THE TENNESSEE FOLKLORE SOCIETY MAKES ITSELF AT HOME IN MCNAIRY COUNTY

SHAWN PITTS

Founded in 1934, The Tennessee Folklore Society (TFS) endures as one of the country’s oldest agencies devoted to regional folklore. In almost a century of continuous publication the organization’s journal, the TFS Bulletin, features the writing of renowned folklorists and community scholars documenting an incredible variety of folk traditions unique to Tennessee and surrounding states. The organization’s annual meeting is the only regular gathering of scholars, folklore enthusiasts, folk artists, tradition bearers, and folklife presenters in the region. And now, The Tennessee Folklore Society calls McNairy County home.

The Society was hosted by Jubilee Community Arts (JCA) in Knoxville for almost twenty years, before longtime JCA Director and TFS Secretary/Editor, Dr. Brent Cantrell, announced his retirement in 2022. As Cantrell stepped away from leadership the organization entered a restructuring phase, prompting the move to Selmer. An agreement to make Arts in McNairy (AiM) the TFS host institution went into effect January 2024. It’s the first time in its lauded history that TFS has called West Tennessee home.

When many people hear the word “folklore” they immediately think of oral tradition. That’s likely because fables, legends, myths, sayings, regional dialect, and the like were subjects of intense interest for many early folklorists, but a much wider range of traditions are included under the folklore umbrella. In short, any form of expressive culture, valued and preserved within informal community groups, might be considered folklore. Music, dance, handcraft, foodways, games, rituals, observances, and an endless variety of other traditions rooted in community, can be regarded as folklore or folklife. TFS members have spent the last ninety years studying, preserving and celebrating such pursuits.

Framed in this way, it’s easy to see why TFS would find McNairy County appealing as a base of operations. But beyond the obvious richness the area’s folklore, the Society has a longstanding relationship with the county through a handful of state arts and humanities leaders. Dating to the heyday of academic folklife studies in the mid 1960s McNairy County native, Mildred Payne—then chair of the English department at UT Martin—was elected to the TFS Presidency. I was twice entrusted with that office in the 2010s, and more recently local historian and author, John Talbott, was elected to the TFS Board. The organization has held its annual meeting at the Latta on two separate occasions to make the most of the close relationships.

But the clear determinative factor in the transition to McNairy County was Arts in McNairy’s longstanding commitment to values shared with the Society. For more than twenty years, AiM’s prolific folklife committee has kept busy documenting and celebrating a host of local and regional folk traditions through programming and publication. A partial list of AiM folklife activities and partnerships makes it easy to see why state folklife leaders have taken note.

Broom making, as embodied by fourth generation Selmer craftsman Jack Martin, of Hockaday Handmade Brooms, is a living tradition with a long history in many local families. Quilting and textile traditions are still preserved by the Needles ’n’ Pins quilters in Bethel Springs. McNairy County’s old-time music heritage is documented in a number of media releases that highlight the work of Eastview musician and sound recordist, Stanton Littlejohn. Arts in McNairy’s Ellis

Truett Jr. Collection preserves what is believed to be the largest assemblage of rare Tennessee music boxes in the world. The Trail of Music Legends and spectacular public art in downtown Selmer tell the stories of those who shaped our music heritage, while the restored Latta building stands as a monument to both historic and contemporary culture. The folk art and music regularly exhibited and performed at the Latta takes in a diverse range of local traditions from Hispanic and African American folk artists to Southern textiles and broom making; bluegrass and old-time music to mariachi and blues bands.

Each of these traditions deserves its own article and, in fact, print and online resources abound. Those interested in more information can keep themselves occupied indefinitely at artsinmcnairy.com and trailofmusiclegends.com, or among the back issues of the Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin, now available at the Latta learning center, local libraries and the McNairy County Archives. An internet search by subjects will also return links to essays, videos, blogposts and other online resources with various level of detail.

When Tennessee Folklore Society chose McNairy County for its new home, it was no fluke. Arts in McNairy’s research, preservation, and programing with traditional arts is unparalleled by the standards of small, rural arts agencies. Others have taken advantage of folklife assets, but rarely has a community’s identity been so thoroughly transformed by an in-depth exploration of it’s traditional cultures.