and felt
about slavery since, now we know _why_ they thought and felt as they
did. To the white myth of slavery must be added the slaves' own folklore
and folk-say of slavery. The patterns they reveal are folk and regional
patterns--the patterns of field hand, house and body servant, and
artisan; the patterns of kind and cruel master or mistress; the patterns
of Southeast and Southwest, lowland and upland, tidewater and inland,
smaller and larger plantations, and racial mixture (including Creole and
Indian).

The narratives belong also to folk literature. Rich not only in folk
songs, folk tales, and folk speech but also in folk humor and poetry,
crude or skilful in dialect, uneven in tone and treatment, they
constantly reward one with earthy imagery, salty phrase, and sensitive
detail. In their unconscious art, exhibited in many a fine and powerful
short story, they are a contribution to the realistic writing of the
Negro. Beneath all the surface contradictions and exaggerations, the
fantasy and flattery, they possess an essential truth and humanity which
surpasses as it supplements history and literature.

Washington, D.C.
June 12, 1941

B.A. Botkin
Chief Editor, Writers' Unit
Library of Congress Project

SELECTED RECORDS
Bearing on the History of the Slave Narratives

From the correspondence and memoranda files of the Washington office of
the Federal Writers' Project the following instructions and criticisms
relative to the slave narrative collection, issued from April 1 to
September 8, 1937, have been selected. They throw light on the progress
of the work, the development of materials and methods, and some of the
problems encountered.

1. Copy of Memorandum from George Cronyn to Mrs. Eudora R. Richardson.
April 1, 1937.

2. Autograph Memorandum from John A. Lomax to George Cronyn. April 9,
1937.

3. Copy of Memorandum from George Cronyn to Edwin Bjorkman, enclosing a
Memorandum from John A. Lomax on "Negro Dialect Suggestions." April 14,
1937.

4. Mimeographed "Supplementary Instructions #9-E to the American Guide
Manual. Folklore. Stories from Ex-Slaves." April 22, 1937. Prepared by
John A. Lomax.

5. Copy of Memorandum from George Cronyn to Edwin Bjorkman. May 3, 1937.

6. Copy of Memorandum from Henry G. Alsberg to State Directors of the
Federal Writers' Project. June 9, 1937.

7. Copy of "Notes by an Editor on Dialect Usage in Accounts by
Interviews with Ex-Slaves." June 20, 1937. Prepar