Fletcher Library at the West Campus
IAP 471: Language, Culture and Performance
Folklore and Story Sources
Librarian Contact:
Dennis Isbell
602-543-8508
dennis.isbell@asu.edu
Dictionaries and Guides
Dictionaries and guides provide overview articles and sources for background information.
Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, & Legend
GR 35 .F82 1984 West Ref
A comprehensive dictionary of folklore from around the world. Includes survey articles and an index to countries, regions, ethnic groups, etc.
American Folklore: An Encyclopedia
GR 101 .A54 1996 West Ref
A very thorough encylopedia of American folklore from the beginnings to the modern world (e.g. an entry on computer folklore).
The American Book of Days, 3rd ed.
GT 4308 .D6 1987 West Ref.
A day-by-day accounting of American national, state, religious, etc. holidays. Each entry is a small essay detailing the origins and customs associated with the observance of the holiday.
The Folklore of American Holidays, 1st ed.
GT 4803 .F65 1987 West Ref.
Subtitle: "A Compilation of More Than 400 Beliefs, Legends, Superstitions, Proverbs, Riddles, Poems, Songs, Dances, Games, Plays, Pageants, Fairs, and Processions. Associated with over 100 American Calendar Customs and Festivals." Also includes numerous indexes for access to ethnic groups, motif-types, etc.
The Folklore of World Holidays, 1st ed.
GT 3930 .F65 1992 West Ref.
Entries for 340 national holidays and festivals from over 150 countries.
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 14th ed.
PN 43 .B65 1989 West Ref.A dictionary of common phrases, allusions, and words with histories in folklore, bible, history, and myth.
Folklore and Story Sources / Primary Sources
The world's published literature on folklore has been extensively collected, cataloged and classified. All of the sources below provide access to folk tales.
Type & Motif Index of the Folktales of England and North America (Baughman)
GR 67.B3 West Ref.
An index & motif classification of English and North American folktales.
Motif - Index of Folk Literature (Thompson)
GR 72.56 .T48 1989 West Ref. 6 vols.
Subtitle: "A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, and Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books & Local Legends."
A Guide to Folktales in the English Language
GR 74.6 .A84x West Ref.
Another motif index to English language folktales. Good for giving variations.
A Dictionary of British Folktales in the English Language, 2 vols.
GR 141.369 West Ref.
Contains summaries of tales. Also has a tale-type index and an index to story titles.
Index to Fairy Tales 1949-1986: Including Folklore, Legends, and Myths in Collections, 3 vols.
PN 3437 .I7x 1985 West Ref
An index to collections of fairy tales and folklore from books published between 1949 and 1977. The index is by subject and title.
Dictionary of Chicano Folklore
GR 111 .M49 C37 2000 West Ref
South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia
GR 302 .S68 2003 West Ref
African Folklore: An Encylopedia
GR 350 .A33 2004 West Ref
Periodical Contents Index Full Text, 1770--1990/91
ASU Online System, Article Indexes
An index to 3,200 journals from their beginnings to the early 90's. Invaluable for retrospective access to articles. Since its coverage is retrospective, almost all of the articles will have to be retrieved from the Hayden Library; full text is limited.
Bibliographies for Folklore
Bibliographies list selected sources on a topic. Be aware of the dates of coverage. Good sources for starting research.
American and Canadian Immigrant and Ethnic Folklore: An Annotated Bibliography
GR 105 .G43 1982 West Ref
A bibliography to scholarship on European and Asian immigrant folklore in America and
Canada. Organization is by nationality, but includes topic and geography index.
American Folklore: A Bibliography, 1950-1974
GR 105 .F55 1977 West Ref
A selective bibliography and guide to the literature of folklore between 1950 and 1974.
Native American Folklore, 1879-1979: An Annotated Bibliography
E 98 .F6 C575x West Ref.
An annotated bibliography of books and articles organized by region and tribes. Includes author and subject indexes.
Handbook of American Popular Culture, 2nd ed. 3 vols.
E 169.1 .H2643 1989 West Ref
Although not a folklore or story source, it is an excellent introduction to popular culture, a field often associated with folklore.
