Summary Information
Collection SummaryLegends of the Supernatural in Southwestern Wisconsin Project Collection 1991-1992
- Stotts, Stuart
- Matson, Elizabeth
CSUMC0002-CG
UW-Madison Folklore Program: 2 folders, 6 audiocassettes; James P. Leary: 1 folder
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
UW-Madison Folklore Program (Map)
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. Manuscripts and sound recordings are in English.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-csumc-csumc0002cg
Collection Concordance by Format
Quantity
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Physical Description
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Location
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Manuscript Materials |
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2 |
folders |
UW-Madison Folklore Program |
1 |
folder |
James P. Leary |
Sound Recordings |
6 |
audiocassettes |
UW-Madison Folklore Program |
Biography/History
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.
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
- Catholics
- Cornish
- English
- Irish
- Germans
- Norwegians
- Norwegian Americans
- Yankee
- 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
- Goldsworthy, Lorena
- Goninen, Jean
- Koltes, Colette
- Lewis, Jeannie
- Moen, Helga Kammerud
- Phillips, Melva
- Tesch, Otto
- 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
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Series: I: MANUSCRIPT MATERIALS. UW-Madison Folklore Program. Legends of the Supernatural in Southwestern Wisconsin Project Collection.
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Folder
1
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Fieldnotes, Lyrics, and Music Transcriptions : Contains selected transcriptions from the six sound-recorded interviews, plus 2 typed pages of stories submitted by Goldsworthy.
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Folder
2
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Administrative Files : 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.
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Series: II: MANUSCRIPT MATERIALS. James P. Leary Research Collection. Legends of the Supernatural Project Files.
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Folder
1
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Correspondence, Clippings, Reference, Research, and Bibliographic Materials : 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.
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Series: III: SOUND RECORDINGS. UW-Madison Folklore Program. Legends of the Supernatural in Southwestern Wisconsin Project Collection.
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Box
1
Cassette
1
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Jeannie Lewis and Melva Phillips, 1992 July 15
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Box
1
Cassette
2
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Otto Tesch, 1992 August 16
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Box
1
Cassette
3
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Lorena Goldsworthy, 1992 August 25
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Box
1
Cassette
4
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Jean Goninen, 1992 August 25
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Box
1
Cassette
5
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Helga Moen, 1992 September 15
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Box
1
Cassette
6
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Barneveld Middle School, 1992 September 15
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