USU Folklore Program

10/11/2019

Want to be a folklorist at USU? Apply now!

12/05/2018

**SAVE THE DATE**

Everyone is invited to come and sing, share memories, or simply listen in and celebrate Barre Toelken's life and work.

Saturday, December 15th, 2018 at 2pm in the Ellen Eccles Conference Center auditorium on USU's campus.

Distinguished folklore scholar Barre Toelken sings here informally with a group of friends at his house in Logan, Utah. Since Barre suffered a stroke in July...

11/20/2018

Hope you can all attend!

There will be a Celebration of Life for Barre on Saturday, December 15th, 2018 at 2pm in the Ellen Eccles Conference Center, Utah State University, 5005 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT

Friends and colleagues wanting to make a donation in Barre’s honor to support the Folklore Program at Utah State can send contributions, clearly marked as being in his name, to the address below.

Folklore Program Barre Toelken fund
c/o Annie Strickland, accountant
Department of English
3200 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-3200

11/12/2018

Farewell to one of our greatest folklorists!

Word is reaching the folklore community of the passing last evening of a great folklorist, Barre Toelken. Barre is known to every folklorist as the author of the classic books "The Dynamics of Folklore" and "The Anguish of Snails." He worked in many areas of folklore and folklife, including especially Navajo mythology and Anglo-American folksongs.

From 1985 until 2003, Barre directed Utah State University's folklore program. Before that, he established the folklore program at the University of Oregon. In 2016, he received the American Folklore Society's lifetime scholarly achievement award. At the time of his passing, Barre had been in hospice for several weeks.

AFC staff members extend our condolences to his family, friends, and students. We will post a fuller tribute to Barre at "Folklife Today" in the coming days. In the meantime, find at the link all the documentation generated by AFC's Montana Folklife Survey project back in 1979, including more photos of Barre. Barre was one of the leaders of the fieldwork team.

https://www.loc.gov/collections/montana-folklife-survey-1979/about-this-collection/?loclr=fbafc

09/18/2018

Don't miss the 2018 Fife Honor Lecture, given by the one-and-only Kay Turner!! OCTOBER 3rd, 1:30 PM!

08/29/2018

Come hang out at with the ! Win some swag playing co****le!

11/01/2016

USU Folklore students visiting the Weeping Woman on Halloween!

09/19/2016

The Folklore Program at Utah State University is pleased to announce that this year's 2016 Fife Honor Lecture will be delivered by Jens Lund, PhD. The title of his talk is, "I Done What I Could": Occupational Folk Poetry in the Pacific Northwest.

Please join us on Wed., Oct. 05 at 12:30 pm at the David B. Haight Alumni Center on the USU campus for his talk. Everyone welcome; reception to follow immediately.

05/27/2016

Folklore isn't just for fun, it does some communicative heavy lifting, too!

All folklore has a purpose, and our job as folklore scholars is to uncover that purpose and thus contextualize folklore as one of the main communicative tools that humans have.

04/29/2016

A great article, by Utah's own Folk Arts Specialist!

Following the 1974 launch of NEA support for state folklife programs, folklorists have led state arts agencies’ efforts to serve traditional artists of the nation’s rural, occupational, and immigrant communities. What are the challenges facing state-level folk arts coordinators in 2016? To gain insi…

04/01/2016

Campus folklore gets creative!

Last night, the gods of were appeased. Either that or a kiss on the A went horribly wrong. We're not sure which.

03/18/2016

Celebrating with the USU Folklore Club! !