Marie Campbell papers
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Marie Campbell papers
- Date
- 1939-1962
- Extent
- 1.35 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Authors, American--Kentucky.
- Folklore.
- Publishers and publishing--United States.
- Women authors--20th century.
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged by format.
- Preferred Citation
- 1997ms359: [identification of item], Marie Campbell papers, 1939-1962, University of Kentucky Special Collections.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Marie Campbell, author and prominent folklore scholar, was born in Tamms, Illinois on February 17, 1907. In the summer of 1926, nineteen-year-old Campbell left her home to take a teaching position with the Hindman Settlement School at Caney Creek in Knott County, Kentucky. The following fall she accepted a position with the school at Gander (now Carcassone) in Letcher County, Kentucky. It was at these locations that she was first introduced to the rich oral tradition of Kentucky mountain people. Between 1926 and 1940 Campbell collected stories, many of which were local variations on European folk tales, Irish mythology, and other stories with classical origins. She also participated in local events such as quilting bees, square dances, and church meetings, and even corn-shucking, bean-stringing, or apple-peeling gatherings. What she captured through her notes were stories passed down by family members who for more than a century were largely isolated from outside society.
- In the 1930s Campbell started publishing articles on folklore while working as a high school English teacher. She received an A.B. in education from Southern Illinois Teachers College in 1932 and an M.A. in English from George Peabody College in 1937. In 1940, Campbell started teaching English, folklore, and creative writing at West Georgia College, Peabody College, Alabama Laboratory School, and Carollton High School in Georgia. During the summers she worked with the Kentucky Crippled Children's Commission making home visits.
- Campbell published her first collection of southern Appalachian folk tales, Cloud-Walking, in 1942. Two years later in 1944, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts - Fiction to support further research. Over the next decade Campbell produced Folks Do Get Born (1946), an account of African American midwives in rural Georgia, and A House with Stairs (1950), a novel about an African-American family in Alabama during the Civil War. Additionally, she published many articles in magazines and journals such as Southern Literary Messenger, Journal of American Folklore, Southern Folklore Quarterly, American Cookery, Childhood Education, School Activities, and the Tennessee Folklore Bulletin.
- In 1956 Campbell finished a Ph.D. in folklore and comparative literature from Indiana University. During this time she taught at Glassboro State College in New Jersey, Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Campbell published a second collection of southern Appalachian folk tales, Tales of the Cloud Walking Country, in 1958. At the time of her death, Dr. Campbell was an emeritus professor of Folklore and English at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
- "Marie Campbell." John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Accessed October 23, 2013. http://www.gf.org/fellows/2212-marie-campbell.
- Yocom, Margaret R. "Marie Campbell" in American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, edited by Jan Harold Brunvand, 230. New York: Garland Publishing, 1996.
- Scope and Content
- The Marie Campbell papers (dated 1939-1962; 1.35 cubic feet) primarily comprises correspondence with publisher Farrar & Rinehart and manuscripts that document the publication of four books by folklore scholar Marie Campbell: Cloud Walking (1942), Folks Do Get Born (1946), House with Stairs (1950), and Tales from Cloud Walking Country (1958). Also includes two newspaper articles that relate to Marie Campbell's career as a folklorist and publication of Tales from Cloud Walking Country.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
- Use Restrictions
- Property rights reside with the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact Special Collections.
Contents of the Collection
Correspondence, 1939-1962
Scope and Contents note
Primarily comprises publisher's correspondence between Marie Campbell and the staff of Farrar and Rinehart, New York that documents the publication of her books Cloud Walking (1942-1945), Folks Do Get Born (1946-1949), and House with Stairs (1950-1962). Also includes general correspondence between Marie Campbell and numerous persons. Correspondents include John Farrar, Frederick Rinehart, Stanley Rinehart, Jean Crawford, John Selby, Marguerite Reese, Theodore S. Amussen, Bill Jansen, Susan B. Riley, Walter C. Curry, Lucy Gage, A. L. Crabb, Willis A. Sutton, Mary Venable, and Louis C. Jones.
There is also a newspaper article dated February 19, 1956, that describes Marie Campbell's early career working as a teacher at the Hindman Settlement School on Caney Creek in Knott County, Kentucky and at Gander (now Carcassone), near Whitesburg in Letcher County, Kentucky as well as how she started collecting the stories that were later included in her book Cloud Walking.
Publisher's correspondence, 1942-1962
Farrar and Rinehart, New York, on Cloud Walking, 1942-1945
Farrar and Rinehart, New York, on Folks Do Get Born, 1946-1949
Farrar and Rinehart, New York, on House with Stairs, 1950-1962
Miscellaneous, undated
Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper article, 1956 February 19
General correspondence, 1939-1955
, 1939
1942, 1942
, 1943
, 1944-1945
, 1946
, 1947-1949
, 1950
, 1951
, 1952-1955
, undated
Manuscripts, 1958, undated
Scope and Contents note
Primarily comprises handwritten and carbon copy manuscripts of Marie Campbell's books Folks Do Get Born (1946), House with Stairs (1950), Tales From the Cloud Walking Country (1958) and Cloud Walking (1942).
There is also a newspaper article dated December 14, 1958, that describes Marie Campbell's early career as a folklorist and documents the publication of her book Tales From the Cloud Walking Country.
Folks Do Get Born, undated
House with Stairs, undated
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Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Table of Contents
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UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Appointments are encouraged but not required. Schedule an appointment here.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Requests
No items have been requested.
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
