Folklore

The Hypatia Archive contains a variety of sources relating to folklore beliefs.

Most of these sources can be found in the ‘folklore’ section, which contains twentieth-century material recounting fairy tales, myths, legends, and customs from across the globe. These texts were designed with a variety of purposes; some were likely produced for children, such as Christine Chaundler’s Year Book of Legends, and Alan Garner’s Book of British Fairy Tales, which contains illustrations.

The collection contains a wealth of information on British folklore such as Brigg’s Dictionary of British Folk Tales and Hole’s English Custom and Usage. While items within this section are largely Anglo centric, the collection contains texts based around Irish folklore, traditional Indian stories, and global legends. Similarly, Beer’s Medieval Fables is translated from a French account.

More specific accounts of customs and beliefs are given by Baker’s text on Christmas traditions and their related folkloric beliefs.

Sources within the collection taking a more feminist view are Walker’s Woman’s Encyclopaedia and Zipes’ collection of contemporary feminist fairy tales.

Further folkloric material can be located in the ‘archaeology’ section, which also includes material on legend. The ‘health’ section also contains some material surrounding folklore, such as Forbes’ The Midwife and the Witch and a study of ‘child-lore’.

 

Imogen Knox