Subject Headings in the ASU Libraries' Catalog for Folklore
Some useful Subject Headings to use when searching for folklore in the ASU Libraries' Catalog:
Add a geographic region to any: e.g. "Folk Literature Ireland"
Ballads Folklore United States Fables Storytelling Tales Fairy Tales Tall Tales Indians of North America Folklore Tohono Oodham Indians Folklore |
Folk Artists Folk Dance Folk Drama Folk Literature Folk Music Folk Poetry Folk Songs |
Web Sources for Folklore
Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
A collection of full-text stories organized by Aarne-Thompson type classifications. It is searchable and has links to other folklore sites on the Web.
Yahoo
>Society and Culture>Mythology and Folklore
A good list of sites on the Web
Librarian’s Index to the Internet
>Religion>Mythology/Folklore
Open Directory Project
>Society>Folklore or >Arts>Literature>Myths and Folktales or >Arts>Humanities>Literature in Art>Mythology
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
Use the Fletcher Library’s “Indexes/Databases” page for access to complete EB. Go to “Britannica Internet Guide” for Web sites. The encyclopedia articles are also very good.
Song Sources
Song Indexes in Reference
In West Reference, call number range ML 128
Web Sources for Songs and Lyrics
Yahoo>Entertainment>Music>Lyrics
http://www.yahoo.comASU Libraries' Catalog Subject Headings
- Songbooks
- Songs
- Children's Songs
- Death Songs
- And so on ...
- Folk songs
Finding Audio Recordings in the library
Finding Audio Recordings Web Page http://library.west.asu.edu/collections/media/faudio.html
- A keyword search of, for example, "Folk Songs sound recordings", will retrieve CD's and cassettes of folk songs.
- Another way to browse the Music CD collection online is a call number search using “CD P” as your search for American folk music and “CD Q” for international folk music recordings in the Fletcher Library.
Myth Sources
Subject Headings in the ASU Online Catalog for Mythology
Mythology |
Indian Mythology North America
|
Myth Encyclopedias in Reference
In West Reference, call number range BL 303-1000
Guide to the Gods
BL 473 .L43 1992 West Ref
The gds are arranged by functions and attributes for comparisons. They are briefly identified and linked to a bibliography for more information.
Goddesses in World Mythology
BL 473.5 .A66 West Ref
Identifies goddesses worldwide and includes an index by attribute. Use the bibliography for more information.
Larousse World Mythology
BL 311 .G683 1965 West Ref
A standard guide to mythology. Entries are in essay format.
BL 303 to BL 2450 West Reference—various other guides to mythology.
Dictionary of Native American Mythology
E 98 .R3 G46 1992 West RefAlso with this source are books on healing, shamanism and Native American religion.
Online Indexes for Folklore, Folk Music and Mythology
Available from the Library’s home page under “Articles and Indexes” http://library.west.asu.edu/
Academic Search Premier, 1990--
The largest scholarly multidisciplinary online index available, the ASP indexes about 8,172 journals and provides full-text access to 4,700, many of them peer-reviewed.
Humanities Abstracts, 1984--
Indexes about 300 English language journals covering all of the humanities. Good starting place for scholarly studies and book reviews.
MLA International Bibliography, 1963--
A comprehensive, international index to languages and literature of all nationalities, including folklore. The MLA is the most extensive and complete source for scholarship in literature available. Indexes books, dissertations, and approximately 3,000 journals.
Essay and General Literature Index, 1900--
An index to essays and chapters in books. Focus is on the humanities and social sciences. Good source for material not indexed anywhere else.America: History and Life, 1982--
An index to the journal literature in American and Canadian history (over 2,000 journals indexed). It also indexes the major folklore journals in the field.Arts and Humanities Citation Index, 1975--
1,144 arts and humanities journals are indexed, plus partial indexing for arts and humanities articles in about 7,000 other journals.
International Index to Music Periodicals, 1990’s (but some core titles as far back as 1874)—
An index to about 400 music periodicals from around the world, with 80 titles available in full-text. Valuable source for secondary information about folk music.
ATLA Religion Database, 1949—
This is the primary source for research in religion. It indexes about 1,400 journals in addition to books and book chapters. It is useful for studying mythology and folklore. NO full text available.
DI 9/14/99; rev. 01/01; rev. 02/03; rev. 1/05
Modified: October 09, 2007,
