Folklore Studies faculty member Dr. Joy Fraser has been awarded the 2017 Polly Grimshaw Prize by the Archives and Libraries Section of the American Folklore Society. The Prize was established in honor of the late Polly Grimshaw, curator of the folklore collection at Indiana University Libraries. It is intended to support folklore or ethnomusicology projects with a significant connection to libraries and/or archives.
Dr. Fraser was awarded the Prize in support of her ongoing research into the violence surrounding the folk custom of Christmas mumming in nineteenth-century Newfoundland. Her work on this project draws on evidence from criminal trials, local press coverage, legislative proceedings, and other archival sources. She was presented with the award during the Archives and Libraries Section meeting at the recent annual conference of the American Folklore Society in Minneapolis.
October 23, 2017