Mary
Celestia Parler (1904-1981) taught folklore and other courses
in the Department of English at the University of Arkansas
from 1948 to 1975. During her career she collected and managed
the folk song collection and also gathered a vast quantity
of non-song materials on Ozark lives, riddles, proverbs, beliefs,
and superstitions that were compiled into twenty-one volumes
held in Special Collections. Her students contributed more
than thirty linear feet of reports on many topics of Ozark
culture All these materials were donated by Miss Parler to
the University Libraries beginning in 1965, where they have
been managed and preserved ever since. She was a founder of
the Arkansas Folklore Society in 1950 and served on its board
with the poet John Gould Fletcher, collectors Vance Randolph
and Otto Ernest Rayburn, and performers Booth Campbell and
Doney Hammontree. Mary Celestia Parler married Vance Randolph
in 1962.
Mary Celestia Parler in Old Main office, University
of Arkansas, Fayetteville, ca 1950s.
Folklore Collection 1949-1992. The University Folklore
Collection was the result of the University of Arkansas Folklore
Research Project under the direction of Mary Celestia Parler,
professor of English 1949-1975. It contains 3,640 sound recordings
1949-1965 (MS F1-30) and lyrical transcriptions (MS F2), about 820
class reports 1958-1992 (MS F.16). Additions to MS F.16
were made by Dr. Robert Cochran, professor of English, 1976-
.
Mary
Celestia Parler Papers (MC 1501). (6 linear feet) Correspondence,
photographs, class
reports, sound recordings, contact listings, and manuscript
copies of "An Arkansas Ballet Book."
Mary
Celestia Parler Photographs: Ozark Folklore Photographs,
1950s (MC 896). (32 items) Photographs of Ozark folk musicians
including Booth Campbell, Fred High, Mary Jo Davis, and others
as well as photographs of Mary Celestia Parler in the field
and in the classroom.
Mary
Celestia Parler Randolph Scrapbook, ca. 1920 (MC 897).
Clippings of newspaper columns, book reviews, and articles,
some authored by Mary Celestia Parler [Randolph], 1904-1981;
most written by her mother, Josie Platt Parler, of Wedgefield,
SC.
Mary Celestia Parler taught a class in Arkansas Folklore
1949-1975. From the field work of her students, she compiled 18 unpublished
typescript volumes and donated them to University Libraries as part
of the University Folklore Collection. Circulation copies are also available
in MAIN.
Ballads and Songs in the University of Arkansas
Folklore Archives: A Syllabus, edited by Mary Celestia Parler, 1960 (MC MS F20), unpublished. (1 vol.) Ballads and Songs includes
a separate listing for 'Child' ballads.
Proverbs from Arkansas: Adjectival Comparisons,
Collected by University Students, 1961 (MC MS F26.1),
(1 vol.).
Proverbs from Arkansas: Maxims: Collected
by University Students, 1962- (MC MS F26.2), (3 vols.).
Riddles from Arkansas: Collected by University
Students, 1962 (MC MS F28), (1 vol.).
More Riddles from Arkansas: Collected by University
Students, 1962 (MC MS F28.1),(1 vol.).
Folk Beliefs from Arkansas: Collected by
University Students, 1962 (MC MS F30), (11 vol.).
Randolph, Mary Celestia Parler. Vertical File.
Articles, newspaper clippings, and correspondence. References to Mary
Celestia Parler Randolph's life and work.
Last modified:
December 14, 2009
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