Considered scientifically, folklore belongs to science and not to the
humanities. When folk and fun are not scienced out of it, it is song and
story and in literature is mingled with other ingredients of life and
art, as exampled by the folklore in _Hamlet_ and _A Midsummer Night's
Dream_. In "Indian Culture," "Spanish-Mexican Strains," "Backwoods Life
and Humor," "Cowboy Songs," "The Bad Man Tradition," "Bears," "Coyotes,"
"Negro Folk Songs and Tales," and other chapters of this _Guide_
numerous books charged with folklore have been listed.
The most active state society of its kind in America has been the Texas
Folklore Society, with headquarters at the University of Texas, Austin.
Volume XXIV of its Publications appeared in 1951, and it has published
and distributed other books. Its Publications are now distributed by
Southern Methodist University Press in Dallas. J. Frank Dobie, with
constant help, was editor from 1922 to 1943, when he resigned. Since
1943 Mody C. Boatright has been editor.
In 1947 the New Mexico Folklore Society began publishing yearly the _New
Mexico Folklore Record_. It is printed by the University of New Mexico
Press. The University of Arizona, Tucson, has published several folklore
bulletins. The California Folklore Society publishes, through the
University of California Press, Berkeley, _Western Folklore_, a
quarterly. In co-operation with the Southeastern Folklore Society, the
University of Florida, Gainesville, publishes the _Southern Folklore
Quarterly_. Levette J. Davidson of the University of Denver, author
of _A Guide to American Folklore_, University of Denver Press, 1951,
directs the Western Folklore Conference. The _Journal of American
Folklore_ has published a good deal from the Southwest and Mexico. The
Sociedad Folklorica de Mexico publishes its own _Anurio_. Between 1929
and 1932, B. A. Botkin, editor of _A Treasury of Southern Folklore_,
1949, and A _Treasury of Western Folklore_, 1951 (Crown, New York),
brought out four volumes entitled _Folk-Say_, University of Oklahoma
Press. OP. The volumes are significant for literary utilizations of
folklore and interpretations of folks.