Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Indiana University. Folklore Institute
- Abstract:
- The Indiana University Folklore Institute has a long history of collecting the oral literature and arts of Indiana. This collection consists of jokes collected by students of Indiana University, taking classes in the Folklore Department from 1968-1971. Joke subject matter includes ethnicity, politics, sexuality, gender, and religion.
- Extent:
- 1.8 cubic feet (3 boxes; 1 record container, 2 document cases)
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
[Item], Indiana University Folklore Institute Jokes, Collection C735, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
The Folklore Institute at Indiana University began as an eight-week program in the summer of 1942 under the directorship of Professor Stith Thompson. From June 29 to August 22 of that year residential and visiting faculty taught courses, which carried university credit, on a number of topics. Course topics ranged from an introductory course on folklore to field collecting and recording to the folk tale and similar forms. Others covered folk song and folk music as well as Native American folklore. The Folklore Institute grew into a stable research branch of Indiana University's College of Arts and Sciences in 1949 and received departmental status with an independent faculty in 1963; however, the Graduate School first listed M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Folklore for the academic year of 1949-1950. Since the academic year of 1971-1972 the Institute has offered an undergraduate degree in folklore as well. The Institute has also had a long history with research and teaching interests in ethnomusicology. In 2000 the Ethnomusicology Institute was created and merged with the Folklore Institute to become the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, which now offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in both fields.
- Scope and Content:
This collection consists of student papers written for folklore classes at Indiana University and compiled by Richard Dorson for the Folklore Institute between 1968 and 1971. These papers are the output of a common assignment asking students to document and analyze jokes as works of oral folklore. Specifically, the papers addressed jokes told by and about certain groups of people, and how these jokes reflected underlying social and cultural attitudes. In addition to transcriptions of the jokes, the papers also include ethnographic descriptions of the informants, transcribed or summarized interviews between the student authors and the informants, and analytical essays written by the students.
Many of the jokes documented in student papers contain—and highlight—obscene and/or harmful language about ethnic, racial, religious, and political groups. For more information about encountering harmful language in our collections, please visit the Indiana University Libraries Harmful Language Statement.
- Acquisition information:
- Accession 2003/055
- Processing information:
Processed by Joshua Koepke. Finding aid completed 2022.
At the time of processing, archivists removed outdated and harmful folder headings and replaced them with the currently accepted terminology. Folders originally titled "Negro" and "Polack" were relabeled "African American" and "Polish." This change is reflected in the finding aid. Archivists made this decision to enhance the collection's discoverability and engage in reparative description.
Folder headings that were originally labeled "Negro" and "Polack" jokes were relabled to African American and Polish at the time of processing.
- Arrangement:
The collection consists of one series of student papers from classes in the Folklore Department. The arrangement reflects the original order created by the Folklore Institute which grouped papers according to joke genre, year, course/section number, and instructor.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
Collection is open for research. Advance notice required.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials. Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.
Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[Item], Indiana University Folklore Institute Jokes, Collection C735, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
Herman B Wells Library E4601320 East Tenth StreetBloomington, Indiana 47405-7000, United States
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
812-855-1127archives@indiana.edu