Appalachian Books and Resources

I prepared this bibliography for a workshop I presented at the WV Writers Conference last month. While not in any way all-inclusive, the titles below offer a sampling of Appalachian stories and storytelling.

Folktales

Musick, Ruth Ann. Ballads, Folk Songs & Folk Tales from West Virginia. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 1960.
Green Hills of Magic : West Virginia Folktales from Europe Parsons, WV : McClain Printing Co., 1989.

Barden, Thomas E. Virginia Folk Legends
Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1991.
Extensive collection of originally collected by the Virginia Writers Project under the WPA.

Chase, Richard. Grandfather Tales: American-English Folk Tales. Boston, Houghton Mifflin,1948
The Jack Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1943.
Traditional mountain folktales and Jack tales, collected by Chase in the 1930’s and 40’s.


Tall Tales, Lies and Mountain Humor

Sutherland, Herbert Maynor. Tall Tales from the Devil’s Apron
Johnson City, TN: Overmountain Press, 1970.
You may recognize some popular internet jokes in this collection. I’ve wondered if this is the source of those stories. Creative writing by a newspaperman from southern Virginia.

Credle, Ellis. Tall Tales from the High Hills
New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1957.
Tales collected by Credle in the Carolina mountains.

Harshman, Marc. Rocks in My Pockets New York : Cobblehill Books/Dutton, 1991.Based on a tale told by WV storyteller Bonnie Collins

Lepp, Bil. Inept, Impaired, and Overwhelmed. Quarrier Press, 2001.
The Monster Stick & Other Appalachian Tall Tales Little Rock, Ark. : August House Publishers, 1999. Great lying by West Virginia’s best liar.

Dent, James F. The Dog with the Cold Nose
Parsons, WV: McClain Printing, 1981
A collection of short anecdotes and jokes.


Ghost Stories

Jones, James Gay. Haunted Valley: and More Folk Tales of Appalachia. Parsons, WV: McClain Printing, 1979
Ghosts and spirits and strange legends, most of them set in WV.

Deitz, Dennis. The Greenbrier Ghost and Other Strange Stories
South Charleston, WV: Mountain Memories, 1990 (2nd ed) West Virginia’s most famous ghost story and other tales collected by Dietz and recounted in the source’s words.

Musick, Ruth Ann. Coffin Hollow and Other Ghost Tales University Press of Kentucky, c1977.
The Telltale Lilac Bush, and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales.University of Kentucky Press,1965
More tales from the queen of West Virginia ghost stories.

Coleman, Christopher K. Ghosts and Haunts of the Civil War
Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1999.
Just what it says.

Price, Charles Edwin. Witches, Haints and Boogers: Tales from Upper East Tennessee
Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, Publisher, 1992.
In other words, ghost stories from the Tennessee mountains.

Gainer, Patrick W. Witches, Ghosts, and Signs
Grantsville, WV: Seneca Press, 1975.
A fine collection of lore and stories from the Glenville State professor who established the Glenville Folk Festival.

Holstein, Susanna. Granny's Ghost Stories. 2004. My own collection of tales--original, local legends and stories from history.

Ballads

http://www.contemplator.com/ Online, extensive source of songs and ballads

Wimberly, Lowry Charles. Folklore in the English and Scottish Ballads. New York: Dover, 1965 (reprint). A scholarly study of the folkloric content of the ballads that form the basis of most Appalachian ballads.

Sargent, Helen, and George Lyman Kittredge. English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1932.
A condensed version of Francis James Child’s 10 volume collection of ballads.

Sharp, Cecil J and Maud Karpeles. Eighty English Folk songs from the Southern Appalachians. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1968.
Remember the movie Songcatcher? These are the songs collected by the real songcatchers between 1916 and 1918.

Boette, Marie. Singa Hipsy Doodle and other Folk Songs of West Virginia. Parsons, WV: McClain Printing, 1971.
Fascinating source notes on songs collected in our state.