Santa Claus is Coming to Town: Some Christmas Traditions in Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia
Creator
Kowalski, Jane
Hyams, Jim
Johnson, Laban
Hill, Donald
In this project, Jane Kowalski interviewed three men, each ten years older than the other about their childhood Christmas’. These men also represented different types of communities, one being very rural, one a small town, and one a city. Topics included in the interviews include what decorations were like and where were they, gifts, and what special foods were eaten.
This 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.