daily nebraskan
Wednesday, October 11, 1978
page 10
Folklorist tells tall tales of Nebraska and pioneer days
If you've noticed unusually wide stripes on
the backs of woolly caterpillars lately,
Nebraska probably is in for a long winter.
According to this autumn folktale and
Roger Welsch, associate professor of
english and anthropology at UNL, the wide
stripes of a woolly caterpillar indicate a
long winter is ahead.
Welsch, who teaches Introduction to
Folklore said many of the Nebraska folk
tales concerning weather have been trans
ferred from the east. Such tales include
muskrats building larger lodges, signaling
a lengthy cold season. If animals grow long
and thick coats it is another indication of a
severe winter.
Welsch comments on tall tales of rain
and drought in his recently published
booklet, The Summer It Rained: Water and
Plains Pioneer Humor. He said he believes
Nebraska folktales deal more with the
unpredictability of the weather rather than
its predictability, because of the "violent
extremes" of the Nebraska climate.
V
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Come Saturday morning . . .
for an informal showing in our
Bridal Salon.
We'll have juice and rolls and you and the gowns
9:00 till 10:00 on Saturday mornings beginning
this Saturday, October 14. Please call 477-9211
for reservations since our seating is limited. Our
street floor back door is the only one open that
early; so come in that entrance and take the
elevator up to the Bridal Salon on Third Floor.
hovland-swanson
DOWNTOWN
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Nebraska Bookstore now brings you the convenience of
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The photo copies are produced on KODAK'S Ektaprint
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In his booklet, Welsch writes "It is the
extremes that have produced the best of
Plains' folklore."
Along with the weather extremes comes
folklore of the harvest, as Welsch has done
research in the history and tradition of the
Plains.
In pioneer days, harvest time was in
January, he explained so the ground still
would be frozen enough to keep the
wagons from sinking into it. As techniques
of harvest have changed, so has the folklore
written about it, he said.
Welsch said he became interested in
folklore initially through folk music. Since
his graduation from UNL 20 years ago, he
has written five books which combine his
interest in the history and folklore of the
Great Plains.
"Essentially folklore is tradition," he
said. "There is an element of folklore in
almost every sophisticated field. In the
music department you have folk music, in
the English department, there are folktales."
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The study of sod houses is a form of
folk-architecture, according to Welsch.
Welsch said he believes that folklore is
not specialized.
"I don't like specialists. Folklore allows
you to work in many different areas."
Faculty Senate gets gift
NU Regent Ed Schwartzkopf and his
wife Dorothy contributed $10,000 to the
Faculty Senate at its meeting October 10.
Schwartzkopf said he hopes the money
will be used for daily operation of the
senate or for senate to promote educa
tion, such as speakers on education.
Promotion standards was the major
issue at the meeting after Schwartzkopfs
contribution.
President James Lake passed over the
promotion standards listed on the agenda
because the standards final draft wasn't
finished.
Lake told the senate that the standards
will remain on the agenda till the
document is finished.
According to Chancellor Roy Young,
the standards drafting began in August.
"Vice president of Academic Affairs
Steven Sample, with the input of Vice
Chancellors of the UNL, UNO, and UN
med center campuses started, the initial
draft," Young said. He added that when
the final draft is finished it will come to
everyone on the faculty for approval.
"We should have an agreement on the
standards on all three campuses by Novem
ber 15," Young said.
"It's disturbing to find that the docu
ment is being drawn up by administrators
and without contact with the faculty,"
Sen. William Campbell said, who also
questioned the need for a list of promo
tion standards.
Chancellor Young promised that the
senate will be given the guidelines as
soon as they have been completed.
Although discussion was based on
the secrecy of the standards, a showing of
hands by the senators revealed that most
of the senators have already seen a rough
draft.
The senate also discussed the problem
of a decline in library spending by 7.2
percent since last year according to a re
port by the Library Committee.
A resolution to have the chancellor
restore funds UNL libraries budget was
passed by the senate.
( 'Twin Sons of Different Mothers!'
"This album constitutes a collaboration, experimental in nature,
between Tim and myself. It is an attempt for both of us to move
outside our own recognizable boundaries and try new directions
new forms of music which we rarely get to explore on our own. It
is a chance to stretch, an opportunity to grow, and a
hell of a lot of fun"
Dan Fogelberg
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"EpiC are trademarks of CBS Inc. C 1978 CBS Inc.
Available at
The Record Shop in Lincoln, $4.89
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TimHekberg
Turin Sons of Dijfertm Mtuhen
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432-0111
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