1. Teaching Students Primary Source Research Using Archival Materials Appalachian College Association Summit October 15, 2011
Carol Boggess, Professor of English
Shannon Lucas, Reference/ Instruction Librarian
Karen Paar, Director Ramsey Center/ Archivist
Mars Hill College

2. Exploring the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Collection
A Hart-Melvin
Archival Research Project
Fall 2010
Carol Boggess & Kristina Blackford

3. “Minstrel of the Appalachians”
Born in Mars Hill, 1882
Graduated, MHC 1914
His many talents, interests:
Lawyer, folklorist, lecturer, singer, dancer
Pioneer of the American Folk Festival
Collector of folksongs and ballads
photo by Juanita Wilson

4. From the SCRAPBOOK
These photos are at Mars Hill College in
the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Collection.
photo by Walt Damtoft , Asheville Citizen

5. The SCRAPBOOK

6. Ballad Swap at the Lunsford Festival, 2010
Photos by Joshua Doby, MHC student

7. Ballad Collection in the Archives
Peggy Harmon helps Blackford.
Lunsford watches.

8. Boxes of Ballads
Boggess and Blackford select original ballads which Paar then scans.

9. Archival Research Project
Making the archive collections available English 112: freshman research and writing Hands-on research activity 4 one-hour class periods Available to future classes

10. We wanted students to learn about:
primary and secondary sources
the Ramsey Center archives
Bascom Lamar Lunsford
oral history and the ballad form
at least one particular ballad
the culture of the area

11. Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Exercise
Gave students the handout on source types
Reviewed definitions and examples
Students worked in groups of 3 or 4
Each group worked with packet of 15 sources
Students sorted the sources by type
Each group presented 2 examples of each type

12. Interdisciplinary Packet Topics
Climate and carbon
School violence
Leonardo Da Vinci
The Mormons
Ernest Hemmingway
[Sports and the economy]

13. Learning Outcomes Critical thinking about information sources
Familiarity with primary, secondary, tertiary
Differentiating various types and formats
Especially in electronic format
Framework for research instruction sessions
Understanding of role of tertiary sources

14. How We Prepared Explored whole ballad collection
Selected specific ballads (6)
Located versions for each ballad
Scanned the selected versions
Copied them so they look original
Organized the packets
Wrote instructions

15. Barbara Allen -- the Model
Listen to a recording
Summarize the story
List alternative titles
Find published versions in books or online
List “BA” samples in the Lunsford collection
Find variations among samples and speculate on what caused them
List aspects that do not change
Identify enduring qualities

16. Betty Smith Sings “Barbara Allen”
First, to kind of get to know the ballad, you will listen to yours before looking at the materials. So, right now we will take the time to listen to Betty Smith sing “Barbara Allen.”

17. Story in the Ballad A man is in love with Barbara Allen.
He falls ill and sends his servant to fetch her.
She arrives at his bed; he expresses his love.
She rejects him; he dies.
She hears his death bells and feels guilty.
She dies and is buried near him.
A rose growing on his grave joins with a briar on hers to make a love knot.
In case you didn’t get the whole story from the song, here is a brief summary of what happens in the ballad. Note that this ballad is a tragic love song.

18. “Barbara Allen” Alternate Titles:
“Bonny Barbara Allan,” “Barbra Allen,”
“Barbary Allen,” “A Song of Sweet William”
Recordings:
Both Sides Then and Now by Betty Smith;
My Dearest Dear by Sheila Kay Adams
-Now if you notice your worksheet, I’m going to start answering the questions for “Barbara Allen.” You should do this for your ballad.
-I found the alternate titles on the different printed versions and manuscripts that I have seen. -Each of you will have one recording in your folder that you will listen to, and since we have two of “Barbara Allen” I have them both listed.

19. Sources of Printed Versions
“The Personal Folksong Collection of Bascom Lamar Lunsford: A Thesis” by Anne Beard (vol. 1, 73-6).
Jane Hicks Gentry by Betty Smith (153).
English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians by Cecil Sharp (183-95).
In your packets, towards the back, are your printed, published versions of your ballads. Here are the ones I have for “Barbara Allen:” (wave them in front of me?). Yours will be labeled so you can find the appropriate information such as author and source title and then write those on your worksheet.

