No Need for a Doctor. Appalachian Remedies and Folk Medicine

Creator: Varn, Mori

: Stacy, Zella

: Hodges, Kathy

: Richardson, Frances

In this project, Mori Varn interviewed her grandmother, Frances Richardson, and family friends Zella Stacy and Kathy Hodges about Appalachian home remedies. Since many Appalachian towns are secluded, finding medical care was often difficult, so people discovered ways to make their own medicines and to treat common ailments themselves. 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.