The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
.
It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts and crafts, customs and belief. The foundation was prompted by a suggestion made by
Eliza Gutch
Eliza Gutch (née Hutchinson) (1840-1931) was an English author, contributor to ''Notes and Queries'',Jacqueline Simpson (Editor), Steve Roud (Editor) (2003). ''A Dictionary of English Folklore''. Oxford University Press and founding member of the ...
in the pages of ''
Notes and Queries
''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...
''.
Jacqueline Simpson
Jacqueline Simpson (born 1930) is a prolific, award-winning British researcher and author on folklore.Steve Roud
Steve Roud (; born 1949) is the creator of the Roud Folk Song Index and an expert on folklore and superstition. He was formerly Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society.
Life and c ...
(Editor) (2003). ''A Dictionary of English Folklore''.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
William Thoms
William John Thoms (16 November 1803 – 15 August 1885) was a British writer credited with coining the term "folklore" in 1846. Thoms's investigation of folklore and myth led to a later career of debunking longevity myths, and he was a pione ...
, the editor of ''
Notes and Queries
''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...
'' who had first introduced the term ''folk-lore'', seems to have been instrumental in the formation of the society and, along with G. L. Gomme, was for many years a leading member.
Some prominent members were identified as the "great team" in
Richard Dorson
Richard Mercer Dorson (March 12, 1916 – September 11, 1981) was an American folklorist, professor, and director of the Folklore Institute at Indiana University. Dorson has been called the "father of American folklore"Nichols, Amber M.Richard M. ...
's now long outdated 1967 history of
British folklore
British folklore constitutes the folklore of Britain, and includes topics such as the region's legends, recipes, and folk beliefs. British folklore includes English folklore, Irish folklore, Scottish folklore and Welsh folklore.See discussion in, f ...
, late-Victorian leaders of the surge of intellectual interest in the field, these were
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University o ...
,
Edwin Sidney Hartland
Edwin Sidney Hartland (1848–1927) was an author of works on folklore.
His works include anthologies of tales, and theories on anthropology and mythology with an ethnological perspective. He believed that the assembling and study of persistent a ...
,
Alfred Nutt
Alfred Trübner Nutt (22 November 1856 – 21 May 1910) was a British publisher who studied and wrote about folklore and Celtic studies.
Biography
Nutt was born in London, the eldest son of publisher David Nutt. His mother was the granddaughter ...
,
William Alexander Clouston
William Alexander Clouston (1843 – 23 October 1896) was a Scottish 19th century folklorist from Orkney.Edward Clodd and Gomme. Later historians have taken a deeper interest in the pre-modern views of members such as
Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore.
Jacobs ...
.
A long-serving member and steady contributor to the society's discourse and publications was Charlotte Sophia Burne, the first woman to become editor of its journal and later president (1909–10) of the society." Charlotte Sophia Burne: Shropshire Folklorist, First Woman President of the Folklore Society, and First Woman Editor of Folklore. Part 1: A Life and Appreciation",
Gordon Ashman and Gillian Bennett,
''Folklore'',
Vol. 111, No. 1 (Apr., 2000), pp. 1–21
Ethel Rudkin
Ethel Rudkin (189321 September 1985) was an English writer, historian, archaeologist and folklorist from Lincolnshire. She pioneered the collection of folk material, particularly from Lincolnshire, and her collections are now part of several publ ...
, the Lincolnshire folklorist, was a notable member; her publications included several articles in the journal, as well as the book ''Lincolshire Folklore.''
Publications
The society publishes, in partnership with
Taylor and Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Ki ...
, the journal '' Folklore'' in four issues per year, and since 1986 a newsletter, ''FLS News''.
The journal began as ''The Folk-Lore Record'' in 1878, continued or was restarted as ''The Folk-Lore Journal'', and from 1890 its issues were compiled as volumes entitled "Folk-Lore: A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution, & Custom. Incorporating ''The Archæological Review'' and ''The Folk-Lore Journal''".
Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore.
Jacobs ...
edited the first four annual volumes as the Quarterly Review, succeeded by
Alfred Nutt
Alfred Trübner Nutt (22 November 1856 – 21 May 1910) was a British publisher who studied and wrote about folklore and Celtic studies.
Biography
Nutt was born in London, the eldest son of publisher David Nutt. His mother was the granddaughter ...
. As the head of David Nutt in the Strand, Alfred Nutt was the publisher from 1890.
