Restrictions to Access

Access to audio materials may require production of listening copies.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Robin L. Geller Collection #20128, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Acquisitions information unknown. Some materials received from Daniel W. Patterson of Chapel Hill, N.C., circa 1990 (Acc. 20200615.1).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Anne Wells and Meredith Kite, June 2020

Encoded by: Anne Wells, June 2020

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Archival processing of the Robin L. Geller Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Anecdotes--Southern States.
• Geller, Robin L.
• Joines, John E.
• Legends--North Carolina.
• Storytelling--North Carolina.
• Vendetta--Kentucky.
• Vendetta--Middle East.
• Vendetta--North Carolina.
• Vendetta--Southern States.
• Williams, Cratis D.

• Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes #30025

Robin Louise Geller received her master's degree in Folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976. Her master's thesis, titled "Feuding in Southern Appalachia and the Middle East: A Comparative Analysis", looks at historical vendettas in southern Appalachia and the Middle East, particularly Kentucky and Libya.

Audio interviews with historians, folklorists, and storytellers on historical feuds of southern Appalachia and the Middle East. Robin L. Geller, a folklore student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, conducted the interviews, which relate to Geller's master's thesis, titled "Feuding in Southern Appalachia and the Middle East: A Comparative Analysis." Audio recordings include interviews with James R. Kirkland and Harry M. Lindquist, professors in the Dept. of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville; interviews with, and performances of stories by John E. ("Frail") Joines, a white storyteller of Wilkes County, N.C., who recounts stories and legends of his family's involvement in Wilkes County feuds; interviews with Lee Howard, a white resident of Clay County, Ky., and William Shelton, a white resident of Madison County, N.C., about the feuds in their respective counties; and an interview with Dr. Cratis Williams, a white professor at Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C., about feuding in Morehead, Rowan County, Ky., and about the various circumstances which have contributed to the propensity of feuding in Kentucky. Audio recordings are on audiocassette and presumably dubs made by the Southern Folklife Collection staff from Geller's original recordings. The collection also includes supporting documentation, such as tape logs, memos, and select interview transcripts, created by former Southern Folklife Collection staff and presumably Robin L. Geller. Tape logs include technical information on the recordings and brief descriptions of interview contents.

• Audiocassettes (FS-508, FS-1009-1010, FS-1205-1207, FS-1209)
• Field Notes (Folders 120, 149, 150, 151, 153), Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes #30025