20. Six Different Collection Samples
Copy 5 “Bonny Barbara Allan” by Beatrice Dorsey Copy 7 “Barbra Allen” by Bessie Littrell Copy 8 “Barbara Allen” by Annis Boyd Copy 13 “Barbara Allen” by Aileen Neill Copy 22 “Barbara Allen” by Gorman Brown Copy 23 “A Song of Sweet William” by Lula Browning
-Inside your packet, there are also unpublished manuscripts that Bascom Lamar Lunsford gathered from people in this area and added to his giant collection of manuscripts. In the very front of your packets are two copies of the six “Barbara Allen” samples – please pull them out and follow along with me. -Here, I have labeled my six samples in three different ways: by copy number, title, and author. You can label your samples any way you want to, depending on if your titles are different enough or your samples have authors – some do not. -From here on out, I will be referring to each sample by their copy number.

21. Variations in Opening Stanzas
Copy 7, 8: London City or Scarlot Town
Copy 5, 8, 22: Martinmas time, May, June
Copy 13: “There were three maids”
Copy 23: “Dark and gloomy was the town”
-And now we come to the variations. While you read through the different samples and published versions, please make a list of little differences you see and compare them with each other. Once you have the little differences like I do, you can begin to group them like I have here. -The first major group I’ve noticed is that a lot of these samples have different opening stanzas. If you look at your “Barbara Allen” samples, you can see for yourselves some of these differences. I’m sure there are similar differences in your specific ballads too.

22. Variations in Endings Copy 8: A warning to virgins
Copy 7, 8: Rose and briar form a love knot
Copy 22: A white rose & French briar
-Another grouping I’ve noticed is the endings are all different. Usually the two die and their rose and briar form a love knot, but some endings are a lot more specific, stating when they died or the particular kinds of rose and briar that grew from their graves. One sample even has a warning to virgins.

23. Plot Variations Copy 5, 22: The man slighted Barbara in the tavern.
Copy 13, 23: She admits she could have
saved him.
Copy 8, 22: Barbara laughs after he dies.
(from madness or grief?)
Finally, here are some overall plot differences that came about due to stanza differences. In some versions, we are given a reason why Barbara Allen rejects him, and in some we have no idea. These other points are little changes that enhance the story in little ways.

24. Smaller Variations Names Words: Copy 5: Sir John Graime
Copy 13: Young William
Copy 22, 23: Sweet William
Words:
Copy 5: “O hooly, hooly rose she up”
Copy 13: “So slowly, slowly rose she up”
Copy 23: “Solely, solely she got up”
Here are some smaller variations I had noticed between samples. These are all excellent things to pay attention to and write down if you come across them in your samples – differences in names or phrases or locations, for example.

25. What Accounts for Differences?
London City/Scarlot Town: origin of the song
A warning to virgins: a moral
“Sir John Graime”: original Scottish name
“Holy/Slowly/Solely”: misheard lyrics
On your worksheet, you’re asked to think about why there are differences between the versions. Here are a select few I have wondered about, to give you an idea of what we’re looking for. There is no way of knowing if my ideas are correct, either, so in turn there’s no way to tell if yours are correct – just write down whatever you think is correct and makes sense.

26. Aspects That Do Not Vary
A man loves Barbara Allen.
She leaves him to die.
She then feels guilty for rejecting him.
She dies after she finds out that he is dead.
And here are some of the points that stay the same over all the versions, even if they come across differently over the different versions. For example, most versions have the man send a servant to fetch Barbara, but in one of them he sends a letter to her himself. Also, in some of the versions, she tells him, “young man, I think you’re dying” and in some versions she tells him “you’re sick, you’re sick, you’re very sick.” In each version they’re doing the same things, but in different ways. Keep this in mind as you go through your samples and make note of any unvarying aspects you find.

27. Enduring Qualities Part of local or family tradition
Universal topic – Young Love
Interesting story ending in tragedy
Good melody ; well-known song
Finally, the enduring qualities tell us why people are still singing these ballads today. Here are some of the reasons we believe “Barbara Allen” is still a popular ballad. I am sure that you all will most likely find similar reasons, but try to think of other reasons not listed here.

28. Students exploring their ballads
Blackjack Davey
Butcher Boy
Little Mathy Groves
Omie Wise
Pretty Mohea

29. Working on the Ballad Project

30. Students Presenting

31. Student Reactions to Project
They learned about
The archives
B. L. Lunsford
Ballads/oral history
Using primary sources
Some life lessons!
They especially enjoyed
Listening to the ballads
Learning about the county and the music
Learning about Lunsford
Doing something different

32. My favorite student quotes
“I loved getting to see the copies and working with my heritage.” -- student from the area
“This project was not only very enjoyable but it gave us a break from so many dang essays and assignments.”
-- anonymous