?" "Yes... "I'm from Illinois; do you know where Archie Green is?" "Well, I just overslept my nap, but I think they're all over at the International Institute next door. There's a program arranged for tonight." We turned to our left and headed for the Institute adjacent to the hotel. Just as we reached the street, however, we were greeted by Judy McCulloh, and then by several other guests, all of whom informed us that the program was now over. On inquiring as to what we had missed, we discovered that the scholars had been enter- tained by no less than a group of Ukrainian folk musicians and dancers. The implications for a Slavic scholar like myself were obvious, and I cursed my timidity at not having ventured outside the hotel during the past hour. Had I decided on a stroll I might have at least chanced upon the Institute and caught a faint chord or two from a bandura or balalaika. But all had been for naught, and to boot, I was faced with the problem of what to do for the rest of the evening and where to spend the night.