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Interview with Thomas R. Sterling, Chester Larson, Jessie Lasey, Heinie Schmidt, Victor Hull, and Lola Adams Carter
Dwayne Sterling and Don Hopkins
An interview with Thomas R. Sterling, Chester Larson, Jessie Lasey, Heinie Schmidt, Victor Hull, and Lola Adams Carter containing various songs, stories, and remembrances.
00:00:28 - Thomas R. Sterling, experience with Indigenous Americans in western Kansas
00:02:02 - Sisters playing with spirits
00:03:09 - Crawdad song
00:04:26 - Song, Buffalo Gals
00:05:31 - Song, Raggin' Song
00:05:50 - Chester Larson, introduction
00:06:13 - Comical Norwegian song, Du Skovning
00:07:00 - Swedish love song, Der geschlatten
00:07:23 - German waltz on accordion
00:08:07 - Waltz, My Love Is Like a Little Bird
00:09:07 - Song, Wednesday Night Waltz
00:09:52 - Song, Unknown men's vocal quartet
00:10:31 - Song, We're All From Dixie
00:12:00 - Song, By The Light Of The Silvery Moon
00:13:20 - Song, Meet Me In Dreamland
00:15:52 - Heinie Schmidt, Victor Hull, and Lola Adams Carter, introduction
00:17:23 - Victor Hull, introduction of Heinie Schmidt
00:18:10 - Heinie Schmidt, Cimarron-Ingalls county seat fight
00:21:04 - Victor Hull, Cimarron-Ingalls county seat fight -
Interview with Vern Kear, Mable Bruster Sears, Mary Vlcek Pfeiffer, Leona Blanch Towner, and Manfred Ernest Denny
Eula G. Davis and Dale Anderson
An interview with Vern Kear, Mable Bruster Sears, Mary Vlcek Pfeiffer, Leona Blanch Towner, and Manfred Ernest Denny containing various songs, stories, and remembrances from life on the western Kansas prairie.
00:00:27 - Vern Kear, founding of Sons and Daughters of Soddies
00:01:08 - Family history
00:01:45 - Sod houses and pioneer life
00:05:23 - School experiences
00:11:23 - Games
00:12:28 - Teaching experiences
00:13:50 - Dust Bowl Era (1931-1939)
00:16:52 - Song titles
00:17:05 - Song, Birdie, Birdie In A Tree
00:17:17 - Song, No Place For Me
00:18:00 - Games
00:18:37 - Song, An Old Gray Mouse
00:19:28 - Twins born on the prairie and a snake bite
00:21:45 - Uses for mad stones
00:23:25 - Historical firearms and accessories
00:28:44 - Cellars, storm shelters, and tornadoes
00:31:34 - Mabel Bruster Sears, introduction
00:31:54 - Biographical information
00:32:24 - Wagon trains
00:33:55 - Dust storms in 1911 and again in the 1930s
00:35:21 - Song, Mr. Frog Lived In The Well
00:36:03 - Song, I Can Handle a Musket
00:36:25 - Mary Vlcek Pfeiffer introduction
00:36:41 - Biographical information
00:37:02 - Marriage customs
00:38:14 - Song, Ah, Lovely Meadows (Czech language)
00:39:20 - Singing and dancing game, Scarecrow (Czech language)
00:40:31 - Thanksgiving and Christmas customs
00:41:55 - Family history and life in Czechoslovakia
00:44:53 - Leona Blanch Towner and Ernest Denny, introduction
00:45:33 - Experience with Indigenous Americans
00:51:40 - Free range in Clark and Comanche counties
00:59:28 - Prairie fires
00:53:45 - Tornado damage in 1945 & 1946
00:55:26 - Coyotes
00:56:05 - Fish stories
00:57:27 - Jack rabbit drives
Side 2 is missing -
Interview with Viola and Melvin Calhoun
P. Underwood
Interview with Viola and Melvin Calhoun, an African American couple living in Russell, KS.
