[UA] American Folklore Question

[Stuart Anderson]

"K.A.G." wrote:

> Sorry to bug you guys with this, but I'm getting ready to try and design a whole American King Under the Mountain Myth campagin for UA and I can't find a thing of any substance online or in any of the bookstores near me on American Folklore. I can find Native American Folklore, South American Folklore, I can even find Russian Folklore but nothing on Pecos Bill or John Henry, or most importantly Paul Bunyon so if you guys no any sites or books the subject please tell me.

    Part of that is the nature of the search. Try "tall tales" and see if that helps. Academically speaking, some of the stories you're referring to aren't technically folklore. Paul Bunyon was a mascot for detergent or flour or something, early this century. A lot of the good sites are academic, so they make those sorts of distinctions. I've had a hard time with some of this myself. I'm a big Mike Fink fan, but there's precious little of him on the net, and not much in these Colorado libraries. MF is more of a Mississippi Valley story.
    John Henry seems like a good king under the mountain. Try: http://www.sirius.com/~ginna/JohnHenry/Text/Legend.html
It's not hugely informational, but it's got some good sound files and lists other good resources. For folklore in general, you can look at http://afsnet.org/, or http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife/ But those aren't going to be too much help on their own.
A good site for search strategy is http://www.lib.ohio-state.edu/gateway/bib/folklore.html. It has plenty of links, but not as many useful ones as you'd expect.
    I can't imagine why there's so little folklore on the net. As quickly as it's disappearing, you'd think someone would have a handy archive somewhere. I've looked a lot and haven't found it. It's bound to be out there somewhere, though. If you find a good one, please post. I'd appreciate it also.
--Stu



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