The Folklore Society

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The Folklore Society (FLS) is a registered charity under English law [1] based in London, England for the study of folklore. Its office is at 50 Fitzroy Street, London home of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. [2]

Contents

It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts and crafts, customs and belief. The foundation was prompted by a suggestion made by Eliza Gutch in the pages of Notes and Queries . [3]

Members

William Thoms, the editor of Notes and Queries who had first introduced the term folk-lore, [4] seems to have been instrumental in the formation of the society: [5] as was G. L. Gomme, who was for many years a leading member. [6]

Some prominent members were identified as the "great team" in Richard Dorson's now long-outdated 1967 history of British folkloristics, late-Victorian leaders of the surge of intellectual interest in the field, these were Andrew Lang, Edwin Sidney Hartland, Alfred Nutt, William Alexander Clouston, Edward Clodd, and Gomme. Later historians have taken a deeper interest in the pre-modern views of members such as Joseph Jacobs. [7] A long-serving member and steady contributor to the society's discourse and publications was Charlotte Sophia Burne, the first woman to become editor of its journal and later president (1909–10) of the society. [8] Ethel Rudkin, the Lincolnshire folklorist, was a notable member; her publications included several articles in the journal, as well as the book Lincolshire Folklore. [9]

Publications

The society publishes, in partnership with Taylor and Francis, the journal Folklore in four issues per year, and, since 1986, a newsletter, FLS News. [10]

The journal began as The Folk-Lore Record in 1878, continued or was restarted as The Folk-Lore Journal, and from 1890 its issues were compiled as volumes with the long title Folk-Lore: A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution, & Custom. Incorporating The Archæological Review and The Folk-Lore Journal. Joseph Jacobs edited the first four annual volumes as the Quarterly Review, succeeded by Alfred Nutt. As the head of publisher David Nutt in the Strand, Alfred Nutt was the publisher of the journal from 1890.

Charlotte Burne edited the journal between 1899 and 1908. [11] The editorship then passed to A. R. Wright (1909–14); William Crooke (1915–23); A. R. Wright (1924–31); E. O. James (1932–55); Christina Hole (1956–78); Jacqueline Simpson (1979–93); Gillian Bennett (1994–2004), Patricia Lysaght (2004-2012) and Jessica Hemming (2013–). [12]

Collections

The Folklore Society Library has around 15,000 books and more than 200 serial titles (40 currently received) and is held at University College London Library. Its major strengths are in folk narrative and English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh folklore; there are also substantial holdings of east European folklore books, and long runs of Estonian and Basque folklore serials. [13]

The Folklore Society Archives and Collections include folklore-related papers of G. L. Gomme and Lady Gomme, T. F. Ordish, William Crooke, Henry Underhill, Estella Canziani, Denis Galloway, Barbara Aitken, Margaret Murray, Katharine Briggs and others. The society's archives and collections are held at University College London's Special Collections. [13]

Presidents

Katharine Briggs Award

The Katharine Briggs Award is an annual book prize awarded by the Society in honour of Katharine Mary Briggs (who was the society's president from 1969 to 1972). [14] The prize has been awarded every year since it was first announced in 1982. [15] Notable winners include Israeli historian of social memory Guy Beiner (2019), American scholar of fairy tales Jack Zipes (2007), English mythographer Marina Warner (1999), British radical historian E. P. Thompson (1992), English married team of folklorists Iona and Peter Opie (1986) and Soviet folklorist Vladimir Propp (1985).

Winners of the Award are: [16]

Coote Lake Medal

Coote Lake Medal awarded to Ethel Rudkin (North Lincolnshire Museum) Coote Lake Medal awarded to Ethel Rudkin.jpg
Coote Lake Medal awarded to Ethel Rudkin (North Lincolnshire Museum)

The Coote Lake medal is awarded by the Committee of the Folklore Society for "outstanding research and scholarship" in the field of Folklore Studies. [27]

The award is named in honour of Harold Coote Lake (1878-1939), an active member of the Folklore Society in the 1920s and 1930s (who served as both Treasurer and Secretary of the Society at points in that period).

The recipients have been:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Nutt</span> English publisher and scholar 1856–1910

Alfred Trübner Nutt was a prominent English publisher, folklorist, and Arthurian and Celtic scholar. Born in 1856 into a literary family in London, he took over his late father's publishing business in 1878 after studying in France and extensive European business apprenticeships.

Jacqueline Simpson is a prolific, award-winning British researcher and author on folklore.

Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, and Peter Mason Opie were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and play, in studies such as The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951) and The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (1959). They were also noted anthologists, assembled large collections of children's literature, toys, and games and were regarded as world-famous authorities on children's lore and customs.

Eliza Gutch (1840-1931) was an English author, contributor to Notes and Queries, and founding member of the Folklore Society. She made immense contributions to the establishment of folklore and dialect studies.

Violet Alford was an internationally recognised authority on folk dancing and its related music, costume, and folk customs. She believed that a common prehistoric root explained the similarities found across much of Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel Rudkin</span> Archaeologist

Ethel Rudkin was an English writer, historian, archaeologist and folklorist from Lincolnshire. She pioneered the collection of folk material, particularly from Lincolnshire, and her collections are now part of several public institutions, including the North Lincolnshire Museum.

Walter Leo Hildburgh (1876-1955) was an American art collector, sportsman, traveller, scientist and philanthropist.

Arthur Robinson Wright, better known as A. R. Wright was a British folklorist who was elected President of the Folklore Society, fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. He also conducted influential work at the Patent Office.

