Skip to Main Content

Folklore: Home

Databases to Start With

MLA International Bibliography has articles in literature, linguistics, and folklore.

Anthropology Plus will include articles from an anthropological/cross-cultural perspective.

Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) includes English language and literature articles.

Humanities International Complete includes folklore articles and books.

Dissertations and Theses includes graduate work in folklore from across North America and some of Europe.

Motif Indexes

Motif-indexes and typologies attempt to classify a huge amount of folktales by sorting them according to common themes. Usually this does not include full text of folktales, but instead helps you to find folktales on a common theme; you then have to look up the references to find the articles or books elsewhere.

The classic is Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk Literature, available online. (See also, the Guide for Using Stith Thompson).

Other books we have include:

  • Aarne's Types of the Folktale (1964)
  • Types of the Folktale in the Arab World, 2004.
  • Index of Mexican Folktales, 1973.
  • Types of International Folktales, 2004.
  • Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature, 2005.
  • Tale Type and Motif Indexes, 1987.
  • The Type and Motif Index of Finnish Belief Legends and Memorates, 1998.
  • Folk Literature of South American Indians, 1992.
  • The Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale, 1986.

Folklore

Help with Literature and Folklore

Profile Photo
Bee Lehman
they/them