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by William Wells Newell (Editor)
A founding chronicle of American voices and stories. Voices that shaped a nation. First issued in the late nineteenth century as part of an ethnographic journal series, The Journal of American Folk-Lore (Volume III) stands as an American folklore anthology and an early folk traditions collection: careful field reports, commentary and assembled tales reflecting regional life. Readers encounter Native American legends and regional lore alongside studies that attest to the oral storytelling history of communities across the young republic. Contemporary collectors recorded songs, proverbs and customs, and the editorial frame shows how storytelling and analysis were brought together - the blend that still informs cultural anthropology studies. The volume offers both the immediacy of folk expression and the comparative eye of early scholarship, situating each item within a wider inquiry into nineteenth-century America. As scholarship, this volume helped frame comparative folklore studies by combining field-gathered material with analytic notes. It serves as a classic folklore reference and a lasting folklore enthusiasts resource, equally useful to casual readers drawn to vivid storytelling and to researchers and historians tracing cultural patterns. For scholars the material provides primary evidence of motif, form and transmission; for the curious it offers unvarnished glimpses of everyday belief and expressive life. Its period language and direct field observations preserve local cadence and speech, giving modern readers immediate access to voices otherwise lost to time. Librarians, archivists and museum researchers still consult volumes like this when reconstructing community practices and tracing narrative transmission. More than an academic relic, it is a window into United States cultural heritage - an invitation to hear voices that have helped shape local identity and national imagination. Out of print for decades and now republished by Alpha Editions. Restored for today's and future generations. More than a reprint - a collector's item and a cultural treasure. For casual readers and classic-literature collectors alike.