00:00:02 - Introduction
00:00:22 - Remedies for cold: corn shuck tea, cotton seed tea, cow chip tea, poultices
00:05:26 - Remedy for tapeworms and fever
00:07:30 - Remedy for lockjaw
00:08:29 - Using spider webs instead of stitches
00:08:52 - Charm against black cats
00:10:03 - Remedy for measles
00:10:33 - Remedy for red bugs
00:12:44 - Killing a black snake to make it rain
00:14:35 - Superstitions
00:18:14 - Removing warts
00:19:15 - Story about the song "Give me Jesus"
00:20:08 - Meeting a cross-eyed girl
00:20:51 - Story about a "witch fella"
00:24:03 - Three divisions of the "Negro Race"
00:30:11 - The "Blue Vein" club
00:32:10 - "White mouth" and use of racialized language
00:38:04 - Career as a teacher
00:54:47 - Song, "He's my Rock, My Sword, My Shield", piano and vocal -
Interview with Walter J. Hagen
Samuel John Sackett
Interview with Walter J. Hagen of Hot Springs, AR on April 12, 1973 at Hays, KS.
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:15 - Origin of personal power
00:02:29 - Use of candles and crystals
00:03:49 - Innate power versus learned power
00:04:25 - Loss of power
00:06:56 - Achievement of full power
00:08:23 - Power in others
00:09:23 - Witching for water
00:10:55 - Losing powers as a result of disuse
00:12:04 - Wicca
00:13:24 - Discrimination as a result of beliefs
00:15:31 - Involvement with covens
00:16:03 - Witchcraft and Wicca as a religion
: 00:16:55 - Extent of witchcraft in the United States
00:20:06 - Personal beliefs regarding Christianity and Wicca
00:22:24 - Benefits of the religion
00:25:09 - Arguments against Christianity
00:30:04 - Use of candles and crystals, their colors, and types
00:33:43 - Sex differences between witches
00:36:07 - Healings
00:38:38 - Use of drugs
00:38:56 - Secrecy
00:39:33 - Opinion on the Book of Shadows by Lady Sheba
00:41:56 - The role of the moon
00:46:21 - Conclusion -
Interview with Wilbur S. Fry
Emerson McDonald
An interview with Wilbur S. Fry of Great Bend, KS regarding his experiences in Kansas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
00:00:36 - Personal background
00:01:22 - Country conditions around Great Bend
00:02:16 - School experiences, entertainments, and songs
00:03:41 - Two lynchings of Black men in Great Bend
00:04:52 - Christmas celebrations
00:06:30 - First ice cream
00:07:22 - Baby dies during a blizzard
00:08:30 - Church experiences
00:09:38 - GAR Hall
00:10:41 - African Americans in Great Bend
00:11:18 - Experiences after school, college, and career
00:12:32 - Wheat harvesting methods
00:16:00 - Square dances
00:17:32 - Salina YMCA songs
00:18:16 - Song, There's a really splendid town
00:18:42 - Song, There's a short, short, trail
00:19:14 - Song, What's the matter with Salina?
00:19:55 - Song, The YMCA
00:20:21 - YMCA campaign of 1915
00:20:42 - C.P Townsley founder of Great Bend Tribune newspaper, and his New Years custom
00:21:28 - Great Bend town infrastructure (sidewalks, streets, lights, and electricity)
00:23:20 - Shopping in Great Bend and means of travel
00:25:52 - Blizzard of 1886
The Samuel J. Sackett Folklore Collection consists of recordings created by Dr. Sackett and his graduate assistants between the years of 1954 and 1977. Dr. Sackett and his assistants interviewed immigrants, homesteaders, and other community figures in Kansas and beyond, with a specific focus on folk music and folk lore. Subjects covered include folk music, folk stories, immigration and homesteading in the late 1800s through early 1900s, relations with Indigenous Americans and other minorities, Volga-German music, language, and customs, along with a wealth of genealogical information. Some of the recordings include racially sensitive language and as well as accounts of hate crimes. Originally recorded on reel-to-reel media, the collection was migrated to cassette tape in the 1990s and then transferred to digital beginning in 2020. Many of the recordings were in poor condition. The access recordings presented here have undergone audio enhancement in order to improve the user experience where possible, though some recordings remain difficult to understand. Unaltered audio transfers are available for researchers on request. Dr. Sackett served in the Department of English at FHSU for 23 years and founded the Kansas Folklore Society. His research materials were transferred to the University Archives in 1992.
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