Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives
Wayland D. Hand collection of Superstition and Popular Belief
Hand, Wayland Debs, 1907-
University of California, Los Angeles
UUS_FOLK COLL 036
100 drawers
10 large filing cabinets
1950-1996
A large-scale compilation of approximately 600,000 categorized folk belief entries,
recorded on index cards by Wayland D. Hand, his colleagues, and students at UCLA.
Drawn from books, interviews, and ephemeral sources, the collection spans the 19th and
20th centuries and is housed in ten file cabinets.
English
.
The Wayland D. Hand Collection of Superstition and Popular Belief is an extensive
compilation of categorized and cross-referenced folk beliefs, spanning approximately 600
linear feet. Compiled by Wayland D. Hand, his colleagues, and students during his tenure
at UCLA, the collection includes over 600,000 3x5 index cards, each documenting a
belief with minimal contextual or informant data. Beliefs were gathered from a wide
range of sources, including published works, oral reports, and ephemeral materials. The
cards are organized alphabetically in ten card file cabinets. The collection was donated to
Utah State University by UCLA and, due to its size, is accessible only in the Fife Room of Utah State University's Special Collections and Archives.
Wayland D. Hand was a prominent American folklorist who founded the Department of
Folklore and Mythology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Over the
course of his career, Hand collaborated with students and fellow folklorists to document
individual folk beliefs across a wide range of subjects, ultimately contributing to the
creation of this extensive index card collection. He also served as editor of Popular
Beliefs and Superstitions: A Compendium of American Folklore (1981), an abbreviated
version of the broader body of materials.
The collection primarily reflects beliefs gathered from English-speaking, European
American sources, resulting in notable gaps in cultural representation. As such, the
collection should not be considered comprehensive or representative of all belief systems
in the United States. After Hand's death in 1986, UCLA continued to maintain and
expand the collection for a period before donating it to Utah State University in 1996,
where it has since been preserved and made available through USU's Special Collections and
Archives.
No restrictions on access, except: not available through interlibrary loan.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Wayland D. Hand Collection
of Superstition and Popular Belief must be obtained from the
Fife Folklore Curator
and/or the Special Collections Section Head.
Initial Citation: Wayland D. Hand Collection
of Superstition and Popular Belief
USU_FOLK COLL 036. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University
Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah.
Following Citations:USU_FOLK COLL 036,
USUSCA.
Wayland D. Hand folklore papers, USU_COLL MSS 297
These materials were donated to USU Special Collections and Archives in 1996 by the University of California, Los Angeles.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by topic or name, beginning with "Aaron" and
ending with "Zuni." An exception is made for entries on saints, which appear at the
beginning of each alphabetical section (e.g., entries under "M" begin with St. Magin
through St. Monica, followed by the remaining topics beginning with "M"). Within each
topic, index cards are further subdivided into numbered categories (1–5). The meaning or
logic behind these numeric subdivisions is unknown.
University of California, Los Angeles
Anthropology
