Overview
Biography
Series I - Biographical
Series II - Thesis Work, 1925
Series III - Balladry and Folk Songs, 1910-1959
Series IV - Appalachian Linguistics, 1915-1960
Series V - Scatology and Ribaldry
Series VI - General Writings, 1921-1957
Series VII - Miscellaneous

3 Manuscript Boxes

Access and Use

Acquisition Information: The collection was placed in the Berea College Southern Appalachian Archives on October 5, 1994 by Norris Combs, Josiah's nephew, and opened for research in 1996. The ballad texts are photocopies of originals retained by Norris Combs. All other items are Josiah Combs’ originals. Extensive correspondence and a large number of additional ballad texts originating with Josiah Combs are to be found in Berea’s D.K. Wilgus Folklore Collection, SAA 67.

Preferred Citation: Josiah Combs Papers, Berea College Special Collections & Archives, Berea, KY.

• Hindman Settlement School Collection, 1899-1977 , SAA 9
• Hindman Settlement School Records, 1899-1979 , SAA 41
• Leonard Roberts Papers, 1950-1983 , SAA 57
• John F. Smith Traditional Music Collection, 1915-1940 , SAA 5
• D. K. Wilgus Folklore Collection, 1918-1989 , SAA 67

This series consists mainly of journal article and lecture manuscripts relating to Appalachian speech and language origins and an extensive collection of quips. Included is the unpublished monograph, The Language of the Southern Highlanders along with shorter pieces on such subjects as slang terminology, tongue twisters, sympathetic magic, and superstitions.

Box 1, continued

27. Correspondence - Combs to Kurath 1946
28. Manuscript - August Ice (n.d.)
29. Manuscript - Buzzard’s Nest Gap: A Story of Feud Hatred (n.d.)
30. Manuscript - Mountain Superstitions
31. Manuscript - The Kentucky Highlander 1915

Box 2

1. Manuscript - Language of the Southern Highlander pp. 1-87 1957
2. Manuscript - Language of the Southern Highlander pp. 88-160 1957
3. Manuscript - Language of the Southern Highlander pp. 161-217 1957
4. Manuscript - Lincoln at Gettysburg (Kentucky Vernacular Version) [1946]
5. Manuscript - List of Slang Terminology (n.d.)
6. Manuscript - Mountain Speech and Song Lyrics (n.d.)
7. Manuscript - Old Kentucky 1915
8. Manuscript - Standardized American English: A Study in Linguistic Pathology 1960
9. Manuscript - Studies in American Dialect (n.d.)
10. Manuscript - Sympathetic Magic in the Kentucky Mountains (n.d.)
11. Manuscript - Theophilus, the Thistle-Sifter [1940s]
12. Manuscript - A Word List From Kentucky and Elsewhere (n.d.)
13. Manuscript - A Word List From Kentucky and Georgia (n.d.)
14. Journal Article - Some Kentucky Highland Stories
15. Journal Article - Spellin’ ’Em Down in the Highlands
16. Quips 1-392         - 1954-1956
17. Quips 409-1004   - 1954-1956
18. Quips 1005-1298 - 1954-1956
19. Quips 1311-1500 - 1954-1956
20. Quips 1501-1852 - 1954-1956
21. Quips - Selected   - 1959

This series consists of article and monograph manuscripts dealing with such subjects as bathroom wall writings, anal humor, and stag party stories.

Box 2, continued

22. Manuscript - Boghouse Tidbits (n.d.)
23. Manuscript - Excursus Into Scatology (n.d.)
24. Manuscript - Kick Me (Or Kiss Me) (n.d.)
25. Manuscript - Kiss Me - Don't Kick Me (n.d.)
26. Manuscript - Some Anal Caterwauling (n.d.)
27. Manuscript - Some Indecent Stag Yarns (n.d.)
28. Manuscript - Some Pornographic Potshots (n.d.)
29. Manuscript - Gargantua's Great Discovery (n.d.)
30. Manuscript - Cambrone (n.d.)
31. Manuscript - Sculptor From Tennessee (n.d.)
32. Manuscript - Nerissa’s Ring (n.d.) Copy 1
33. Manuscript - Nerissa’s Ring (n.d.) Copy 2

This series consists of a manuscript on courtroom humor and a wide range of other subjects including the McGuffey Reader, the Bohemian language, and personal reflections regarding religion.

Box 3

1. Manuscript - The Circle Squared (A Five Scene Farce n.d.)
2. Manuscript - The Czechs and Their Country (n.d.)
3. Manuscript - Remarks on the Bohemian Language (n.d.)
4. Manuscript - Decretum Est 1933
5. Manuscript - Famous Autobiographies 1933
6. Manuscript - Flaubert and Medicine 1941
7. Manuscript - May It Please the Court (n.d.) pp. 1-22
8. Manuscript - May It Please the Court (n.d.) pp. 23a-64a
9. Manuscript - May It Please the Court (n.d.) pp. 64-102
10. Manuscript - May It Please the Court (n.d.) pp. 103-122
11. Manuscript - McGuffey and His Readers 1945
12. Manuscript - Reduce and Keep Fit 1957

This series consists of a few items that do not fit in any of the other series. Only two are by Combs. The remainder includes copies of published work, brief quotes by others, and essays and poetry in manuscript by L.S. Kempher dated August, 1939.

Box 3, continued

13. Sauvons Le Chat
14. Smith (Family name dictionary entry)
15. William Creech, Sr. Quote
16. Philosophy (Essay by L.S. Kempher)
17. Cobwebs From an Empty Skull (Essay by L.S. Kempher)
18. A Veiled Prophecy in Doric Verse (Poem by L.S. Kempher)

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