Legends of the Supernatural in Southwestern Wisconsin Project Collection, 1991-1992
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Summary Information

Collection Summary

Title: Legends of the Supernatural in Southwestern Wisconsin Project Collection
Dates: 1991-1992

Creators:
  • Stotts, Stuart
  • Matson, Elizabeth
Unique Identifier: CSUMC0002-CG

Contents: UW-Madison Folklore Program: 2 folders, 6 audiocassettes; James P. Leary: 1 folder

Publisher:
Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures
432 East Campus Mall, Room 332
Madison, Wisconsin 53706
608-262-8180
Web site: http://csumc.wisc.edu

Archival Location:
UW-Madison Folklore Program (Map)

Summary:
Two storytellers recorded supernatural stories from 6 individual tellers and a middle school group of 10-15 in Wisconsin's Iowa County during 1991-1992. They obtained over 50 stories and story segments including legends, urban legends, memorates, personal experience narratives, and superstitions featuring the Ridgeway ghost, ghostly animals, gamblers, vanishing hitchhikers, poltergeists, haunted houses, troubled deaths, and more. The interviewers transcribed the recorded stories and used them as the basis for versions they published in The Bookcase Ghost and tell to public audiences.

Language: Manuscripts and sound recordings are in English.

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-csumc-csumc0002cg
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Collection Concordance by Format
Quantity Physical Description Location
Manuscript Materials
2 folders UW-Madison Folklore Program
1 folder James P. Leary
Sound Recordings
6 audiocassettes UW-Madison Folklore Program

Biography/History
Staff/Fieldworkers

Storytellers Stuart Stotts and Elizabeth Matson of Madison, Wisconsin, under the auspices of Common Arts, Inc., of Madison, developed the project, wrote the grants, interviewed storytellers, transcribed the tapes, presented a program on their work in Mineral Point, Wis., and published The Bookcase Ghost (Mt. Horeb, Wis.: Midwest Traditions, 1996). James P. Leary served as their adviser under the Wisconsin Humanities Council grant, training them in documentary methods, assisting in evaluating their findings, participating in the Mineral Point program, and acting as the Wisconsin Folk Museum liaison.


Project History

Stotts and Matson developed this project to improve their local repertoires by documenting ghost story tellers in Dane and Iowa counties in Southwestern Wisconsin. They first concentrated on Dane County tellers in 1991 and received grant funds from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission. During this phase of the project Stotts and Matson did not tape-record the stories they heard, mainly at ghost-storytelling events in Dane County. With funds from the Wisconsin Humanities Council, Stotts and Matson next expanded into Iowa County, recording stories from six individuals and a group of teens in 1992. They selectively transcribed these sound recordings, generating 40 pages, plus 2 typed pages of stories provided by Lorena Goldsworthy. They presented some of these stories in a "Supernatural Legends of Southwestern Wisconsin" program at the Mineral Point Civic Center on October 8, 1992. Sponsored by the Mineral Point Library and Common Arts, Inc., the program also featured a talk about legendry by the team's adviser, James P. Leary. In The Bookcase Ghost, Stotts and Matson adapted and published versions of six tape-recorded stories. They also included stories from the Van Antwerp Collection at the Wisconsin Historical Society, and from narrators in Madison, McFarland, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Tomahawk, and Waunakee, Wisconsin. Two stories credited to Colette Koltes of Waunakee were localized in the Sparta and Richland Center areas.


Scope and Content Note

The collection contains interviews with six tellers of supernatural stories, and 10-15 middle schoolers, recorded in 1992 in Iowa County, Wisconsin. It includes over 50 stories and story segments including legends, urban legends, memorates, personal experience narratives, and superstitions featuring the Ridgeway ghost, ghostly animals, gamblers, vanishing hitchhikers, poltergeists, haunted houses, troubled deaths, and more. The interviewers transcribed the recorded stories and used them as the basis for versions they published in The Bookcase Ghost and tell to public audiences.

Related Materials

Summer Field School 2000 Collection, University of Wisconsin-Madison Folklore Program (CSUMC0001-CG)

Fidelia Van Antwerp Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society (PH 1629, Wis Mss QW)

Productions

Productions resulting from the described fieldwork were:

The Bookcase Ghost. Mt. Horeb, Wis.: Midwest Traditions. 1996.

Key Subjects
Groups (Ethnic, National, Cultural, Religious, etc.)

