Stewart, John G. Papers, 1761-2002 (bulk 1953-1973) *JMU Faculty Papers*
Summary Information
- Repository:
- Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University
- Creator:
- John G. Stewart, 1918-2010
- Title:
- John G. Stewart Papers
- Collection No.:
- SC 0157
- Date:
- 1761-2002 (bulk 1953-1973)
- Extent:
- 5 boxes, 1 flat file, 2.29 Cubic Feet
- Language of the Material:
- English
- Language of the Material:
- English, German
- Abstract:
- Research materials and topical files pertaining to Shenandoah Valley folk culture including recipes, cures for ailments, folklore stories, and other traditions gathered and documented by John G. Stewart and Elmer Smith, former professors at Madison College (James Madison University).
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], [box #, folder #], John G. Stewart Papers, 1761-2002 (bulk 1953-1973), SC 0157, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
Bio/Historical Note
John G. Stewart was born in 1918 in Vienna, Austria under the name Hans Gideon Stein to Wilhelm Stein and Margarethe Pick Stein. Practicing Jews, the family was subject to scrutiny and Hans was arrested during Kristallnacht. Fearing for their safety, the family obtained visas to come to the United States soon after Hitler invaded Austria in 1938. Hans Gideon Stein attended the College of the Pacific, now called the University of the Pacific, from 1939 until he was drafted into the United States Army in October 1941, where he served as Staff Sergeant in Military Intelligence. He became a United States citizen in 1943 and officially changed his name to John Stewart. After World War II, Stewart decided to complete his education. He attended Columbia University from 1945 to 1948, obtaining a masters degree. Stewart taught at Harrisonburg High School from 1951 to 1958, when he was offered a teaching position at Madison College in the language department, for which he taught German and Latin until 1973. Until 1989, he continued to teach classes on folklore and folk culture in the Department of Sociology. After retirement, Stewart continued to research and write about Shenandoah Valley German folklore and culture. He passed away August 27, 2010.
Elmer L. Smith was born in 1920 in Newark, New Jersey. After earning a B.S. at Florida Southern College, an M.A. at Western Reserve University, and a Ph.D. at Syracuse University, he taught government, economics, and sociology in several Pennsylvania colleges and universities. In 1958 he came to James Madison University (then Madison College) as Director of the Social Sciences Division, serving until his death in 1981. Smith recognized that there was a large German-speaking segment of the population that had settled in the Shenandoah Valley. He conducted research and interviews to document the folk culture of the Shenandoah Valley, and published a wide variety of books and papers. Most of Smith's papers and many of his publications are available at the Blue Ridge Institute of Ferrum College in Ferrum, Virginia.
Smith and Stewart collaborated on research and conducted interviews with descendants of the German settlers in the Valley, much of which is documented in this collection. Together, Stewart and Smith established the Valley Folklore Society in the early 1960s. They compiled and published information on many folk traditions of the Shenandoah Valley Germans, including holiday traditions, food recipes, medicinal remedies and favorite pastimes.
Scope and Content
The John G. Stewart Papers consists of five boxes, measuring 2.12 cubic feet, spanning the years 1761 to 2002. The collection contains a wide array of facsimile documents pertaining to Germanic folklore and culture in the Shenandoah Valley including notes from Stewart's own lectures and presentations on particular Valley topics. Documents consist of photocopies and drafts of articles written by Stewart and his colleague Elmer L. Smith, information compiled from interviews with Valley residents, as well as photocopies of primary source materials such as images, recipes, correspondence and medicinal remedies from individuals living in Rockingham, Augusta, Wythe and Shenandoah Counties in Virginia and Pendleton County in West Virginia. Most of the photocopied articles are reprints from the Pennsylvaanisch Dietsch Eck and "Valley Folklore" articles from the Highland Recorder (Highland County, Virginia.) spanning from November 1953 to November 1973. A detailed list of those articles is included in the Contents List below, as a link to a pdf document, and is also on file in Special Collections. The collection has been left largely in the order in which Mr. Stewart used it, with minor exceptions. It is arranged in six series: Topical Research Files, Folk Medicine and Remedies, Pow-Wow Documents, Lectures and Administrative Files, Henkel Materials, and Folk Culture Posters. Numbers in brackets in the contents list below indicate item count within a folder.
