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Roger Mitchell collection of Micronesian folktales, 1963-1964, 1970-1971

Finding aid prepared by Katie Martin

Summary Information

Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives

Creator
Mitchell, Roger E., 1925-2011.

Title
Roger Mitchell collection of Micronesian folktales, 1963-1964, 1970-1971

Collection No.
C653

Extent
0.6 cubic feet (2 boxes)

Language
Materials are in English

Abstract
This collection contains over 300 indexed folktales from the Micronesian Islands that were documented by Roger Mitchell and others from 1963-1971. Mitchell was an anthropologist and folklorist and utilized the tales he collected for his many publications related to Micronesian folklore.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research. Advance notice required.

Biographical Note

Roger E. Mitchell (1925-2011) received his PhD in folklore and anthropology from Indiana University in 1967. He was a student of prominent American folklorist Richard Dorson and went on to teach folklore and anthropology for 27 years at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He served in the Pacific during World War II and this experience inspired his study of the people and folk traditions of Micronesia. From 1970-1971, he was Scholar in Residence at the University of Guam. In 1975, Mitchell received a Guggenheim Fellowship for the study of Micronesian folktale types and motifs.

Mitchell published his research on Micronesian folktales in the Journal of American Folklore, Asian Folklore Studies, and the Journal of the Folklore Institute . The collection houses materials for his 1973 publication Micronesian Folktales that were donated to the IU Folklore Archives. These research materials were cited by Richard Dorson in his work Folktales Around the World (1975).

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in order of motif-index number (assigned by Mitchell).

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains over 300 folktales from the Micronesian Islands that were documented by Roger Mitchell and other individuals in 1963-1964 and 1970-1971. Each text includes informant, date collected, collector, place collected, and translator and is assigned a major Motif-Index number, e.g. Motif A431.1.3 “Goddess causes famine.” Topics represented in the collection include origin myths; deities, heroes, monsters, and other mythological figures; animal tales; and childbirth, marriage, sexuality, and coming of age.

Related Material

Additional records such as newsletters, annual reports, bulletins, and publications may be accessed in the Archives of Institutional Memory.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information
Accession: 2003/055
Usage Restrictions
The donor(s) of this collection have not transferred their copyrights for the materials to the Trustees of Indiana University. For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.

The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials. Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.

Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.

Preferred Citation
[Item], Roger Mitchell collection of Micronesian folktales, Collection C653, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Provenance
Transferred to the IU Archives with the collection of records from the IU Folklore Archives in 2003.
Processing Information
Processed by Katie Martin.

