Delaware Folklore Society audio recordings

These audiotape recordings by the Delaware Folklore society feature folk tales, narratives, songs, sermons, and discussions of folklore. The recordings provide a glimpse into the work of an organization dedicated to preserving and studying the folk heritage of Delaware.

Recordings by the Delaware Folklore Society include "negro folk tales" as told by New York State educator Louis C. Jones; Finnish language choral singing from the Iron Hill area, recorded or organized by University of Delaware Professor John A. Munroe; and stories told by Nathaniel "Fan" Tingle, an elderly African American resident of Oak Orchard, Sussex County, Delaware. The recordings also feature talks by the collectors of folklore and songs, including New York State educator Louis C. Jones and Alan Lomax, musicologist and field collector of American folk music.

The collection features several oral history interviews including an interview with two residents of Cedar Swamp, Blackbird Hundred, Delaware, on local legends. There is also an interview with John Ernest of Newark, Delaware, in which he discussed Chesapeake Bay "show boats" and other traveling shows he visited as a child, church attendance, local customs, and his frank views of African-Americans. The final tape in the collection features an interview and sermon by Reverend Andrew Gaston of Newark, Delaware. Gaston was an employee of the Continental Diamond-Fibre Company, and the son of a former slave and a free woman. In his interview, he discussed his life, children, education, working railroad, and his time in Savannah, Georgia, where he was born. The tape also includes readings by Charles W. Eaton and students in oral interpretation and speech.

In addition to John Munroe, the tapes were recorded by Delaware author and historian C.A. Weslager, historian Anthony Higgins, and journalist Bill Frank. Additional information regarding the content of the audiotapes was handwritten on their containers and is included in the scope note of each tape where possible.