Norbert F. Riedl Collection
The Norbert F. Riedl Collection includes research files on such topics as architecture, clothing and costume, cockfighting, food and cooking, games and recreation, legends, medicines and remedies, music, quilting, snake handling, and customs pertaining to marriage, divorce, death and burial. There is also material about the mysterious Melungeons of Hancock and Hawkins Counties and there is a group of tape recordings which relate to many of the file topics.
Dates
- 1965-1975
Conditions Governing Access
Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Conditions Governing Use
The UT Libraries claims only physical ownership of most material in the collections. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants on www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Extent
7 Linear Feet (7 record boxes)
Abstract
The Norbert F. Riedl Collection includes research files on such topics as architecture, clothing and costume, cockfighting, food and cooking, games and recreation, legends, medicines and remedies, music, quilting, snake handling, and customs pertaining to marriage, divorce, death and burial. There is also material about the mysterious Melungeons of Hancock and Hawkins Counties and there is a group of tape recordings which relate to many of the file topics.
Biographical/Historical Note
Norbert Franz Riedl was born in Eisenstadt, Austria, on February 16, 1930. While studying at the University of Vienna, he spent a year at the University of New Mexico as a Smith-Mundt exchange student (1951-1952). It was during this visit that Riedl formed his lifelong attachment to the United States. He graduated from the University of Vienna with his PhD in 1954, and returned to the United States with his wife, Joan (an American whom Riedl met while both were studying in Vienna), in 1956. The couple settled in Princeton, New Jersey, where Riedl worked for the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Six years later, Riedl accepted a position in the University of Tennessee's Department of Anthropology studying folklore. He published several papers on folk culture studies in Journal of American Folklore and Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin. He remained at UT as a professor until his untimely death on March 25, 1975.
Arrangement
Collection is stored in seven boxes. The material is arranged into 38 topical series:
- Series I: Agriculture
- Series II: Architecture
- Series III: Clothing and Costume
- Series IV: Cockfighting
- Series V: Culture Studies
- Series VI: Customs - General
- Series VII: Customs - Death and Burial
- Series VIII: Customs -- Marriage and Divorce
- Series IX: Economics and Law
- Series X: Epitaphs
- Series XI: Festivals
- Series XII: Fishing
- Series XIII: Food and Cookery
- Series XIV: Games and Recreation
- Series XV: Geography
- Series XVI: History
- Series XVII: Legends
- Series XVIII: Material Culture
- Series XIX: Medicines and Remedies
- Series XX: Melungeons
- Series XXI: Music
- Series XXII: Place Names
- Series XXIII: Proverbs
- Series XXIV: Quilting
- Series XXV: Religion and Ritual
- Series XXVI: Snake-Handling
- Series XXVII: Speech
- Series XXVIII: Superstitions
- Series XXIX: Surveys -- General Folklore
- Series XXX: Tales
- Series XXXI: Weather Lore
- Series XXXII: Women and Families
- Series XXXIII: Correspondence
- Series XXXIV: Notes
- Series XXXV: Tapes, 7 inch
- Series XXXVI: Tapes, 5 inch
- Series XXXVII: Tapes, 3 inch
- Series XXXVIII: Cassettes
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository