The Best of Texas Folk and Folklore 1916-1954 (review)

Collections and anthologies of folklore are staples of our profession. We use them for reference, as primary data for research, and as supplemental material to classroom curricula. I imagine that for many of us (myself included) our interest in folklore began with the treasuries of African, Irish, Italian, Jewish, or Russian folktales and folklore. I also imagine that for the general reader, enthusiast, or even tradition-bearer, published collections of folklore and folktales can often reinforce the interest and passion invested in one's art or study. The folklore compendium, in catalog form with minimal critique or commentary, is also, to some degree, a format of the past. Perhaps we keep and view our collections as examples of how we used to do folklore. Despite this self-proclaimed progress, the collection of early Texas folklore under review is nevertheless an impressive example of both the enthusiasm and urgency felt by collectors to preserve a vast repository of folklore from the first half of this century. It is a reprint of a previously out-of-print publication, and has not been revised or updated, except for the addition of a short preface by Francis Edward Abernethy, a prominent scholar of Texas folklore and a longtime proponent of the Texas Folklore Society.

Seven years after the Society's founding at the University of Texas at Austin, Stith Thompson initiated the Publications of the Texas Folklore Society (1916; the publication under review is number 26 in the series). J. Frank Dobie assumed the editorship for 20 years, and the majority of the essays in this collection are from his tenure. Later editors, including Abernethy, have noted the role Dobie played in encouraging the collection of Texas folklore and in bringing Texas folklorists together. It is evident, simply from viewing the life span of the series, that he dominated the Society's fieldwork and publication activities.

When originally published, The Best of Texas Folk and Folklore was "the textbook for Texas folklore studies and the best and most representative anthology of Texas folklore on the market" (p. v). The collection under review comprises selections from the first 25 volumes in the series (an appendix provides original publication information for each selection). From a historical perspective, the collection was generous in its inclusion of the folklore of indigenous as well as immigrant Texan communities. The collection opens with chapters of Indian tales, Mexican tales, and Negro tales and jokes, followed by 14 chapters covering every other folklore genre except dress, food, and celebrations. Abernethy makes no apologies for leaving the collection unabridged, and the manner in which some authors conceived of and presented their work may run contrary to our modern sensibilities of political correctness. We can perceive from the original published form, however, some of the historical facts of folklore and the practice of folkloristics in Texas. References to the folk mind (p. 296) and to old Negro men (p. 281) as repositories for the material presented here illustrate, as Abernethy reminds us in the preface, that folklore and its collection represent historically specific societal values and attitudes (p. vi). Take, for example, the chapter on corridos, in which the reader finds several references to the lives of the Mexican ranch hand communities residing on the legendary King Ranch in South Texas. Several of the original families (and presumably their traditions) still live and work on what remains of the ranch, even though the issue of ownership has become a struggle among corporate investors in Houston, descendants of the King family, and the present generation of caretakers. What we typically view as a romantic tradition of song making may seem remote compared with the problems of the ranches' contemporary finances and investment profits. However, the poetry of the corridos describes the vulnerability of resources in a vast border region subject to frequent droughts and bandit raids. Such material could be a useful comparative tool...