Religion--United States--Folklore.
Folklore and Folklife
Medicine and Health
A-C
A-Animal (cat. 4)
undated
1
1
Animal (cat. 5)-Assassin (cat. 2)
undated
1
2
Assassin (cat. 3)-Banner
undated
1
3
Bannock-Before
undated
1
4
Befoul-Black (cat. 2)
undated
1
5
Black (cat. 2 cont.)-Bog
undated
1
6
Boggle-Break (cat. 2)
undated
1
7
Break (cat. 2 cont.)-Broom
undated
1
8
Broonie-Bushy
undated
1
9
Business-Carrot
undated
1
10
C-D
Carry-Chain (cat. 2)
undated
2
1
Chain (cat. 3)-Christmas (cat. 2)
undated
2
2
Christmas (cat. 2 cont.)-Cloudy
undated
2
3
Clough-Concerted Action
undated
2
4
Conch-Count (cat. 2)
undated
2
5
Count (cat. 3)-Cross (cat. 3)
undated
2
6
Cross (cat. 4)-Cypress
undated
2
7
D-Death (cat. 1)
undated
2
8
Death (cat. 1 cont.)-Deport
undated
2
9
Deposit-Die
undated
2
10
D-F
Diet-Diving
undated
3
1
Divorce-Down (cat. 1)
undated
3
2
Drown (cat. 2)-Dream (cat. 3)
undated
3
3
Dream (cat. 3 cont.)-Drop
undated
3
4
Dropsy-Eat (cat. 1)
undated
3
5
Eat (cat. 1 cont.)-End (cat. 4)
undated
3
6
End (cat. 5)-Evil Spirit (cat. 2)
undated
3
7
Evil Spirit (cat. 3)-Fall (cat. 2)
undated
3
8
Fall (cat. 2 cont.)-Fence (cat. 2)
undated
3
9
Fence (cat. 2 cont.)-Fire (cat. 2)
undated
3
10
F-H
Fire (cat. 2 cont.)-First (cat. 4)
undated
4
1
First (cat. 4 cont.)-Fly (cat. 4)
undated
4
2
Fly (cat. 5)-Formula (cat. 2)
undated
4
3
Formula (cat. 3)-Frost (cat. 4)
undated
4
4
Frost (cat. 4 cont.)-Germinate
undated
4
5
Gestation-Goat
undated
4
6
Gobbler-Graveyard (cat. 5)
undated
4
7
Graveyard (cat. 5 cont.)-Hair (cat. 2)
undated
4
8
Hair (cat. 2 cont.)-Hand (cat. 2)
undated
4
9
Hang (cat. 3)-Head (cat. 3)
undated
4
10
H-L
Head (cat. 3 cont.)-Hickory
undated
5
1
Hide-Horse (cat. 2)
undated
5
2
Horse (cat. 2 cont.)-House (cat. 5)
undated
5
3
House (cat. 5 cont.)-Increase
undated
5
4
Incubate-Itch (cat. 3)
undated
5
5
Itch (cat. 3 cont.)-Kettle
undated
5
6
Key-Knife
undated
5
7
Knight-Lease
undated
5
8
Leather-Liderc
undated
5
9
Lie-Lode
undated
5
10
L-O
Lodestone-Luck (cat. 4)
undated
6
1
Luck (cat. 5)-marriage (cat. 2)
undated
6
2
Marriage (cat. 2 cont.)-Meet (cat. 3)
undated
6
3
Meet (cat. 3 cont.)-Mire
undated
6
4
Mirror-Mood
undated
6
5
Moon-Mourn (cat. 1)
undated
6
6
Mourn (cat. 1 cont.)-Naked
undated
6
7
Name-Never
undated
6
8
New-Nightmare
undated
6
9
Nile-Offense
undated
6
10
O-R
Offer-Over (cat. 3)
undated
7
1
Over (cat. 4)-Paternoster
undated
7
2
Path-Pick (cat. 2)
undated
7
3
Pick (cat. 2 cont.)-Place
undated
7
4
Placenta-Pork
undated
7
5
Porpoise-Presentiment
undated
7
6
Preserve-Pursue
undated
7
7
Pursuit-Rainbow
undated
7
8
Raise-Remove
undated
7
9
Rename-Right (cat. 3)
undated
7
10
R-S
Right (cat. 3 cont.)-Root (cat. 4)
undated
8
1
Root (cat. 5)-Saliva
undated
8
2
Sallal-Scarce
undated
8
3
Scare-See (cat. 4)
undated
8
4
See (cat. 4 cont.)-Shake (cat. 2)
undated
8
5
Shake (cat. 3)-Shoot (cat. 3)
undated
8
6
Shoot (cat. 4)-Silver (cat. 1)
undated
8
7
Silver (cat. 2)-Sleep (cat. 2)
undated
8
8
Sleep (cat. 3)-Sock
undated
8
9
Socket-Spice
undated
8
10
S-T
Spider-Spread
undated
9
1
Sprig-Step (cat. 2)
undated
9
2
Step (cat. 2 cont.)-Strap
undated
9
3
Straw-Sun (cat. 2)
undated
9
4
Sun (cat. 2 cont.)-Swine
undated
9
5
Swing-Tear (cat. 3)
undated
9
6
Tear (cat. 4)-Three (cat. 1)
undated
9
7
Three (cat. 1 cont.)-Throw (cat. 5)
undated
9
8
Throw (cat. 5 cont.)-Top
undated
9
9
Topaz-Trick
undated
9
10
T-Z
Trifle-Twist
undated
10
1
Twitch-Vanity
undated
10
2
Vanquish-Walk (cat. 1)
undated
10
3
Walk (cat. 2)-Water (cat. 1)
undated
10
4
Water (cat. 1 cont.)-Wedding (cat. 1)
undated
10
5
Wedding (cat. 2)-White (cat. 1)
undated
10
6
White (cat. 2)-Winnow
undated
10
7
Winter-Woman (cat. 2)
undated
10
8
Woman (cat. 3)-Yawn
undated
10
9
Year-Zuni
undated
10
10