Collection of field recordings made by professor Don Yoder to document various religious sects and religious and secular folk traditions primarily in Pennsylvania and in the northeastern United States. Included are recordings of Pennsylvania German conversation, interviews, hymns, prayers, church services including sermons, folk dance music, humorous songs, and folk festivals. Some tapes document Don Yoder's lectures and contain materials prepared for his classes on folk religion recorded by Dr. Yoder and other scholars and by his students at the University of Pennsylvania. Recordings were made of various events including the first Pennsylvania Dutch Harvest Frolic, August 30-September 1, 1961; and the second annual and other years of the Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Festival, Kutztown, Pennsylvania (recorded from a broadcast by WEEU) where participants were interviewed about local history; folk religious beliefs and practices, including prayer and the himmelsbrief; and healing traditions including Pennsylvania Dutch powwowing, and religious healing in Catholic and other traditions. Local choirs performed Pennsylvania German hymns and revival hymns, some in English; and Christmas music from Pennsylvania Dutch country. Other interviewees are a Russian woman who emigrated as a child and who speaks about Jewish customs related to pregnancy and birth; Italian Americans interviewed about miracles of healing, intercessory prayer, and the St. Anthony Beneficial Society, Glassboro, N.J.; Baptist church singers from Kentucky demonstrating lining-out hymnody; interviews about Shakers; and other unidentified content. Included is a sound tape reel of Korean shamanic chant. Manuscripts include a few published articles by Don Yoder and varied folk festival programs
Born in 1921, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Don Yoder grew up immersed in the traditions of Pennsylvania German culture. Educated at Franklin and Marshall College (A.B., 1942 and B.D., 1945), and at the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1947), Yoder was chair of the Department of Folklore and Folklife at the University of Pennsylvania from 1966-1969, and retired from teaching after 40 years. He authored and co-authored hundreds of publications, traveled and lectured widely, and held varied posts, including director of the Pennsylvania Folklife Society (which he co-founded), editor of Pennsylvania Folklife, president of the American Folklore Society, and Professor Emeritus of Folklife Studies, University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and has been elected fellow to the American Antiquarian Society and the American Genealogical Society, among others. He introduced the European concept and practice of folklife studies in the United States
Organized by format into the following series: I. Manuscripts; II. Sound Recordings; III. Graphic Materials
Collection is open for research; access restrictions for some recordings may apply. To request materials, please contact the Folklife Reading Room at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact
Duplication of sound recordings may be governed by copyright and other restrictions
Don Yoder
Marcia K. Segal processed the collection and created the logs for selected sound recordings
Don Yoder Collection of Wire Recordings (AFC 1970/004)
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