Charlotte Burne edited the journal between 1899 and 1908. The editorship then passed to A. R. Wright (1909–14);
William Crooke
William Crooke (6 August 1848 – 25 October 1923) was a British orientalist and a key figure in the study and documentation of Anglo-Indian folklore. He was born in County Cork, Ireland, and was educated at Erasmus Smith's Tipperary Grammar S ...
Jacqueline Simpson
Jacqueline Simpson (born 1930) is a prolific, award-winning British researcher and author on folklore.Patricia Lysaght (2004-2012) and Jessica Hemming (2013-)
Collections
The Folklore Society Library has around 15,000 books and more than 200 serial titles (40 currently received) and is held at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
Library. Its major strengths are in folk narrative and British and
Irish folklore
Irish folklore ( ga, béaloideas) refers to the folktales, balladry, music, dance, and so forth, ultimately, all of folk culture.
Irish folklore, when mentioned to many people, conjures up images of banshees, fairies, leprechauns and people gat ...
; there are also substantial holdings of east
European folklore
European folklore or Western folklore refers to the folklore of the Western world, especially when discussed comparatively.
The history of Christendom during the Early Modern period has resulted in a number of traditions that are shared in many ...
William Crooke
William Crooke (6 August 1848 – 25 October 1923) was a British orientalist and a key figure in the study and documentation of Anglo-Indian folklore. He was born in County Cork, Ireland, and was educated at Erasmus Smith's Tipperary Grammar S ...
Margaret Murray
Margaret Alice Murray (13 July 1863 – 13 November 1963) was an Anglo-Indian Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist. The first woman to be appointed as a lecturer in archaeology in the United Kingdom, she work ...
Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp
Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp PC DL (10 November 1830 – 19 February 1891), styled The Honourable Frederick Lygon between 1853 and 1866, was a British Conservative politician.
Background and education
Beauchamp was the third son of Hen ...
* 1885–88
George Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford
George Henry Charles Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford (22 February 1830 – 28 March 1898), styled Viscount Enfield between 1860 and 1886, was a British Liberal politician.
Background and education
Byng was the eldest son of George Byng, 2nd Earl ...
* 1888–92
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University o ...
* 1892–95
Laurence Gomme
Sir George Laurence Gomme, FSA (18 December 1853 – 23 February 1916) was a public servant and leading British folklorist. He helped found both the Victoria County History and the Folklore Society. He also had an interest in old buildings a ...
Alfred Nutt
Alfred Trübner Nutt (22 November 1856 – 21 May 1910) was a British publisher who studied and wrote about folklore and Celtic studies.
Biography
Nutt was born in London, the eldest son of publisher David Nutt. His mother was the granddaughter ...
Frederick York Powell
Frederick York Powell (4 January 1850 – 8 May 1904) was an English historian and scholar.
Biography
He was born on 4 January 1850 at 43 Woburn Place, Bloomsbury, London, the son of Frederick Powell, a commissariat merchant, and his wife Ma ...
* 1904–07
W H D Rouse
William Henry Denham Rouse (; 30 May 1863 – 10 February 1950) was a pioneering British teacher who advocated the use of the Direct method (education), "direct method" of teaching Latin and Ancient Greek, Greek.
Life
Rouse was born in Calcutta, ...
* 1907–09
Moses Gaster
Moses Gaster (17 September 1856 – 5 March 1939) was a Romanian, later British scholar, the ''Hakham'' of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish congregation, London, and a Hebrew and Romanian linguist. Moses Gaster was an active Zionist in Romani ...
William Crooke
William Crooke (6 August 1848 – 25 October 1923) was a British orientalist and a key figure in the study and documentation of Anglo-Indian folklore. He was born in County Cork, Ireland, and was educated at Erasmus Smith's Tipperary Grammar S ...
S H Hooke
__NOTOC__
Samuel Henry Hooke (January 21, 1874 – January 17, 1968) was an English scholar writing on comparative religion. He is known for his ''Bible in Basic English'' translation.
He was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. He was educated ...
John Henry Hutton
John Henry Hutton FRAI (27 June 1885 – 23 May 1968) was an English-born anthropologist and an administrator in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) during the period of the British Raj. The period that he spent with the ICS in Assam evoked an interes ...
Walter Leo Hildburgh
Walter Leo Hildburgh (1876-1955) was an American art collector, sportsman, traveller, scientist and philanthropist.
