Scope and Content
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.