Hurston Recordings

[fausto]

This is a link to a series of recordings made by Zora Neale Hurston while she collected folklore in Florida in the 1930's. Maybe not directly related to hoodoo, but I thought they were interesting.

http://www.floridamemory.com/Collection ... urston.cfm#

[catherineyronwode]

Thanks for the link.

[Papa Rouj]

That's a really great link!!!

Thanks...

[CopperFox]

Hello, Friends.

Recently I posted a link to an essay by Charles W. Chestnutt; it had a great deal of typographical errors, unfortunately. The following link includes the full text of that essay (w/o the typo's) plus several others by various authors. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I have.

Enjoy,

Michelle
Folklore-Geek-Extraordinaire

http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/proje ... texts.html

[MysticRootworker]

Michelle
Thanks for the info.

[Devi Spring]

Thanks !

[Hoodoo Girl]

Thank you for the helpful info!

[coastwitch]

For a good starter list of historical articles on black folk magic, conjure, hoodoo, and rootwork, please see this page at Southern-Spirits.com --

AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HOODOO SOURCE MATERIAL by Catherine Yronwode
http://www.southern-spirits.com/hoodoo- ... raphy.html

In addition, many short articles of historicl value are archived at the Southern-Spirits.com web site and can be reached via the site's index page:

SOUTHERN SPIRITS: GHOSTLY VOICES FROM DIXIE LAND
http://southern-spirits.com

[CopperFox]

Hello, friends.

You are all most welcome. I especially enjoyed the Chesnutt piece about the "goophered" vineyard. When I locate more relevant public domain links, I will post them to this thread in the future for our continued entertainment and education.

To hear that hoodoo blues sound that Ms. cat so often refers to, go to npr.org and check out their story about Mississippi Delta Blues, featuring articles and music by Tommy Johnson and other hoodoo bluesmen. Update: 2-18-2010, this article is moving to the NRP archives at week's end, but should still be accessible via a site search.
Enjoy, it's good stuff!

Michelle

Also wanted to add: you might want to check the Wikipedia article on Robert Johnson, it's fairly well done. As hoodoo practicioners there is much to be read into what is reported and under-reported, especially the manner in which the crossroads ceremony Johnson purportedly gained his guitar mastery through is rather glossed over as the stuff of myth. I could find no mention of the crossroads ritual in the article for Tommy Johnson, not surprising, since many confuse the two musicians and their respective stories.

[Turnsteel]

Hey y'all

A dear friend of mine passed me a link a while ago and I wanted to share it with you all here.

http://qucommunication.com/FACIpdf.pdf

This is Folklore From Adams County Illinois the first book written by famous (in some circles at least) Harry M. Hyatt. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Hyatt's work you can read about it here: http://www.luckymojo.com/hyatt.html

The book is full of wonderful bits of folklore and in the section under "witchcraft" good down home hoodoo!

Now if only his other books were online, lol.

[CopperFox]

HD --

Thank you so much for passing on that gem. Now, if only a site like Sacred Texts would/could publish the Hyatt volumes...which, by the way for those unfamiliar with that site -- they do have the full text of The Long Lost Friend up for your reading pleasure.

Veilen dank,

Michelle

[ConjureMan]

Ah, good old Sacred Text.

[catherineyronwode]

Sacred Texts cannot publish books that are protected under copyright law, and neither can archive.org or the Gutenburg Project. End of story.

[Sunnyafternoon]

I have been unsuccessful finding a copy of Harry Hyatt's works. The few scattered copies for sale cost a fortune.

1) Does anyone know a library or college who has an inter-library loan program for graduate students?

2) When I've told people in academia what these books were about they seemed either horrified or offended.

3) Has anyone any suggestions?

[catherineyronwode]

1) Hyatt printed 3,000 copies of each book. He gave most of Volumes 1 and 2 away to university libraries around the company and to large public libraries in the South. When he published volumes 3, 4, and 5 he thought the libraries would buy them, to complete their sets, after his generous gifts, but they did not. As a result, when he died there were more copies of volumes 3, 4, and 5 left unsold.

