Folklore in Archives

A Guide to Describing Folklore and Folk life Materials

1. PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION

Documentation and interpretation of traditional culture is at the heart of the field of folklore. Folklorists tend to regard historical facts as cultural phenomena. They welcome multiple versions of events, elaborated stories and anecdotes, and personal recollections because these broaden the historical picture to include not only "what happened" but also people's experience of what happened-their interpretations, their beliefs, their reactions. The field of folklore takes as its principal purpose the documentation and interpretation of traditional cultural expression, ranging from stories to music to vernacular arts to festive celebrations. They study the people who create them and the small groups and large communities who appreciate and use them. They record and analyze these traditions along with historical and cultural contextual information, using photography, videography, tape recordings, drawings, and field notes. Folklorists use these materials as the bases for lectures and classes, scholarly and popular articles and books, museum exhibitions, performance series, and other types of public presentations. Some folklorists use folklore research as the basis of consultation in other fields such as medicine, law, and business management. Folklore collections, then, are usually multi formatted, cover a wide range of subject matter, and may be connected to a variety of published and unpublished secondary writing as well as public events:

Definitions of folklore The philosophy and approach of the field of folklore Methodologies of folklorists Conditions under which folk cultural materials are collected Ways in which the materials are used and stored

2. ARCHIVAL ISSUES RELATED TO FOLKLORE MATERIALS

2.1 The Nature of Folklore Materials

Folklore collections raise special issues relating to both format and content. Archival and manuscript collections, particularly in the modern age, often contain mixed formats of material, such as photographs, paper, or video- and audiotapes. This is particularly true of folklore materials. In addition, folklore collections may include three-dimensional objects that are illustrative of the particular folk tradition being documented. These may range from carved fish decoys to Iroquois baskets. Providing an integrated description of various media, including artefacts, may require special efforts.

Folklorists often document individuals from communities where a variety of languages are spoken, and collections may contain materials in several languages. This poses special challenges in description for repositories that do not have staff with expertise in a wide range of languages. Archivists may need to consider providing finding tools in languages other than English or raising awareness of relevant holdings through methods other than traditional English-language catalogues, websites, or published finding aids. Additionally, if members of communities documented by a folklorist want to use the materials, they deserve a reference staff who are sensitive to cultural and language issues.

2.2 Maintaining the Intellectual Integrity of Folklore Collections Ethnographic collections of even the most informal sort come into being through a different process [than accumulations of personal papers] The fieldworker takes a photograph if a musical instrument, makes a sound recording of it being played and jots down notes on the recollections of a virtuoso player because the fieldworker has determined that photographs, sound recordings, and written text must be yoked together to folly represent the performance. Even if there is no intent to publish the documentation, there is, in every ethnographic collection, a conscious weaving together of different representational media to achieve a rounded statement. There is, in short, something that looks like authorship even though there may be no publication. Folklorists are likely to impose a carefully thought out arrangement on their collections of folk cultural documentation. While few now use tale type and motif indexes to categorize collected tales to a minute level, most employ art arrangement that indicates how the various component formats fit together to make an ethnographic portrait. It is important, therefore, to maintain the intellectual arrangement of the original collection. Folklore materials may seem more complex because they usually include a variety of formats (photographs and slides, audiotaped interviews, videotapes of performances or events, sometimes artefacts or other three-dimensional objects, computer disks, and paper-field notes, ephemera connected with public programming, and administrative files). Al- though not unique to folklore materials, this factor complicates an already challenging set of conditions for the archivist. Yet even if the various formats must be stored separately, the intellectual arrangement can and should be maintained.

2.3 Description and Preservation of Electronic Media The archives, library, and museum communities are all being confronted with special challenges posed by new technologies, regardless of who creates the records. This is one issue for which this manual cannot provide solid guidelines or practices based on commonly accepted practice. It is incumbent upon holders of folklore records with special media to stay abreast of emerging practices and recommendations.

2.4 Organizing Material for Access

folklore is an inherently multidisciplinary field; its primary roots are in literary studies and anthropology, but it has important historical and intellectual connections with social history, American studies, cultural geography, psychology, linguistics, and the arts. Because of its disciplinary diversity, the range of activities covered by field studies, the existence of multiple local and regional terms for similar activities, and the folklorists' common interest in the individual "item" (in the archival sense) of folklore.as well as the social context of its creation, collections may need a relatively large number of access terms in order not to lose important information.

3. ARRANGINGFOLKLORE COLLECTIONS
Videos DVC Tape formats Photos/Audio CD or DVD Format

Storage devices

CD Library

Drobo Box

3. ARRANGINGFOLKLORE COLLECTIONS

Videos DVC Tape formats

Drobo Box

Photos/Audio CD or DVD Format

CD Library

Logging and archiving procedure: Videos (dvc)

Logging and archiving procedure For DVC TAPES

Stage 1
Master Register: Details of the Tape (DVC) is recorded in a master register
MRN

Ref

Tape No.

