The Texas Folk-Lore Society Since 1916

Coffee in the Gourd, ed. J. Frank Dobie [1923], at sacred-texts.com

THE TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY SINCE 1916

    In 1916, under the able editorship of Dr. Stith Thompson, University of Texas, then secretary of the Texas Folk-Lore Society, the Society issued Number I of its Publications. In that volume was a history of the Society from its organization, December 29, 1909, up to 1916. The activities of the Society since then may be briefly sketched.

    Number I was an interesting and representative volume, as a review of its contents, which follows, will show: Preface, George Lyman Kittredge; History of the Folk-Lore Society of Texas, Robert Adger Law; Texas Play-Party Songs and Games, R. E. Dudley and L. W. Payne, Jr.; Finding List for Texas Play-Party Songs, L. W. Payne, Jr.; Religious Beliefs of the Tejas or Hasanias Indians, Adina De Zavala; The State Industrial School Boys' Slang, A. W. Eddins; How Sandy Got His Meat: A Negro Tale, A. W. Eddins; Traditions of the Waco Indians, Dorothy Scarborough; A Mexican Border Ballad, Ben D. Wood; Wild Horse Stories of Southwest Texas, W. Prescott Webb; Folk-Lore and its Influence in Determining Institutions, J. E. Pearce; The Hell Hounds: A Negro Tradition, W. S. Hendrix; The Prehistoric Development of Satire, Stith Thompson; Unexplored Treasures of Texas Folk-Lore, John A. Lomax.

    In April, 1916, the Society met at Austin; the next year it met at San Marcos. Then came the World War, a scattering of the folk-lorists, a dissipation of all interests in such past or receding things as folk-lore. For almost five years the Texas Folk-Lore Society was quiescent. However, in the spring of 1922 some of the old members got together and decided to resurrect it. They did. The eighth annual meeting was held in Austin, with an exceedingly interesting program, before well attended and enthusiastic audiences.

    Financially, the Society is in good condition. After he had made the "annual public address" in 1916, Professor Barrett Wendell of Harvard University made the Society a gift of $100.00. Of course, during the years of its dormancy, no dues were collected from the members, and many have been lost track of or have themselves lost track of the Society. However, during the past year something like seventy names have been added to the membership. The issuing of the present volume will add many more members, and, with an annual publication, the membership will no doubt increase.

    The present publication is made possible only by the generosity and interest of the Board of Regents of the University of Texas. Realizing the educational importance of an interest in Texas folklore and the collection and publication thereof, at their meeting last July, they granted the Society a subsidy of $100.00 to be used in publishing folk-lore collected. This aid in no way makes the Society a University of Texas institution; the Society maintains its original status. The Regents simply recognized the oneness of the ultimate aims of the Society with the ultimate aims of the University of Texas, or with the ultimate aims of any educational institution, for that matter.