Lucky Mojo sold Hyatt sets for years -- hundreds of complete 5-volume sets -- and after copies the first two volumes ran out, we followed by selling hundreds of sets of the remaining 3 volumes. You are simply late for the party, my dear. I have two sets, my husband has a set.

Everyone who was around from the mid 1970s to the early 2000s has a set -- and, as i said, many libraries either have the Volume 1 and 2 "freebies" or the complete 5-volume sets.

When i was selling them in the 1990s, people complained because i charged $100.00 per volume and you had to buy all 5 volumes as a set. I used to have a whole back section of the office filled with these sets in unopened printers' boxes from the 1970s and i was lucky if i sold one set per week. Once the stock of remaining copies was depleted, the market set its own new value on the books.

Funny how the sudden explosion of interest in hoodoo suddenly drove the price through the roof.

2) Too long a story for this Forum. I can tell you a lot, but you will have to schedule a paid phone consultation (reading) with me for at least half an hour and i will tell you the story behind the story. In detail.

3) Inter-library loan -- all you need to do is get into your local inter-library loan system.

Please read these two pages for more information and for how you can help rebuild the Hyatt collection in the date-order and by the location the material was collected:

http://luckymojo.com/hyatt.html

http://luckymojo.com/hyattinformants.html

Also consider picking up a copy of "Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro" by Newbell Niles Puckett (1926; reprinted several times).

Good luck

[Mama Micki]

Provided that his estate consents, and the copyright issues are dealt with (although this book may now be in public domain), an ambitious person or company should look into reprinting the Hyatt books.

[Doctor Hob]

That would be wonderful. I managed to pick up volumes 3,4, and 5 a few months ago, but I despair at ever finding the first 2.

[blackmirror]

Greetings!

For anyone interested in the history and folklore of Savannah, GA and the surrounding area,i recommend "Drums and Shadows" by Mary Granger. (Quite a few mentions of rootwork.)

[kittymojo]

Loved the Mary Alicia Owens! Thank you for the link.

Kitty Mojo

[jwmcclin]

lousydowser thanks, I need a good read.

[liminalSister]

Hello Everyone!

I was looking on the forum for this info and I didn't see an answer to this. I know Harry Hyatt used field recording equipment to assist in gathering the source materials for his books. I wonder if any of those wax cylinders still exist? Is anyone in contact with his estate? Wouldn't it be amazing to hear some of the original men and women describing their work? When I bought my volume 4 of the set I seem to recall the seller telling me this copy (still in its shipping box) came from the Hyatt family storage where they had sat unsold during his life (what a shame)

In any case I have always been curious about the original recordings..

Thanks!
Madeleine

[catherineyronwode]

No, the wax cylinders do not exist. They were expensive, and once each cylinder was transcribed, Mr. Hyatt sent it in to be resurfaced for re-use. This is why he transcribed everything phonetically; he knew the recordings would be wiped out.

He did make a shellac record of one person, a very short clip.

That's it.

[Lovemydogs]

Hello,

I was interested in ordering Hoodoo - Conjuration -
Witchcraft - Rootwork" book
by
HARRY MIDDLETON HYATT but I could not find the link to order that book and I would like to add that book to a list of other materials that I am waiting to purchase.

Could anyone suggest anything?

Thank You.

[J-Mo]

Hello lovemydogs,

To my knowledge, after a decade of selling them, Hyatt's books "Hoodoo - Conjuration -Witchcraft - Rootwork" are no longer carried by Lucky Mojo because the stock left behind at Mr. Hyatt's death was all sold. A limited number of these books were published, so they are rare and costly.

However Lucky Mojo has provided information on Hyatt and his informants. Check out the following links.

http://www.luckymojo.com/hyatt.html

http://www.luckymojo.com/hyattinformants.html

Best regards

[Frank Owen]

Greetings lovemydogs.