Early life and education
Hildburgh was born in New York in 1876 into a family that had arrived in America earlier in the nineteen ...
Margaret Murray
Margaret Alice Murray (13 July 1863 – 13 November 1963) was an Anglo-Indian Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist. The first woman to be appointed as a lecturer in archaeology in the United Kingdom, she work ...
Carmen Blacker
Carmen Blacker OBE FBA (13 July 1924 – 13 July 2009) was a British Japonologist. She was a lecturer in Japanese at the University of Cambridge.
Life
Blacker was born in Kensington in 1924. Her parents were Carlos Paton Blacker and Helen Maud ...
Jacqueline Simpson
Jacqueline Simpson (born 1930) is a prolific, award-winning British researcher and author on folklore.Juliette Wood
Juliette Wood is a British historian and lecturer at Cardiff University. She specializes in Celtic and Medieval history, magic, and folklore. She is a former director of the Folklore Society and an Honorary Fellow of the National Museum of Wales ...
The Katharine Briggs Award is an annual book prize awarded by the Society in honour of
Katharine Mary Briggs
Katharine Mary Briggs (8 November 1898 – 15 October 1980) was a British folklorist and writer, who wrote ''The Anatomy of Puck'', the four-volume ''A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language'', and various other books on fairi ...
(who was the society's president from 1969 to 1972). The judges report is published in the Society's journal ''Folklore''. Even though the rules stipulate that it can be withheld if the judges find in any given year that no book has reached the required standard, the prize has been awarded every year since it was first announced in 1982. Notable winners include Israeli historian of social memory
Guy Beiner
Guy Beiner (born in 1968 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli historian of the late-modern period. He was formerly a full professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, Israel. In September 2021, he was named the Sullivan Chair in Irish ...
(2019), American scholar of fairy tales Jack Zipes (2007), English mythographer
Marina Warner
Dame Marina Sarah Warner, (born 9 November 1946) is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth. She has written for many publicat ...
(1999), British radical historian E. P. Thompson (1992), English married team of folklorists
Iona and Peter Opie
Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...
(1986) and Soviet folklorist
Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (russian: Владимир Яковлевич Пропп; – 22 August 1970) was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic structural elements of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irredu ...
(1985).
Winners of the Award are:
* 1982: Samuel Pyeatt Menefee, ''Wives for Sale: an Ethnographic Study of British Popular Divorce'' (Basil Blackwell)
* 1983: Michael Pickering, ''Village Song and Culture'' (Croom Helm)
* 1984: Sandra Billington, ''A Social History of the Fool'' (Harvester Press)
* 1985:
Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (russian: Владимир Яковлевич Пропп; – 22 August 1970) was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic structural elements of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irredu ...
, ''Theory and History of Folklore'', edited by Anatoly Liberman (Manchester University Press)
* 1986:
Iona and Peter Opie
Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...
, ''The Singing Game'' (Oxford University Press)
* 1987: Amy Shuman, ''Storytelling Rights'' (Cambridge University Press)
* 1988: Hilda Ellis Davidson, ''Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe'' (Manchester University Press)
* 1989: J. P. Mallory, ''In Search of the Indo-Europeans Language, Archaeology and Myth'' (Thames & Hudson)
* 1990; Paul Oliver, ''Blues Fell This Morning'' (Cambridge University Press)
* 1991: Simon Charsley, ''Rites of Marrying: The Wedding Industry in Scotland'' (Manchester University Press)
* 1992: E. P. Thompson, ''Customs in Common'' (Merlin Press)
* 1993: Georgina Boyes, ''The Imagined Village: Culture, Ideology, and the English Folk Revival'' (Manchester University Press)
* 1994: Claudia Kinmonth, ''Irish Country Furniture 1700-1950'' (Yale University Press)
* 1995: Timothy Mitchell, ''Flamenco Deep Song'' (Yale University Press)
* 1996: Mary-Ann Constantine, ''Breton Ballads'' (CMCS Publications)
* 1997: Neil Jarman, ''Parading Culture: Parades and Visual Displays in Northern Ireland'' (Berg)
* 1998: Joseph Falaky Nagy, ''Conversing with Angels and Ancients: The Literary Myths of Medieval Ireland'' (Four Courts)
* 1999:
Marina Warner
Dame Marina Sarah Warner, (born 9 November 1946) is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth. She has written for many publicat ...
