The Allen Family Tragedy
In this project, Amanda Iroler interviewed four members of her family of various ages to find out what they knew of the famous Allen Family tragedy and the Carrol County Courthouse shooting. One of her interviewees, her grandmother Alease Iroler, is the great-grandaughter to Jack Allen, who was later killed in an altercation about the courthouse shooting. One of the interesting things Ms. Iroler noticed while doing this project, is that the younger the person being interviewed, the less they knew about the event and the more different their accounting of it became. In the end, she presumed that the story of the tragedy will not die out, but it will change over time. This interview is among projects created by students enrolled in English 446 (initially English 452), “Appalachian Folklore,” 1981-2019, and in graduate level counterparts English 548 and 648 “Appalachian Folk Culture(s)” offered 17 fall semesters between 1987 and 2009. Minimally contain collector’s introduction and analysis, transcribed informant interviews, and excerpted and labeled examples of oral, customary, and/or material folklore/folklife collected primarily within the Appalachian region. Most include also tables of contents, informant information, indexes (outlines) of interviews, photographs, miscellaneous paper items, and indexes of informants, genres, and geographic locations. Accompanying audio recordings (several minutes to 2+ hours). Transferred to McConnell Library Archives & Special Collections from Appalachian Regional and Rural Studies Center, Fall 2013.
- Creator
- Iroler, Amanda
- Iroler, Alease
- Iroler, Barry
- Iroler, Barrett
- Iroler, Barbara