Description

Master Register number

MP/GN

651

MP/GN

650

MP/GN

649

MP/GN

648

Unique Reference

Indexing: A unique code is assigned for

each tape (DVC) project and location based on the

Stage 2
Tape Number: Tape numbers, serially assigned for each tape (DVC)
MRN

Ref

Tape No.

Description

MP/GN

648

Master Register number

MP/GN

649

MP/GN

650

MP/GN

651

Unique Reference
MP/GN- Madhya Pradesh General tapes

005

004

003

002

Tape Number

Stage 3
Tape Description: Write description for the tapes based on the project
MRN

Ref

Tape No.

Description
Digital Community Archive- Gond- Madhya Pradesh -2

MP/GN

648

Master Register number

002

MP/GN

Digital Community Archive- Gond- Madhya Pradesh -3 003

649

MP/GN

Digital Community Archive- Gond -Madhya Pradesh -4 004

650

MP/GN

Digital Community Archive- Gond -Madhya Pradesh -5 005

651

Unique Reference Tape Number

Tape description

Logging of Videos
VIDEO LOG SHEET FORMAT 1. Camera Person 2. Camera Model Used 3. Format 4. Length : : : :

5. Corresponding Data Sheet No. : 6. Corresponding Still Log No 7. Corresponding Audio Log No 8. Settings and Circumstances 9. Field Notes 10. Video Tape Details a) Name of the project : b) Year c) Name of the Place d) Visited Date (s) e) Video Tape Number f) Time: from : : : : To : : : :

Logging process is done in a dedicated archiving machine

TIME CODE
00:00:07 00:03:57 00:16:57 00:18:31 00:21:00

CLIP NAME

DESCRIPTION

Procedure for archiving CD/DVD in CD Library

CD Library

CD Library
Website: http://www.dacal.com.tw/
Software download http://www.dacal.com.tw/help.htm Training : http://www.dacal.com.tw/soft.html

CD Library screen shot

ID: Identification Slot Number Category Title

Barcode (if any)

Selection Drive location Get the Data

Database Generated

Stage 1
DVD/CD Archiving:
ID
52910
Deck NUmber

Details of the DVD/CD to be recorded in a Master Register

Master Register format

Slot 001

Category
Audio-Lecture Photos Documentary Backup-NFSC

Title
Aruna Joshi -Dangi Ramayana Puppetry VELI

Remarks
Dangi Ramayana By Aruna Joshi I Puppetry Photos Veli By Sasikanth

Deck no: 52910

52910 52910 52910

002 003 004

NFSC Backup 5-2004 NFSC Back Up- 5 -2004

Slot Number: 1 to 150

Category:
Audio Photo Documentary Library Presentation Research Project Performance Publications Painting Software Games Music Movies Video CD Interviews

Folklore in archives

Stage 2
Deck no: 53543
ID
53543 53543
Deck NUmber

Slot 001 002 003 004

Category

Title

Remarks

53543 53543

Slot Number: 1 to 150

New Deck (53543 )is used for archiving after the previous deck gets filled up with entire 150 slots

Logging of Photos
STILL PHOTOGRAPS LOG 1. Camera Model Used 2. Collectors Name 3. Images stored in a) Year b) Name of the project c) Name of the Place d) Visited Date (s) e) Images : : : : : From To : :

f) Time 4. Corresponding Data Sheet Number 5. Corresponding Tape Log Number

: : :

From

To

6. Corresponding Audio Log Number

7. Settings and Circumstances 8. Field Notes

:
: :

IMAGE NUMBERS 01 02 03 04 05 ... 100

SUBJECT DETAILS

CD Library : Support

http://www.dacal.com.tw/support.html

Procedure for archiving in DROBO

Drobo-S 24 TB

delivers both enterprise-level data safety and unprecedented expandability, featuring single and dual disk redundancy combined with instant capacity expansion, with traditional RAID levels.

DROBO: Dash-board

Drobo File Retrieval

All data have been classified year wise, date wise. a) Each file is given a unique label according to the codes arrive at earlier b) All photos/videos have keywords, descriptions and headline c) Name of contributor or creator, their contact details, description writer etc are listed d) Copyright details are also included

Drobo File Retrieval

Files stored in Drobo in DNG (digital Negative), in different folders are accessed through Adobe Bridge Meta data is entered through Adobe Bridge interface The idea is that, these information become embedded in the file and will be retrievable when accessed through other file management softwares.

We Thankfully

acknowledge that
Tata Fellowships in Folklore Program is supported by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust

To be continued in PART 2
Describing and cataloguing folklore materials