Traditional Drama Conferences 1978-2002

At its meeting on the 12th June 2004, the Traditional Drama Research Group's committee initiated a project to ensure that all the papers from the Traditional Drama Conferences are publicly available, either on paper or online. As a first step, we have produced this list of all the papers, discussions, etc., indicating those we know have been published, and if so where.

Help Wanted

We would appreciate it if authors (or anyone else) could check the list and notify us of any of the following:

• Any published versions of the papers that are missing from the list, including any online versions. Please indicate if the text has been updated, extended, revised or otherwise changed since presentation at the conference.

• Abstracts - ideally in an electronic format - for inclusion in this list.

• Availability of electronic versions of papers that could be converted for the Web. (Please indicate the format used - e.g. WordPerfect, MS Word, etc.).

• Availability of typed manuscripts and transcripts that could be digitised for the Web.

• Availability of illustrations and examples in digital form (e.g. jpeg images), or that could be scanned for the Web.

• Availability of audio or video examples that are in digital form (e.g. mp3, mpeg, etc.), or could be converted for inclusion with the papers on the Web.

• Any other pertinent information.

Please send information and contributions to the Webmaster, Paul Smith at fpsmith@mun.ca, and copy to Ron Shuttleworth at mumminguk@mail.com.

Background

Delegates at the first conference in 1978 were issued with preprints of the papers. However, these are not readily available, and this approach was not repeated at later conferences. The proceedings of the 2002 conference were published as a dedicated volume in a limited edition. Some of the other conference papers have been published in the TDRG's journal Traditional Drama Studies, and several more have appeared in other peer-reviewed folklore journals. Additionally, a few authors have published their own papers, either as pamphlets or online. Otherwise, a significant proportion of the papers remain unpublished, an omission we wish to rectify.

This list has been adapted from information kindly prepared by Ron Shuttleworth, keeper of the Morris Ring Folk Play Archive. He has included non-plenary items from the programmes such as informal discussions, film sessions, etc. Some items may be irrelevant to the current exercise, although transcripts of the discussions could be useful. Ron holds tape recordings of most of the conferences, with transcripts of many of the unpublished items. These holdings are indicated where appropriate. Ron also has abstracts for virtually all of the papers, and copies of most of the handouts. Asterisks (*) indicate cases where Ron feels it might be possible to obtain a copy or a tape.