Topical Research Files, 1961-1995, are further divided into subseries: Calendar Events and Other. The series consists of drafts of articles written by Elmer L. Smith and John Stewart, reprinted articles from the Pennsylvaanisch Dietsch Eck (1953-1963), and "Valley Folklore" columns from the Highland Recorder (1965-1973), and miscellaneous notes taken by John Stewart. Of particular interest in the Calendar Events subseries are folders pertaining to traditional German holidays such as Belsnickeling and Martinmas. The Belsnickel was the Christmas gift giver, who disguised himself as an evil man. For good children he gave presents, but for naughty ones he carried whips or sticks. Martinmas, or the Feast of Saint Martin, was celebrated on November 11th and typically marked the first day of winter. Materials in the "Other" category cover a wide range of topics and are arranged alphabetically.
Materials in Folk Medicine and Remedies, 1790-1984, were left in the donor's original order and primarily consist of photocopies or photographs of original primary source documents obtained from individuals in Rockingham, Shenandoah, Augusta and Wythe Counties in Virginia and Pendleton County, West Virginia. Also represented are articles by John Stewart, Kurt Kehr, Elmer Smith, and Billie Jo Monger. Documents include medicinal remedies for ailments such as arthritis, dog bites, and blisters. Information regarding provenance of various items in this series, if available, resides in the administrative file for this collection in the Special Collections office.
The series Pow Wow Documents, 1883-1900, contains materials pertaining to the handwritten, unpublished Pendleton County Pow-Wow Book of West Virginia and other related materials. The Pow-Wow Book demonstrated the art of healing people through prayer and the placing of hands on the body, which was ostensibly a custom among the Pennsylvania Germans. The series contains the following: photographs of the original Pow Wow book, which was written in German; English translations of part of the book; an undated typed article by Elmer L. Smith and John G. Stewart entitled An Occult Remedy Manuscript from Pendleton County, W.VA; a reprint of Elmer Smith's c.1976 article "The Medical Therapy of Powwowing: Early History in Europe to Surviving Practices in Modern America," typed notes taken from Folk-Medicine: a Chapter in the History of Culture (1883), by William George Black, and Der Deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart (1900) by Adolf Wuttke, regarding folk healing practices.
Lectures and Administrative Files, 1966-2002, include various papers and notes on topics Stewart presented at conferences, seminars, and other speaking engagements in the Valley and abroad. Topics generally concern Valley folklife and folklore. Material pertaining to his teaching and research obligations include course syllabi, a grant application, an oral history program proposal, and bibliographies.
Henkel Materials, 1796-1963, document the general history of the Henkel Family and Henkel Press of New Market, Virginia and consist of photocopies of publications and medicine labels printed at the press. Materials pertaining to Paul Henkel include an index and trascriptions from his daybook and diary as well as materials documenting his sermons and correspondence. A list of Solomon Henkel correspondence is also included. Photographic images of broadsides printed at the Henkel Press and woodcuts and impriints used in various publications are present. The donor's research nots concerning materials at Special Collections at JMU are also contained within this series.
Folk Culture Posters, undated, is a collection of oversized photographs taken by the donor of Frakturs, tomb stone rubbings, folk medicine recipes, and Henkel Press broadsides. The images are mounted on cardstock and numbered according to the donor's description list.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in six series:
Series 1: Topical Research Files, 1761-1995
Series 1.1: Calendar Events, 1953-1973
Series 1.2: Other, 1761-1995
Series 2: Folk Medicine and Remedies, 1790-1984
Series 3: "Pow-Wow" Documents, 1883-1900
Series 4: Lectures and Administrative Files, 1966-2002
Series 5: Henkel Materials, 1796-1963
Series 6: Folk Culture Posters, undated
Administrative Information
Revision Description
Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. 2013-11-21
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).