, ''No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling and Making Mock'' (Chatto and Windus)
* 2000: Diarmuid Ó Giolláin, ''Locating Irish Folklore: Tradition, Modernity, Identity'' (Cork University Press)
* 2001: Adam Fox, ''Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500-1700'' (Clarendon Press)
* 2002: Elizabeth Hallam and Jenny Hockey, ''Death, Memory and Material Culture'' (Berg)
* 2003: Malcolm Jones, ''The Secret Middle Ages'' (Sutton)
* 2004:
Steve Roud
Steve Roud (; born 1949) is the creator of the Roud Folk Song Index and an expert on folklore and superstition. He was formerly Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society.
Life and c ...
, ''The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland'' (Penguin)
* 2005: Jeremy Harte, ''Explore Fairy Traditions'' (Heart of Albion Press)
* 2006: Catherine Rider, ''Magic and Impotence in the Middle Ages'' (Oxford University Press)
* 2007: Jack Zipes, ''Why Fairy Tales Stick'' (Routledge)
* 2008: Richard Bebb, ''Welsh Furniture 1250-1950: a Cultural History of Craftsmanship and Design'' (Saer Books)
* 2009: Kathryn Marsh, ''The Musical Playground: Global Tradition and Change in Children’s Songs and Games'' (Oxford University Press)
* 2010: Arthur Taylor, ''Played at the Pub: the Pub Games of Britain'' (English Heritage Publications)
* 2011:
Herbert Halpert
Herbert Halpert (August 23, 1911 – December 29, 2000) was an American anthropologist and folklorist, specialised in the collection and study of both folk song and narrative.
Biography
Herbert Norman Halpert's interest in folklore emer ...
, edited by John Widdowson, ''Folk Tales, Trickster Tales and Legends of the Supernatural from the Pinelands of New Jersey'' (Edwin Mellen Press)
* 2012: David Hopkin, ''Voices of the People in Nineteenth-Century France'' (Cambridge University Press)
* 2013: Karl Bell, ''The Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack: Victorian Urban Folklore and Popular Cultures'' (Boydell Press)
* 2014: David Atkinson, ''The Anglo-Scottish Ballad and its Imaginary Contexts'' (OpenBook Publishers)
* 2015:
Richard Jenkins
Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the Tr ...
, ''Black Magic and Bogeymen'' (Cork University Press)
* 2016:
Lizanne Henderson
Lizanne Henderson is a Senior Lecturer in history at the University of Glasgow in Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland ...
, ''Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment: Scotland, 1670-1740'' (Palgrave)
* 2017: Christopher Josiffe, ''Gef! The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose'' (Strange Attractor)
* 2018: Martin Graebe'', As I Walked Out: Sabine Baring Gould and the Search for the Folk Songs of Devon and Cornwall'' (Signal Books)
* 2019:
Guy Beiner
Guy Beiner (born in 1968 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli historian of the late-modern period. He was formerly a full professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, Israel. In September 2021, he was named the Sullivan Chair in Irish ...
, ''Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster'' (Oxford University Press)
* 2020: William G. Pooley, ''Body and Tradition in Nineteenth-Century France: Félix Arnaudin and the Moorlands of Gascony, 1870-1914'' (Oxford University Press)
*2021: Jonathan Y. H. Hui (ed. and trans.), ''Vilmundar saga viðutan. The Saga of Vilmundur the Outsider'' (Viking Society for Northern Research)
*2022: Marina Montesano (ed.) ''Folklore, Magic, and Witchcraft: Cultural Exchanges from the Twelfth to Eighteenth Century'' (Routledge)
Coote Lake Medal
The Coote Lake medal is awarded by the Committee of the Folklore Society for "outstanding research and scholarship" in the field of Folklore Studies.
The award is named in honour of Harold Coote Lake (1878-1939), an active member of the Folklore Society in the 1920s and 1930s (who served as both Treasurer and Secretary of the Society at points in that period).
The recipients have been:
* 1940 Mary MacLeod Banks
* 1941 Dr T. E. Lones
* 1952 Dr Walter Leo Hildburgh
* 1955 Professor Edward Oliver James
* 1960
Iona and Peter Opie
Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...
Ethel Rudkin
Ethel Rudkin (189321 September 1985) was an English writer, historian, archaeologist and folklorist from Lincolnshire. She pioneered the collection of folk material, particularly from Lincolnshire, and her collections are now part of several publ ...
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...