Blizzard Stories (35)

File — Box: 1, Folder: 2

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The Folklore Collection of Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz and His NDSU Students represents over thirty years of NDSU students collecting and documenting specific examples of oral, customary, and material-based folkways as part of the academic course ‗Folklore and Culture‘ (Anthropology 196, Anthropology 212, later Anthropology 208) taught by Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz. This collection of well over 10,000 items recognizes and celebrates the rich folk heritage of North Dakota and the entire Northern Great Plains region. Because of the dynamic and every-changing nature of folklore, ‗items‘ of folklore rarely lend themselves to clear-cut procedures of classification. Archival standards for folklore collections vary nationwide and internationally, leading each institution (including our own) to establish its own system of classifications. This collection reflects two separate accessions of NDSU student work. The first was acquired in 1985 from Dr. Kloberdanz and processed by his graduate assistant Millie Nieuwsma-Buekea. It covers folklore material from 1977 to 1985. It was divided into three series: Oral Folklore, Customary Folklore, and Material Folk Culture, with additional categories of Family Folklore and Other Types of Folklore. Within each of the major categories are various genres (e.g. legends, jokes, riddles). These genres are further divided into subgenres or thematic categories such as "Light Bulb Jokes," "Elephant Jokes," and others. These subgenres are placed alphabetically in individual files for ready access. In contrast to the 1977-1985 portion, the more recent body of material that covers from 1986 to 2010 is considerably larger and more diverse. Another major difference is that this newer portion is organized by general genres/categories, as opposed to very specific topical or thematic genres. Thus, the genre designations for the 1986-2010 folklore material will vary somewhat from the earlier listing. In addition, a few ―new‖ and different genres appear that include folklore categories like memorates, nicknames, hunting/fishing/trapping lore, computer folklore, etc. The basic organizational structure of the two accessions has been retained. The designation (1977-1985) with each series indicates the initial accession while (1986-2010) indicates the most recent accession.

Dates

1977-2010

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute. Those using the collection will respect the rights and privacy of individual informants and individual collectors. If dealing with any sensitive material (e.g., ethnic jokes, racial topics, political humor, etc.), personal names and other identifiers should not be used. The wishes of folklore informants or collectors to remain anonymous must be respected in all cases.