Acquisition Information
John Stewart donated this collection of research material and notes in August 2007 and June 2009.
Processing Information
Original newspaper clippings were photocopied onto archival paper and acidic originals discarded. In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in 2017-2018. This collection was previously cataloged as SC 4016.
Location of Originals
Many original documents may still be in the hands of the owners cited by Mr. Stewart in his notes, or their heirs.
Location
Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University
880 Madison DriveMSC 1704Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807library-special@jmu.eduURL: https://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/
Related Materials
Related Material
Elmer L. Smith Papers, undated, SC 0166, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
Separated Material
Due to copyright restrictions, photocpoied materials from the following collections were removed: Henry Z. Jones, German Origins of Jost Hite: Virginia Pioneer, 1685-1761 (Edinburg, Va.: Shenandoah History, 1979); John Brown, Circular-schreiben an die deutschen Einwohner von Rockingham und Augusta, und den benachbarten Caunties. Erster band. Von Johannes Braun. Prediger des Evangelii in den Caunties Rockingham und Augusta, Virginia (Harrisonburg, Va.: Gedruckt bey Laurentz Wartmann, Rockingham County, Virginia, 1818); Adolf Spamer, Romanusbuchlein: historisch-philogischer Kommentar zu einem deutschen Zauberbuch. Aus seinem Nachlass bearb. von Johanna Nickel (Berlin: Akademie-Verag, 1958); "Schreiben eines deutschen Juden, an den Prasidenten des Kongresses der vereinigten Staaten von Amerika," Deutsches Museum 1.6 (1783): 558-566. The map Deutsche Einwanderung 1750-1850 entlang shenandoah und Potomac sowie heutige Dialektinseln des Virginiadeutschen has been removed from folder German Immigration and placed in the map drawer.
Index Terms
Genre and Form
- Folklore -- Pennsylvania -- Sources
Subject
- Cooking, American -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Holidays -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Vernacular architecture -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Pennsylvania Dutch -- Sources
- Folklore -- Virginia -- Sources
- Folklore -- West Virginia -- Sources
- Folk art -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Traditional medicine -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Spiritual healing -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Manners and customs -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Superstition -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Folk music -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Marriage customs and rites -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Funeral rites and ceremonies -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Mennonites -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
- Rockingham County (Va.) -- History
- Augusta County (Va.) -- History
- Wythe County (Va.) -- History
- Shenandoah County (Va.) -- History
- Highland County (Va.) -- History
- Pendleton County (W. Va.) -- History
- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- History
- Virginia -- History
- West Virginia -- History
Bibliography
Aurand, A. Monroe. The "Pow-Wow" Book; A Treatise of the Art of "Healing by Prayer" and "Laying on of Hands", etc... Harrisburg, Pa.: Aurand Press, 1929.
Obituary of John Gideon Stewart. Daily News-Record August 30, 2010.
"John Gideon Stewart," Shenandoah Valley Folklife Society Newsletter 23, no. 3 (Sept. 2010): 1-2.
Stewart, John G. Oral History Interview, John G. Stewart; interviewed by Carol Maureen DeHart, 2003. SdArch no. 25-1. Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
Stewart, John G. Memoirs of Hans Stein/John Stewart, 2003.
Smith, Elmer Lewis, John G. Stewart and M. Ellsworth Kyger. The Pennsylvania Germans in the Shenandoah Valley. Allentown, Pa.: Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, 1962.
Smith, Elmer Lewis and John G. Stewart. A Collection of Papers from the Virginia Folklore Collection, Valley Folklore, and Specialized Collection of Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore from the Region, 1965-1967.
