Restrictions to Access

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Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the North Carolina Folklore Society Records #4388, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from Arthur Palmer Hudson of Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1965; separated from Arthur Palmer Hudson Folklore Collection in 1982. Addition received from Lucy H. Allen, secretary-treasurer of North Carolina Folklore Society, in October 2001 (Acc. 99108).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• American Folklore Society.
• Associations, institutions, etc.--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Brown, Frank C., 1870-1943.
• Folklore--North Carolina--Periodicals.
• Folklore--North Carolina--Societies, etc.
• Hudson, Arthur Palmer, 1892- .
• North Carolina Folklore Society.
• North Carolina folklore.
• North Carolina--Folklore.

• Arthur Palmer Hudson Papers (#4026);
• Frank C. Brown Collection, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.

The North Carolina Folklore Society was organized in the fall of 1912 at the instigation of the American Folklore Society and Frank C. Brown (1870-1943). The first annual meeting was held on 24 March 1913. According to the Constitution (amended 1970), "the Society shall be organized and operated ... for such literary and educational purposes as the study of Folklore, and especially the collection, preservation, and publication of the folklore of North Carolina."

The Society's first two secretary-treasurers strongly influenced its development. Frank C. Brown held the position from 1913 to 1943. He was succeeded by Arthur Palmer Hudson (1892-1978), who served until 1964. Hudson guided the Society in its first major publication, The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore. He also established the Society's journal, North Carolina Folklore, in 1948. Hudson edited this journal until 1963.

Daniel W. Patterson succeeded Hudson as secretary-treasurer, serving from 1965 to 1966. Later secretary-treasurers have been Richard Walser, Leonidas Betts, Harry C. West, and Thomas McGowan. Editors of North Carolina Folklore (the title changed to North Carolina Folklore Journal with volume 21, 1973) have included Guy Owen, Richard Walser, Leonidas Betts, Rogers Whitener, and Thomas McGowan.

Further information on the early organization of the North Carolina Folklore Society is available in Theodore Barry Buermann's "A History of the North Carolina Folklore Society," M.A. thesis, English, University of North Carolina, 1963.

The content of the original deposit of records of the North Carolina Folklore Society, organized for the study of folklore in North Carolina, was largely detemined by their collector and donor, Arthur Palmer Hudson. When Hudson undertook the position of secretary-treasurer in 1943, certain records once held by Frank C. Brown were turned over to him. Consequently, there is an almost complete record of council and annual meetings from 1912 to 1938. There is very little financial information from before 1926. There is also no correspondence for this early period.

Treasurers' records and reports of annual meetings are complete for the years of Hudson's secretary-treasurership, 1943-1964. Reports of council meetings are sporadic, however, and there is little correspondence from this period, except for 1964.

Documentation of the Society, 1964-1976, is primarily limited to correspondence concerning publication of North Carolina Folklore and to amendments made to the Society's constitution in 1970.

Additional material received in October 2001 primarily contains programs and minutes of annual meetings, 1964-1996; financial records, 1976-1997; and applications and reports, 1968-1994, for grants received by the Society from the North Carolina Arts Council. Also included are some files about the history of the Society, the North Carolina Folklore Journal, awards given by the Society, and other activities of the Society.

Items separated include four audiotapes (FS-1191, FS-1192, FS-1193, FS-1194).