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Content:
The pamphlet collection of the French folklorist Henri Gaidoz (1842-1932) is available at the Indiana University Libraries. This collection contains approximately 6,500 pieces, consisting of extracts from 19th and early 20th century journals and many published small monographs. Most of the material is in French, but there are also items in English, German, Italian and several late 17th-century treatises in Latin.
History:
The collection offers a fascinating window into the state of folklore as a discipline at the turn of the 20th century. M. Gaidoz was a philologist and scholar of Celtic studies, and also an expert in archaeology, religion, and mythology. He was founder of two journals: Melusine and Revue Celtique. He was an opponent of the contemporary solar mythology theory, and author of an article in Melusine in which he proved that Max Muller was himself a solar myth ("Comme quoi M. Max Muller n'a jamais existe; etude de mythologie compare," 1884). He was a leader of efforts to lead European folklore scholarship from the amateur to more scholarly procedures.
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Scope:
The emphasis of the collection falls into the following areas: French folklore studies (the Celts in France; folk Catholicism; folk medicine; and oral genres) and comparative folklore studies (comparative religion; occult sciences). As such, it will be of interest to scholars in folklore, religious studies, history, history and philosophy of science, and French. Many pieces are autographed by the authors, including such greats in the field as Sir James Frazer.
The material is arranged and cataloged in over 100 different subjects. Subject entries include:
• Animals
• Assyro-Babylonian folklore
• Atlantis
• Chemistry-History
• Fables
• Frauds
• Medicine, Arabic
• Proverbs
• Saints
• Werewolves
• Women |
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Auvergne. |