Collection Inventory
Series 1: Topical Research Files, 1761-1995 |
|||
---|---|---|---|
Subseries 1.1: Calendar Events, 1953-1973 |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
General Holidays, Customs, Traditions 29 items |
box 1 | folder 1 | |
Christmas, Belsnickeling, Shanghaiing 36 items |
box 1 | folder 2 | |
Easter 13 items |
box 1 | folder 3 | |
Ground Hog Day, Candlemas 12 items |
box 1 | folder 4 | |
Halloween 6 items |
box 1 | folder 5 | |
Lent, Fastnacht, Shrove Tuesday 19 items |
box 1 | folder 6 | |
May 1st 5 items |
box 1 | folder 7 | |
Martinmas (Michaelmass) 1 item |
box 1 | folder 8 | |
New Year, Shooting in the New Year 41 items |
box 1 | folder 9 | |
St. Patrick's Day 1 item |
box 1 | folder 10 | |
Seasons 10 items |
box 1 | folder 11 | |
Thanksgiving 3 items |
box 1 | folder 12 | |
Valentine's Day 18 items |
box 1 | folder 13 | |
Subseries 1.2: Other, 1761-1995 |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
Almanac 3 items |
box 1 | folder 14 | |
Amish and Mennonites 26 items |
box 1 | folder 15 | |
Apple Butter, Sugaring 7 items |
box 1 | folder 16 | |
Ballads, Poetry 17 items |
box 1 | folder 17 | |
Bottles, Springs 6 items |
box 1 | folder 18 | |
Churches, Preachers, Religion 91 items |
box 1 | folder 19 | |
Civil War 12 items |
box 1 | folder 20 | |
Domestic and Arts and Crafts 37 items |
box 1 | folder 21 | |
Folk Architecture, Barns, Folk Art 50 items |
box 1 | folder 22 | |
Folk Beliefs 45 items |
box 1 | folder 23 | |
Folk Expressions (Language) 9 items |
box 1 | folder 24 | |
Folk Humor 18 items |
box 1 | folder 25 | |
Folk and Plant Medicine 92 items |
box 1 | folder 26 | |
Folklore 44 items |
box 1 | folder 27 | |
Funerals, Tombstones 39 items, inc. photographs |
box 1 | folder 28 | |
Furniture 1 item |
box 1 | folder 29 | |
Genealogy, Surnames, and Place Names 59 items |
box 1 | folder 30 | |
German Immigration: Research Files 34 items |
box 1 | folder 31 | |
German Immigration Map: Deutsche Einwanderung 1750-1850 entlang Shenandoah und Potomac sowie heutige Dialektinseln
des Virginiadeutschen
Deutsche Einwanderung 1750-1850 entlang Shenandoah und Potomac sowie heutige Dialektinseln des Virginiadeutschen |
Map Case 1 | Drawer 3 | |
Guns, Gunsmiths 9 items |
box 1 | folder 32 | |
Henkel Press, New Market 37 items |
box 1 | folder 33 | |
History, General 42 items |
box 1 | folder 34 | |
Hunting, Fishing 10 items |
box 2 | folder 1 | |
Interviews 7 items |
box 2 | folder 2 | |
Language, Dialects 33 items |
box 2 | folder 3 | |
Legends 4 items |
box 2 | folder 4 | |
Proverbs 13 items |
box 2 | folder 5 | |
Mail Musings, Letters from Readers 7 items |
box 2 | folder 6 | |
Marriage 12 items |
box 2 | folder 7 | |
Moonshine, Whiskey 2 items |
box 2 | folder 8 | |
Pottery 12 items |
box 2 | folder 9 | |
Probst Lutheran-Reformed Church, Pendleton County, WV 10 items |
box 2 | folder 10 | |
Puzzles, Religious 12 items |
box 2 | folder 11 | |
Public Events 8 items |
box 2 | folder 12 | |
Reading 42 items |
box 2 | folder 13 | |
Recipes 10 items |
box 2 | folder 14 | |
Rhymes, Riddles, Tongue Twisters 18 items |
box 2 | folder 15 | |
School Days, Memory Album 15 items |
box 2 | folder 16 | |
Solomon's Church, Forestville, Shenandoah County 27 items |