Completed in November, 2016

Container List


Series: Micronesian Folktales, 1963-1971 

Box 1 A431.1.3. "Goddess Causes Famine," 1970 

A751. "Man in the Moon," 1970 

A758. "Theft of the Moon," 1970 

A761.6.2. "Chief Among the Stars," 1971 

A910. "Origin of Water Features. General," 1964 

A955.3.2. "Origin of the island's position," 1971 

A955.8. "Island fished-up by demigod (hero)," 1970 

A955. "Origin of islands," 1970 

A955.3.2.1. "Primeval hero moves islands into present position," 1971 

A1433. "Acquisition of money," 1971 

A1459.2. "Acquisition of seaman-ship (sailing, etc.)," 1964 

A2611.0.7. "Woman (goddess) gives birth to plants," 1963 

A2681.5.1. "Origin of coconut tree," 1971 

A2686.3.1. "Origin of kava plant," 1971 

B16.5.6.0.1. "Man-eating lizard monsters," 1970 

B33.1.5. "Devastating birds eat everything in district," 1970 

B260. "Animal warfare," 1970 

B264.7. "Fight Between Octopus and Whale to Determine Who is Superior," 1971 

B285.2.1. "Animals make voyage in canoe…" 1970 

B300. "Helpful animals," 1971 

B355. "Helpful animals killed by hero's enemy," 1971 

B450. "Helpful birds," 1970 

B602. "Marriage to bird," 1970 

B602.11. "Heron Weds Maiden," 1971 

B612.1. "Eel paramour," 1971 

B631.13. "Mouse(rat) gives birth to human child," 1970 

C937.1. "Immortality lost because of break of tabu," 1971 

D42.3. "Spirit assumes appearance of man's wife," 1971 

D170. "Transformation: man [girl] to fish," 1971 

D197. "Transformation: man to lizard," 1970 

D651.5.1. "Transformation to spy on husband," 1971 

D1692.4.1. "Lulling to sleep by 'sleepy' stories (songs)," 1971 

D2161.3.7.3. "Person having no arms or legs given those by magic," 1971 

E30. "Resuscitation by arrangement of members," 1971 

E35. "Resuscitation from fragments of body," 1970 

E113. "Resuscitation by blood," 1971 

E221. "Dead spouse's malevolent return," 1970 

E323.2. "Dead mother returns to aid persecuted child," 1971 

E607.2. "Person transforms self, is swallowed and reborn in new form," 1971 

FO. "Journey to other world," 1971 

H1570. "Miscellaneous contests (sexual)," 1963, 1971 

L165. "Lowly boy becomes chief," 1970 

*L112.12. "Hero (heroine) covered with sores (leperous)," 1963, 1971 

L111.1. "Exile returns and succeeds," 1964, 1971  

K1992+ "Statue carved: man told it is his dead wife," 1971 

K1988. Brother (sister) secures blessings due another," 1970, 1971 

K160. "Deceiver falls into own trap," 1971 

K1315.1+ "Brothers seduce sister by deceptions: pretend they are so ordered by spirits," 1970-71 

K373+ "Ghost (alus) pretends in dark to be man's friend. As man catches fish, ghost holds basket, eats fish," 1964, 1971 

K81. "Deceptive eating contest," 1970 

K11.1. "Race won by deception: relative helpers," 1970, 1971 

J2460.1 "Disastrous following of misunderstanding directions," 1970 

J2411.6. "Imitation of jumping into fire without being burned. Dupe burned," 1971 

J2133.3.1. "Coyote attempts to fly from tree top: Falls," 1970 

J1791.7. "Man does not recognize his own reflection in the water (mirror)," 1971 

J1820, "Inappropriate action from misunderstanding," 1971 

J1745.3. "Boy sees girl climbing tree, mistakes her vagina for wound," 1963, 1970, 1971 

J1700. "Fools," 1970, 1971 

O610. "Theft from ogre," 1970, 1971 

O512. "Ogre killed," 1963, 1971 

G412. "Children lured into ogre's house," 1970, 1971 

F911.4. "Jonah. Fish (or water monster) swallows a man," 1970 

F547.5.1. "Removable vagina," 1970, 1971 

F547.3.8. "Detachable penis (moves independently)," 1963, 1971 

547.1.1. "Vagina dentate," 1970, 1971  

541.11. "Removable eyes," 1970 

F301. "Fairy lover," 1963, 1971 

F112. "Journey to the land of women," 1963, 1970 

F471.2.0.1. "Demon lover," 1963, 1970 

Box 2 N733.1.1. "Brothers unwittingly fight each other," 1964, 1971 

Q241. "Adultery punished," 1970, 1971 

Q325. "Disobedience punished," 1963, 1971 

Q411. "Death as punishment," 1971 

Q451. "Mutilation as punishment," 1970, 1971 

R169.+ "Man rescues wife in flying wooden bird," 1970, 1971 

S10. "Cruel parents," 1970, 1971 

S11.3.3. "Father kills son," 1964, 1971 

S110.3.+ "Animal relatives slain," 1971 

S301. "Children abandoned (exposed)," 1971 

T75.1. "Scorn of unloved suitor punished," 1970 

T81. "Death from love," 1971 

T89.2. "Woman sacrifices herself in order to save beloved," 1970, 1971 

T93.3. "Disappointed lover kills self," 1970, 1971 

T111. "Marriage of mortal and supernatural beings," 1970, 1971 

T111.1. "Marriage of a mortal and a god," 1964, 1971 

T111.2. "Woman from sky-world marries mortal man," 1970 

T210. "Faithfulness in marriage," 1970 

T548. "Miraculous birth," 1963, 1970 

T541.2. "Birth from wound or abscess," 1971 

T584.3. "Caesarean operation upon woman at childbirth as a custom," 1970, 1971 

T554.0.4. "Woman gives birth to fish," 1963 

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