| VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore a membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society Dedicated to publishing the content of folklore in the words and images of its creators and practitioners Become a subscriber today! |
|
|
|
|
            
Voices magazine is available only to members of New York Folklore Society. To ensure that you don’t miss another issue of Voices magazine, return the form with your membership or renewal check right away! Voices calls on you to join! Check our submission guidelines for authors. Send your letter to the editor here. Folklorists are writers. We write every day: monographs and scholarly articles, field notes, festival and event brochures, exhibit texts, grant applications, final reports, press releases, proposals. In fact, I would say that time spent writing is more than fifty percent of any folklorist’s annual cycle of work. The essentials of folklore—the ethnographic material—are fundamental to a great story. As any fieldworker can attest, entering into the personal experience of another individual is expansive and illuminating. The everyday becomes novel when viewed from the viewpoint of the uninitiated. The job of the folklorist is to translate that experience to those who may not get the opportunity to go through it themselves and to help the reader to find meaning in the experience. The history of folklore scholarship is replete with examples of good writing. The founding of the New York Folklore Society’s New York Folklore Quarterly in 1945 acknowledged the multitude of folklore materials and the many talented writers in the field of folklore. Benjamin Botkin, former head of the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress and a New York Folklore Society founder, encouraged the publication of folklore for a popular audience, as did founders Louis Jones and Harold Thompson. In the first half of the 1900s, folklorist Zora Neale Hurston wrote novels based on her fieldwork experiences, while at the same time publishing scholarly articles on African American folk culture. Contemporary folklorists, including Edith Cutting, Betty Belanus, Kirin Narayan, Joanne Mulcahy, and many others, have published poetry and fiction that draws upon ethnographic materials gathered in the field. Within the academy, folklorists have found their unique niche in designing and offering writing classes that draw upon student experience. ... The New York Folklore Society remains in the forefront of a creative movement. The impulse in 1945 to publish the folklore of New York State for the people of the state is continued today through this publication, Voices. The editors of this publication encourage your submission of scholarly writing, as well as nonfiction, fiction, poetry, memoir, and other forms of creative literature. Ellen McHale, Ph.D., Executive Director New York Folklore Society New York Folklore Society P.O. Box 764 Schenectady, NY 12301 518/346-7008 Fax 518/346-6617 nyfs@nyfolklore.org |
PUBLICATIONS | VOICES | BACK ISSUES | FOLKLORE IN ARCHIVES | FOLK ARTISTS SELF-MGT | ORDER PUBLICATIONS | SEARCH Listen to New York Folklore Society’s executive director, Ellen McHale interviewed by Steve Black for his radio show, Periodical Radio
FROM THE DIRECTOR From the forthcoming Spring-Summer 2008 issue of Voices: Grace Hudowalski closed all of her letters with the phrase, “Good Climbing!” The first female president of the New York Folklore Society (1961-1964), Grace Hudowalski is perhaps better known as the founding member and the first president of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers — an organization which recognizes the achievement of those who have hiked to the summit of all 46 Adirondack peaks. (Grace was climber #9). In her tenure of over sixty years as historian for the Adirondack 46-ers, Grace personally wrote over 60,000 letters which encouraged and advised aspiring climbers. Today, these letters are included in the collections of the New York State Library. As one of the earliest members of the New York Folklore Society at its founding in the mid-1940s, Grace’s interest in folklore was evident. During this time, she was the editor of the Cloud-Splitter, the journal of the Albany Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club. In the role of editor, she contributed many articles which related and discussed the folklore and folklife of the Adirondack region. Manifesting an interest in education along with folklore, Grace (and her husband, Edward) started the Schroon Lake Essay Contest in 1957 (1957-1974), through which eleventh grade students collected and wrote about the folklore and local history of the Schroon Lake area. Excerpts of their work were published in the New York Folklore Quarterly, June, 1966. In 2007, this essay contest was resurrected by the Grace Peak Committee of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers, to take place in the Schroon Lake and North Hudson schools. Similarly, as President of the New York Folklore Society, Grace also helped found the Yorker Folklore Contest, co-sponsored by the New York Historical Association. This Folklore Writing Contest was open to any member of the Yorker Club, a school-based history club. Contest winners received the prize of The Harold W. Thompson trophy, and a subscription to the New York Folklore Quarterly. To honor Grace Hudowalski, and her contributions to Adirondack history, the Grace Peak Committee of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers is proposing that one of the peaks of the Dix Range in the Adirondacks be renamed “Grace Peak.” The Grace Peak Committee is seeking letters of support in behalf of this effort. For further information, visit the Grace Peak Icon at http:www.adk46r.org. Letters can be sent to the following: The Grace Peak Committee c/o Doug Arnold #4693 62 Pendergast Road Phoenix, NY 13135 In welcoming Grace Hudowalski in her role as President of the New York Folklore Society, outgoing president, Charles L. Wallis recognized her love for climbing when he stated in 1961, “Commendations are in order to the NYFS for having claimed so excellent a president. Already we can see new heights ahead for the Society!” Ellen McHale, Ph.D.
HOME | ABOUT NYFS | PROGRAMS & SERVICES | PUBLICATIONS | RESOURCES | CALENDAR | WHAT’S FOLKLORE? | MEMBERSHIP | GALLERY | SHOP |
SEARCH | CONTACT US © 2008, 2007-2000 New York Folklore Society |
Look inside 