box 2 | folder 17 | |
St. Michael's Lutheran-Reformed Church, Pendleton County, WV 10 items |
box 2 | folder 18 | |
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Grove Hill, Page County 83 items |
box 2 | folder 19 | |
Superstitions, Letters from Heaven (Himmelsbrief) 33 items |
box 2 | folder 20 | |
Superstitions, Witchcraft 57 items |
box 2 | folder 21 | |
Translations, Various Documents 25 items |
box 2 | folder 22 | |
Traveler's Accounts (18th-19th Century) 77 items |
box 2 | folder 23 | |
Trinity Lutheran Church, Keezletown 18 items |
box 2 | folder 24 | |
T.V. Set, Shenandoah Valley 15 items |
box 2 | folder 25 | |
Unclassified 10 items |
box 2 | folder 26 | |
Water Witching 9 items |
box 2 | folder 27 | |
Weather 38 items |
box 2 | folder 28 | |
Series 2: Folk Medicine and Remedies, 1790-1984 |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
Folk Medicine Recipes, 1850-1939 7 items |
box 2 | folder 29 | |
Andrew Hess' Notebook containing Recipes for Common Ailments and Diseases, 1849-1853 24 items |
box 2 | folder 30 | |
Recipes for Arthritis, Pendleton County, W. VA 4 items |
box 2 | folder 31 | |
Letters from Heaven (Himmelsbrief), May 1908, undated 18 items |
box 2 | folder 32 | |
Dr. Wilhelm Stoy's Dog Bite Remedy 4 items |
box 2 | folder 33 | |
Sator Formula to Protect Against Disease 5 items |
box 2 | folder 34 | |
Recipes for Ailments (Horses, etc.) 5 items |
box 2 | folder 35 | |
How to Prepare Blue Color 2 items |
box 2 | folder 36 | |
Medical Prescriptions, New Market/Mt. Solon 8 items |
box 2 | folder 37 | |
Medical and Personal Advice, sent from Henrich Muhlenberg to Mr. Henkel, 1800-1817 19 items |
box 2 | folder 38 | |
Articles re Herbal Medicine by John Stewart, Kurt Kehr, Elmer Smith, Billie Jo Monger, 1970s-1980s 96 pages |
box 2 | folder 39 | |
Four Recipes for Common Ailments, from Shavers School House, Linville Creek, Virginia 2 items |
box 2 | folder 40 | |
Series 3: "Pow-Wow" Documents, 1883-1900 |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
Pendleton County Pow Wow Book 25 items |
box 3 | folder 1 | |
English Translations, Part 1 37 items |
box 3 | folder 2 | |
English Translations, Part 2 13 items |
box 3 | folder 3 | |
E.L. Smith and J.G. Stewart, "Occult Remedy" 11 items |
box 3 | folder 4 | |
E.L. Smith and J.G. Stewart, "Occult Remedy" 87 items |
box 3 | folder 5 | |
Series 4: Lectures and Administrative Files, 1966-2002 |
|||
Subseries 4.1: Lectures and presentations, 1966-2002 |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
The Dumb Dutch of the Shenandoah Valley, 1966 32 items |
box 3 | folder 6 | |
How and When: Literature in the Foreign Language Curriculum, 1969 16 items |
box 3 | folder 7 | |
The German Element in Shenandoah Valley Folklore, 1975 22 items |
box 3 | folder 8 | |
The Valley Germans in the Revolutionary War, 1976 16 items |
box 3 | folder 9 | |
Folklore and Nationalism, Politics, Ideology, 1980 17 items |
box 3 | folder 10 | |
Shenandoah Valley Folklife, 1980 10 items |
box 3 | folder 11 | |
Naturalization Ceremony Speech, 1982 3 items |
box 3 | folder 12 | |
Folklore and Linguistics, 1982 16 items |
box 3 | folder 13 | |
German Settlers in the Shenandoah Valley in the American Revolution, 1985 20 items |