  • Catholics
  • Cornish
  • English
  • Irish
  • Germans
  • Norwegians
  • Norwegian Americans
  • Yankee
Languages

  • English language
Locations

  • Argyle (Wis.)
  • Barneveld (Wis.)
  • Blanchardville (Wis.)
  • Dane County (Wis.)
  • Dodgeville (Wis.)
  • Iowa County (Wis.)
  • Lincoln County (Wis.)
  • Linden (Wis.)
  • Madison (Wis.)
  • McFarland (Wis.)
  • Mineral Point (Wis.)
  • Monroe County (Wis.)
  • Pendarvis House (Mineral Point, Wis.)
  • Pokerville (Wis.)
  • Richland County (Wis.)
  • Ridgeway (Wis.)
  • Sparta (Wis.)
  • Stoughton (Wis.)
  • Sun Prairie (Wis.)
  • Moses S. Strong Building (Mineral Point, Wis.)
  • Tomahawk (Wis.)
  • Walker House (Mineral Point, Wis.)
  • Waunakee (Wis.)
  • Wisconsin
Performers

  • Goldsworthy, Lorena
  • Goninen, Jean
  • Koltes, Colette
  • Lewis, Jeannie
  • Moen, Helga Kammerud
  • Phillips, Melva
  • Tesch, Otto
Subjects

  • Bars (Drinking establishments)
  • Boardinghouses
  • Food habits
  • Jokes
  • Legends
  • Memorates
  • Mine accidents
  • Miners
  • Superstition
  • Urban folklore
Provenance

Stuart Stotts donated the sound recordings and transcriptions, with Wisconsin Folk Museum releases signed by Goldsworthy, Goninen, Moen, and Phillips, to the Wisconsin Folk Museum in 1992. They were not formally accepted into the Museum's collection however, so this material has remained in the care of James P. Leary under the stewardship of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Folklore Program since 1996.

Access

Contact records custodians for access information. Listening and viewing access to the UW-Madison Folklore Program collection is unrestricted, by appointment only.

UW-Madison Folklore Program
Prof. James P. Leary
2315 Sterling Hall
475 N. Charter Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Email: jpleary@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-8107
Web site: http://folklore.wisc.edu
Prof. James P. Leary
209 S. 4th St.
Mount Horeb, Wisconsin 53572
Email: jpleary@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 437-4816
Use

Duplication of the materials for non-profit personal, educational, and research purposes within the scope of the Folklore Program's jurisdiction may be arranged. Duplication of materials for public presentation, publication, and production requires negotiation with the Program Director, the fieldworkers, and the people documented.

Preferred Citation

We suggest the following citation form when using direct quotes from a person documented: [Name of person documented]. [Date]. [Tape/video/other]-recorded interview by [Fieldworker name]. [Place interviewed]. [Name of collection/project]. [Repository, city, state]. When using a specific image: [Identify subject matter/people in caption]. Photo/image by [Photographer/fieldworker name]. [Date]. Courtesy of [repository]. To quote fieldworker, follow bibliographical style.

Collection Inventory and Description
Series: I: MANUSCRIPT MATERIALS. UW-Madison Folklore Program. Legends of the Supernatural in Southwestern Wisconsin Project Collection.
Folder   1
Fieldnotes, Lyrics, and Music Transcriptions
Scope and Content Note: Contains selected transcriptions from the six sound-recorded interviews, plus 2 typed pages of stories submitted by Goldsworthy.
Folder   2
Administrative Files
Scope and Content Note: Consists of consent forms from the storytellers, grant forms including a draft of the project proposal, and a flyer advertising the lecture completing the public component of the project.
Series: II: MANUSCRIPT MATERIALS. James P. Leary Research Collection. Legends of the Supernatural Project Files.
⇧
Folder   1
Correspondence, Clippings, Reference, Research, and Bibliographic Materials
Scope and Content Note: Consists of James P. Leary's personal materials: a bibliography concerning ghost legends, miscellaneous materials related to ghosts including newspaper clippings (1998-1999) about ghost stories in Southwestern Wisconsin, and project correspondence.
Series: III: SOUND RECORDINGS. UW-Madison Folklore Program. Legends of the Supernatural in Southwestern Wisconsin Project Collection.
⇧
Box   1
Cassette   1
Jeannie Lewis and Melva Phillips, 1992 July 15
Box   1
Cassette   2
Otto Tesch, 1992 August 16
Box   1
Cassette   3
Lorena Goldsworthy, 1992 August 25
Box   1
Cassette   4
Jean Goninen, 1992 August 25
Box   1
Cassette   5
Helga Moen, 1992 September 15
Box   1
Cassette   6
Barneveld Middle School, 1992 September 15