3.5 stars

I love the idea of people traveling around Wisconsin in the 30's, recording folklore and cultural traditions. This nicely organized book has something for every interest. I was initially excited about the ghost stories, but surprisingly, the stories I liked most in this book were the circus stories and the lumberjack stories.

I liked reading about old customs too. I loved how people used to have "bees" for when they wanted to work together to get something done. I had no idea people had bees for anything but quilting and spelling. It kind of makes me want to organize a Cleaning Emily's Basement Bee and see if I get a any takers.

Because there's a little bit of everything, my appreciation of what I was reading went up and down the whole time. I could hear different voices as I read the different sections, and some were better storytellers than others. I was also surprised there weren't more Norwegian stories.

The wood engravings scattered throughout the book were striking, especially the work of Frank Utpatel. The artwork was a nice touch.

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This is a collection of Wisconsin folklore anecdotes from Wisconsin citizens. It was originally collected as a WPA project in the 1930s. It also includes illustrations from Wisconsin artists from that time period.

I really enjoyed this book. The anecdotes varied from fantastical tales from the old world about gnomes and fairies to the more realistic tales about Wisconsin's early settlers and village life. Throw in a little bit of Native American folklore, and you have the recipe for a picture of what would make Wisconsin what it was in the 1930s. I thoroughly enjoyed this and recommend it to anyone interested in personal histories. ( )