box 3 | folder 14 | |
How and When? Literature in the Foreign Language Curriculum, 1988 20 items |
box 3 | folder 15 | |
German Folk Culture in the Shenandoah Valley, 1988 29 items |
box 3 | folder 16 | |
The Zirkle Family: Historical Perspective, 1989 31 items |
box 3 | folder 17 | |
The Germans of New Market, Va., 1990 26 items |
box 3 | folder 18 | |
Shenandoah Valley Folk Culture, 1991 24 items |
box 3 | folder 19 | |
Early Books of the Shenandoah Valley, 1992 20 items |
box 3 | folder 20 | |
Fraktur Writing in the Shenandoah Valley, 1992 31 items |
box 3 | folder 21 | |
Popular Beliefs and Superstitions in the Valley of Virginia, 1993 30 items |
box 3 | folder 22 | |
Folk Culture and Medicine, 1993 8 items |
box 3 | folder 23 | |
Shenandoah Valley Folklore Fieldwork, 1993 21 items |
box 3 | folder 24 | |
Our Trip to Israel, 1995 24 items |
box 3 | folder 25 | |
Shenandoah Valley Fraktur, 1995 13 items |
box 3 | folder 26 | |
The New Market Henkels, 1999 3 items |
box 3 | folder 27 | |
Valley Germans in the Revolutionary War, 2000 35 items |
box 3 | folder 28 | |
Valley Germans, Customs, Traditions, 2000 2 items |
box 3 | folder 29 | |
Price Rotary Speech, 2000 4 items |
box 3 | folder 30 | |
Shenandoah Valley Fraktur, 2002 29 items |
box 3 | folder 31 | |
Subseries 4.2: Teaching and Administrative Files |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
Bibliographies 34 items |
box 4 | folder 1 | |
Syllabi 34 items |
box 4 | folder 2 | |
Proposal for a Madison College Oral History Program 16 items |
box 4 | folder 3 | |
Grant Application, A New Age in Shenandoah Valley History: A Cultural Resource Symposium 12 items |
box 4 | folder 4 | |
Series 5: Henkel Materials, 1796-1963 |
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Subseries 5.1: German Books and Printers |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
German Books and Printers 16 items |
box 4 | folder 5 | |
Subseries 5.2: Henkel Family |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
General History 36 items |
box 4 | folder 6 | |
Paul Henkel Materials 101 items |
box 4 | folder 7 | |
Solomon Henkel Materials 73 items |
box 4 | folder 8 | |
Subseries 5.3: Henkel Press |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
General History 42 items |
box 4 | folder 9 | |
Ballads 18 items |
box 4 | folder 10 | |
Der Virginische Volkberichter und Neumarketer Wochenschrift 27 items |
box 4 | folder 11 | |
Miscellaneous Publications 48 items |
box 4 | folder 12 | |
Translations 25 items |
box 4 | folder 13 | |
Subseries 5.4: Images |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
Broadsides 38 items |
box 4 | folder 14 | |
Imprints 25 items |
box 4 | folder 15 | |
Woodcuts 26 items |
box 4 | folder 16 | |
Subseries 5.5: Medicine |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
Directions, Uses, and Bottle Labels 26 items |
box 4 | folder 17 | |
Subseries 5.6: JMU Special Collections Research Notes |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
JMU Special Collections Research Notes 13 items |
box 4 | folder 18 | |
Series 6: Folk Culture Posters, undated |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
Folk Culture Posters, undated
60 items |
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