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Documenting Maritime Folklife: An Introductory Guide
Preface
Documenting Maritime Folklife has two main purposes:
to promote understanding of maritime cultural heritage--the body
of distinctive traditional
knowledge found wherever groups of people live near oceans, rivers, lakes,
and streams; and to provide laymen with a basic guide for the identification
and documentation of common maritime traditions. The information it contains
may be helpful to nonprofessional researchers and community groups contemplating
the exploration of their own maritime cultural heritage. Professionals
in fields such as marine biology, fisheries extension, community
planning, and
education who are trying to understand the cultural aspects of maritime
activities may also find it useful. This work might also provide
guidance to students
and lay people working on projects under the direction of professional
folklorists, anthropologists, historians, preservationists, cultural
geographers, and
other specialists in cultural studies.
In addition to examples of common
maritime traditions and the methods that can be used to document
them, Documenting Maritime Folklife includes
suggestions for projects to disseminate collected information, and appendixes
containing: examples of fieldnotes, a step-by-step description of the
documentation of a small boat's hull shape, and sample forms
for collecting and organizing
data and obtaining informants' consent. A bibliography of key publications
supplements the resources provided here.
Documenting Maritime Folklife modestly seeks to open
the door to maritime culture and approaches to its documentation.
It does not
pretend to be a comprehensive survey of the innumerable manifestations
of maritime culture and the theories and documentation methods cultural
investigators have used to record and analyze them. Likewise, a thorough
discussion of contemporary issues pertaining to maritime culture is beyond
the scope of this publication. Readers who seek to explore the depth
and breadth of the literature on maritime culture will find important
works
listed in the bibliography.
Work on Documenting Maritime Folklife commenced
in July 1986, when I tested documentation techniques in the fishing
village of
Mayport, on the northeast coast of Florida. Following two months of fieldwork
in Mayport, I wrote the first draft. It was then subjected to further
testing by a team of folklorists from the Bureau of Florida Folklife
Programs and
an anthropologist from the Florida Department of Community Affairs during
two months of fieldwork in the communities of Apalachicola and Eastpoint,
on Florida's Gulf Coast. Although the bulk of the examples of maritime
traditions used here are taken from Florida, the techniques for documenting
cultural resources can be applied and adapted to many other maritime
settings.
Many people assisted in the development of this publication,
and, although space does not permit me to name them all individually,
my gratitude is
offered to everyone who helped.
I am grateful to Ormond Loomis, chief
of the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs, for developing the
initial concept for this publication. Alan
Jabbour and Peter T. Bartis, of the American Folklife Center, refined
that concept and guided it to completion. James Hardin, the center's
editor,
charted a safe passage through the tricky waters of the government publishing
process with customary adroitness.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation
provided a grant that enabled the project to obtain the consulting
services of maritime folklife experts
Paula J. Johnson and Janet C. Gilmore. They in turn offered innumerable
suggestions to sharpen the focus of this guide.
The staffs of the American
Folklife Center and the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs provided
considerable assistance. In particular, Carl
Fleischhauer at the center offered valuable advice about fieldwork techniques,
ethics, and cataloging field data, and assisted with the selection of
illustrations, and Yvonne Bryant at the bureau labored long and
hard to type the various
drafts.
Fieldwork in the Apalachicola area was conducted by Barbara Beauchamp,
Ormond Loomis, and Nancy Nusz, all of the Bureau of Florida Folklife
Programs, and by Marcus Hepburn of the Florida Department of Community
Affairs.
I am grateful to the many residents of the two study areas
who generously took the time of talk with me and other project
fieldworkers about their
maritime heritage, including Cletus Anderson, Kristen Anderson, Deborah
Beard, Dennis Butler, Costa Buzier, George Chapel, Dale Davis, Lloyd Davis,
Steve Davis, Virginia Duggar, Angelo Fichera, Joe Fichera, Ken Folsom,
Royce Hodge, Charles House, Robert Ingle, George Kirvin, Alice and Grady
Leavins, John Lee, Nannette Lolley, Woody Miley, Isabel Nichols, Stan Norred,
Christo Poloronis, Gloria and Sonny Polous, Willie Polous, Corky Richards,
Arthur Ross, Lawrence Sangaray, Lawrence Scarabin, Bud Seymour, Walter
Shell, Judy Stokowski-Hall, Willie Speed, Anthony Taranto, Linda Thompson,
Andrew Valkuchuk, Ralph Varnes, Louie Van Vleet, Carla Watson, George Wefing,
and Donnie Wilson of Apalachicola; Corena and Loys Cain, Buford Golden,
James Hewitt, Bernard Miller, Xuripha Miller, Inez and Frank "Sonny Boy" Segree,
and Bobby Shiver of Eastpoint; Joan Bouington of St. George Island; Eddie
Baker, Albert Gufford, Donald Herrin, Mat Roland, and Raymond Singleton
of Mayport; Joann and Charles Herrin, Thomas Herrin, and Camilla "Mickie" McRae
of Jacksonville; John Gavagan of Atlantic Beach; and Geraldine Margerum
of Neptune Beach.
Charlie Nevells, of Stonington, Maine, and Mack Novack,
a native of Eastpoint, Florida, kindly granted permission to quote the
lyrics of songs they wrote
about commercial fishing.
Joe Halusky, extension agent with the Florida
Sea Grant Program, provided helpful information about the commercial
and recreational fisheries of
northeastern Florida. Helen Cooper Floyd and Hilton Floyd, natives of
Mayport who now reside in Pascagoula, Mississippi, supplied information
and photographs
concerning Mayport.
This project has benefited from the advice of many
individuals who attended meetings to review preliminary drafts
this publication, including Scott
Andree, Florida Sea Grant Program; William Derr, Florida Inland Navigation
District; Beth Drabyk, Organized Fishermen of Florida; Rusty Fleetwood,
Coastal Heritage Society; Roberta Hammond, Florida Department of Community
Affairs; Ann Henderson, Florida Endowment for the Humanities; Lynn Hickerson,
National Trust for Historic Preservation; Linda Lampl, T.A. Herbert & Associates;
Jim Miller, Bureau of Archaeological Research, Florida Department of State;
Joan Morris, Florida Photographic Archives, Florida Department of State;
Charles Olsen, Florida Trust for Historic Preservation; J. Anthony Paredes,
Florida State University; Charles Thomas, Bureau of Marketing, Florida
Department of Natural Resources; William Thurston, Bureau of Historic Preservation,
Florida Department of State; Patricia Wickman, Division of Historical Resources,
Florida Department of State. Folklorists Robert S. McCarl, Jr., and Gary
Stanton forwarded insightful comments about the manuscript. Any errors
contained in this publication are, of course, solely my responsibility.
Finally,
I wish to thank my wife, LeeEllen Friedland, for considerable support
with all aspects of the project, including fieldwork, cataloging
of field data, and editorial assistance.
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