Two & A Half Miles: Perspectives From An Indian Valley Franklin School Teacher
Creator
Culp, Jennifer
Hollandsworth, Muriel
In this project Jennifer Culp interviewed Muriel Hollandsworth, a former teacher, with the hope of discovering aspects of folklore in education, and the responsibilities and role of teachers. During the interview, Ms. Hollansworth talked of how two of her students were actually her brothers, how she became a teacher partly because during World War II there was a need for them in her area and the job was a very stable one, having to walk the 2.5 miles from her home to her school each day to teach, having to carry water into the classroom because it did not have running water, and about what it took to become a teacher in that 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.