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Show t Folklore of Parks Lecture Slated . The history and folklore of the t national parks of southern Utah will be the subject of a public lecture by Dr. David Stanley of the Utah ,iFolklife Center, Salt Lake City. Titled "History and Folklore, of Utah's National Parks," the lecture will be given at Bryce Canyon National Park amphitheater, on Sun. Sept. 2, at 8:30 p.m. The lecture, part of a series to be fcgiven throughout the state during j the fall months, will focus on the (history of the pioneers, homesteaders, ranchers, and guides vwho lived and worked in the area (Surrounding what became the internationally famous national parks and monuments of southern Utah. Legends, tall tales, and jokes collected from local residents will be .included as part of the continuing folklore that forms a vital part of the lives of the residents of these communities. The lectures will be I illustrated by color slides of the national parks and by historic photographs collected by Dr. I Stanley. : The lectures, which are free and , open to the public, are sponsored by the Utah Folklife Center, the Utah ' Museum of Natural History, and the 'Utah State Office of the National Park Service under a grant from the Utah Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Stanley, Scholar-in-Residence at the Utah Folklife Center, has been collecting material for this series of cultures from national park archives and libraries, and from interviews with long-time residents of communities in and around the national parks and monuments. His research includes Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion National Parks, and Cedar Breaks and Natural Bridges National Monuments. The lectures will concentrate on the changing relationship between man and nature in these areas of great natural beauty. From early explorers like John C. Fremont and John Wesley Powell, who recorded their reactions to the spectacular cliffs and canyons of southern Utah, to the pioneering homesteaders and ranchers who tried to settle this area, the responses of human beings to the landscape have ranged from horror and fear to poetic ap--precation of its colors and forms. Even today, the historical narratives, reminiscences, and tall tales of the people living and working in and around the national parks and monuments speak eloquently of the importance the land has in their lives. The variety of their reactions is reflected also in their stories of endless droughts, riproaring floods, huge rapids, and lost tourists, in addition to stories featuring such local characters as Ebenezer Bryce, Eph Hanks.Bates Wilson, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Even the contemporary tales of park rangers, wranglers, guides, and river runners express these constantly changing attitudes to the fascinating beauty of southern Utah. Dr. Stanley has a Ph.D. in American literature and folklore from the University of Texas at Austin, and has taught at the Universities of Texas and Utah. One of his special interests is the relation of man and nature in American history and folklore. He has traveled extensively in southern Utah doing research for this project. |