Venetia Newall (1935–2017) was an English-American folklorist who was elected president of the Folklore Society and fellow of the American Folklore Society.

Sona Rosa Burstein (1897–1971) was a museum curator, folklorist and historian of gerontology.

Stewart Forson Sanderson (1924–2016) was a Scottish folklorist and linguist.

Roy Judge (1929–2000) was a British folklorist and historian.

J.D.A. (John) Widdowson is a British linguist and folklorist.

Arthur Allan Gomme (1882-1955) was a British librarian, historian of technology and folklorist.

Patricia Lysaght is an Irish folklorist. She is Professor Emerita of European Ethnology, University College Dublin, Ireland.

Thomas East Lones (1860–1944) was a British folklorist, noted for his research into British calendar customs.

Christina Hole was an award-winning British folklorist and author, who was described as “for many years the leading authority on English folk customs and culture”.

Alex Helm (1920–1970) was an award-winning British folklorist, described as "one of the most important figures in the study of calendar custom and [folk] dance in post-war England".

Thomas Fairman Ordish (1855-1924), sometimes also referred to as T. Fairman Ordish was a British folklorist, noted for his interest in traditional drama and folk play, early theatre and the history of London. He is credited as having undertaken "the first major investigation of British traditional drama".

David Hopkin is a British historian, who specialises in European social history and folklore in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

References

  1. "The Folklore Society, registered charity no. 1074552". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  2. "Strategic Plan 2020–2025". Royal Anthropological Institute. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  3. Jacqueline Simpson (Editor), Steve Roud (Editor) (2003). A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press.
  4. Boyer, R. Troy (1997). "The Forsaken Founder, William Thoms: From Antiquities to Folklore". The Folklore Historian. 14: 55–61.
  5. Bennett, Gillian (1996). "The Thomsian Heritage in the Folklore Society (London)". Journal of Folklore Research. 33 (3): 212–220. ISSN   0737-7037.
  6. Roper, Jonathan (2007). "Thoms and the Unachieved 'Folk-lore of England'". Folklore. 118 (2): 203–216. doi: 10.1080/00155870701340035 . ISSN   0015-587X. S2CID   161251619.
  7. "Joseph Jacobs: A Sociological Folklorist" Gary Alan Fine Folklore Vol. 98, No. 2 (1987), pp. 183–193 abstract
  8. "Charlotte Sophia Burne: Shropshire Folklorist, First Woman President of the Folklore Society, and First Woman Editor of Folklore. Part 1: A Life and Appreciation", Gordon Ashman and Gillian Bennett, Folklore, Vol. 111, No. 1 (Apr., 2000), pp. 1–21
  9. Brown, Theo (1 January 1986). "Obituary: Ethel H. Rudkin, 1893–1985". Folklore. 97 (2): 222–223. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1986.9716384. ISSN   0015-587X.
  10. "Newsletter: FLS News". The Folklore Society. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  11. Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve (1 January 2003), "Folklore (the journal)", A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780198607663.001.0001, ISBN   978-0-19-860766-3 , retrieved 22 April 2021
  12. Folklore Society (June 2013). "Coote-Lake Medal 2013". FLS News. 70: 1.
  13. 1 2 UCL Special Collections (23 August 2018). "Folklore Society Collection". UCL Special Collections. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  14. "The Katharine Briggs Award". The Folklore Society. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  15. Vickery, Roy; Hutchinson, Joyce; O'Kelly, Joss (1982). "Society Meetings and Folklore Notes". Folklore. 93 (2): 248–251. doi:10.1080/0015587x.1982.9716249. ISSN   0015-587X.
  16. "Katharine Briggs Folklore Award Winners". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  17. Wood, Juliette (1992). "Katharine Briggs Lecture and Folklore Award, 1991". Folklore. 103 (1): 73–74. doi:10.1080/0015587x.1992.9715830. ISSN   0015-587X.
  18. Snell, K. D. M. (1994). "Georgina Boyes, The Imagined Village: Culture, Ideology and the English Folk Revival, Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press, 1993. xiv + 285 pp. £35.00 hb. ISBN 0 7190 2914 7". Rural History. 5 (2): 228–229. doi:10.1017/S0956793300000728. ISSN   1474-0656. S2CID   163052893.
  19. "Katharine Briggs Award, 1996. Judges' Report". Folklore. 108 (1–2): 123. 1997. doi:10.1080/0015587x.1997.9715952. ISSN   0015-587X.
  20. "Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 1999: Judges' Report". Folklore. 111 (2): 315–316. 2000. doi:10.1080/00155870020004666. ISSN   0015-587X. S2CID   216644528.
  21. "Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2001: Judges' Report". Folklore. 113 (2): 269–270. 2002. doi:10.1080/0015587022000015374. ISSN   0015-587X. S2CID   216643986.
  22. "Reviews of Folklore Scholarship". Folklore. 114 (2): 271–284. 2003. doi:10.1080/0015587032000104266. ISSN   0015-587X. S2CID   216644680.
  23. "Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2003: Judges' report". Folklore. 115 (3): 363–365. 2004. doi:10.1080/0015587042000284347. ISSN   0015-587X. S2CID   160531617.
  24. Larson, Shannon K. (7 January 2016). "'The Folklore Society Announces Winners of the 2015 Katherine Briggs Folklore Award', American Folklore Society News: Review". American Folklore Society.
  25. Lizanne, Henderson (2017). Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment: Scotland, 1670-1740. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   978-1-349-59313-2. OCLC   1080426994.
  26. "The Katharine Briggs Award 2019". The Folklore Society. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  27. "The Coote Lake Medal". The Folklore Society. Retrieved 28 March 2021.