Mary Celestia Parler (1904 - September 15, 1981) was a

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

and professor at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. She and her husband Vance Randolph recorded folk music in Northern Arkansas from the 1930s until the 1960s. They also established the Arkansas Folklore Society in 1950. It lasted until 1960. Folklorist Rachel Reynolds wrote a chapter about her in ''Arkansas Women: Their Lives and Times''. She made recordings with

Max Hunter Max Franklin Hunter (July 2, 1921November 6, 1999) was an American folklorist who, while working as a travelling salesman, compiled an archive of nearly 1,600 folk songs from the Ozarks region of the southern United States between 1956 and 197 ...

. She recorded Maxine Hite singing ''The Dogs and her gun'' in Prairie Grove, Washington County, Arkansas, in 1959. During the 1950s,

Robert Mottar Robert Mottar (October 29, 1919 in Springfield, Illinois, Springfield, Illinois – November 1967, in New York City) was an American industrial and magazine photographer, active 1950s–1960s. Early life Robert Mottar was born in Springfield, Illi ...

accompanied Parler undertaking the Folklore Research Project (1949–1965). His photographs feature Mary Celestia Parler and others active in collecting folklore, as well as the subjects of

Ozark The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portio ...

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 ...

studies.[libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/findingaids/parler.html Mary C. Parler Photographs Collection (MC896), part of the Arkansas Folklore Collection at the University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parler, Mary Celestia 1904 births 1981 deaths American folklorists American women folklorists University of Arkansas faculty