The best thing to do, with the Hyatt books, is first, contact your library and see if they can get them on inter-library loan. I did, and actually got one, and they let me have it for 3 months!!
Some libraries will get them as reference materials and you will have to go to the library and take notes.

And finally , a well known online book chain, one you all know, often turns up copies, or even sets of these books. Be forewarned they are EXPENSIVE, but worth tracking down (if the rest are like the vol one which I have for another 3 weeks!

Just keep an eye out, and do not hesitate to try your library's Inter-Library Loan System!

Good Luck!

Frank

[catherineyronwode]

Interlibrary loan is a great way to get these and other rare books. I also recommend that everyone who is seriously interested in hoodoo read "Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro" by Newbell Niles Puckkett.

[Dr_TJ Soul]

Hello all,

I am here looking for more money information. I have a reasonable library, but I dont own any of Harry Hyatt Books. I recently found a deal on a few Harry Hyatt books. I know that most books have a wide variety of information, but I was wondering if there is one Harry Hyatt book with a strong amount of money information.

Thanks
Dr_TJ Soul

[ProfessorAmes]

Hi Dr_TJ Soul,

The Hyatt books are difficult to obtain, particularly volume 1 and 2 as they were published in a much more limited basis. Interlibrary loan is your best bet to get the books to you.

The structure of the books is not by spell type, but by interview (generally so). So, while gathering the information he recorded whatever type of information they provided. In the later volumes, there was some attempt to index the structure of the book, like a table of contents, but no indexing by spell type or such. There is mention of a final volume 6 to include an index (and I assume cross index by subject) by his assistant Michael Edward Bell. This was never published to my knowledge.

You have to remember that Hyatt was a folklorist, his interest was in capturing the stories and the people involved in the tradition. This was not intended as "how to" book at all.

Hope that helps.

[Dr_TJ Soul]

Thank you Professor Ames
I appreciate it.

[catherineyronwode]

This is a repost of a dialogue between Papa Gee and myself. I am bringing it here because it may be of interest to my students and others who are working with the "Hoodoo - Conjure - Witchcraft - Rootwork" and "Folk-Lore from Adams County Illinois" collections by Harry M. Hayatt.

Papa Gee:

found a 1935 folklore from adams county illinois harry hyatt for $150. Worth buying for that price?
I couldn't stand it. Afraid someone would snatch it up and bought it. Looks in wonderful condition.
have you sold all your other sets of Hyatt books?

Catherine:

$150.00 is a fair price for FACI, 1935. When i bought from the storage shed in which Harry Hyatt's unsold books were kept, i paid $20.00 a copy and sold them for $50.00 a copy and they sold very slowly, as did the 1965 edition of FACI and the 5 volumes of HCWR. It took me about 7 years to sell all the books i acquired (hundreds of them), at $50.00 per volume.

All of Hyatt's stored books entered the marketplace in due time, and i have had none for sale for the past 10 years. After my supply was exhausted, prices rose dramatically as the books became "objects of virtue" in their own right -- unopened tomes that some people sought to possess for reasons of perceived prestige.

I recommend that all professionals and home practitioners read the HCWR books.

In them you will find mostly older, rural tricks (Hyatt's average interview subject was born in the 1880s - 1890s) and although hoodoo drugstore products were in wide use by then (as one can see by reading the earlier "Black and White Magic of Marie Laveau" or "Mules and Men" books by other authors), relatively few tricks made with products were collected by Hyatt as he clearly stated that his mission was to refer back one or two generations. He preferred unschooled and rural informants, and he marked as "N.G." (no good) some interviews with root doctors who purchased from or worked at hoodoo drug stores. This does not make him a bad collector of folklore, but rather one who set himself a carefully delimited set of goals and fulfilled those goals admirably.

[Rapacia]

You can find all five Middleton volumes on archive.org. At least as of now. I mention this to report possible copyright infringement, not to suggest its existence on archive.org as a legitimate way to obtain the material.

Also, a site called Memphis Conjure claims to sell the volumes as downloads, $10.00 each.

Who owns the copyright to Middleton's books?