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Audio Recording Interview with Janie "Ma" Nelson (18 August 1977), ABAC, Tifton, Georgia, part 3, foodways and other topics,

Interview with Janie "Ma" Nelson (18 August 1977), ABAC, Tifton, Georgia, part 3, foodways and other topics

About this Item

Title

  • Interview with Janie "Ma" Nelson (18 August 1977), ABAC, Tifton, Georgia, part 3, foodways and other topics,

Names

  • Adler, Thomas A. (Collector)
  • Nelson, Janie

Created / Published

  • Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tifton, Georgia, August 18, 1977

Headings

  • -  Foodways
  • -  Folklore--Georgia
  • -  Domestic life
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  Interviews
  • -  Sound recording
  • -  United States -- Georgia -- Tift County -- Tifton

Genre

  • Field recordings
  • Interviews
  • Sound recording

Notes

  • -  Part 3 of a 4-part series of recordings of an interview with Janie "Ma" Nelson, resident and house mother of Creswell Hall dormitory, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), Tifton GA, recorded in Creswell Hall, also headquarters and lodging for the folklife project: about foodways, continue comments on the iceman from part 2, the iceman also sold ice cream cones; Nelson says, "I have two Yankee brothers-in-law and they love to come down South to eat, [where] everything is so different," about corn, including peg corn and cream corn; creamed corn goes well with sliced tomatoes, fried chicken, and biscuits; about stewed okra, corn, and tomatoes; peas and butterbeans, corn and tomatoes; grace (prayer) was said at every meal by the man of the house, not a "regular" grace but from the heart; about breakfast, bacon, eggs, sausage, or ham and redeye gravy. with coffee; redeye gravy and grits with biscuits, "mother and dad used to open their biscuits, you know, and pour that redeye gravy over it"; about fish fries, "the men would go fishing, you know, and go out to some – like up to Whiddon Mill or some lake somewhere, or some creek, and they would go an fish, maybe a day in advance, and camp out that night, then the women and children would go to join them the next day and they would take food, but they would have fish fries, they'd gather up somewhere on that creek or near that pond and they'd all go an have a fish fry, that was through the week, any day, you didn't go fishing on Sunday, that was a no-no, no one would fish on Sunday"; activities that could be considered as labor not done on Sunday, e.g, fish, clean the yard, fix the roof; at fish fry, corn bread, grits or rice, peas or butterbeans; fishing in spring or summer, not winter; about molding butter, using molds bought at hardware store; [phone call interruption]; butter molds typically for half pound; Janie Nelson's family was from near Ty Ty, her current address is 725 E. 14th St., Tifton; about how it used to seem like a long way from Ty Ty to Tifton (about 10 miles); about taking the train from Fitzgerald to Sylvester [via Tifton], there was a train stop at ABAC; about going to Tifton with parents to shop, go to the movies maybe 2 or 3 times per year; about restaurants [in Nelson's childhood], none in Ty Ty, several in Tifton, the Byron, Lankford Manor where "they knew a stranger when he walked in, the older home-town folks went there"; Nelson explains about here positive feelings for the close-knit Tifton community; people socialize at big stores, like the Piggly-Wiggly; "nowadays even farmers buy their vegetables in town"; how Nelson's parents grew onions and stored them in "croker sacks"; about sharing produce with neighbors; food brought to family with sick person or a death, Nelson tells of visit to sister in Pennsylvania, surprised when she did not help out when a death in a friend's family occurred; about festive and holiday foods, "green" (unsmoked) ham at Thanksgiving or Christmas; about "ice cream suppers" with pound cake, at homes or at church; Christmas tends to be family affair, turkey and ham, sweet potato souffle, canned peas, butterbeans, green beans, desserts ("you'd bake for weeks"), coconut and chocolate cakes, two types of fruitcakes, continued on part 4.
  • -  Part 3 of a 4-part series of recordings of an interview with Janie "Ma" Nelson, resident and house mother of Creswell Hall dormitory, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), Tifton GA, recorded in Creswell Hall, also headquarters and lodging for the folklife project: about foodways, continue comments on the iceman from part 2, the iceman also sold ice cream cones; Nelson says, "I have two Yankee brothers-in-law and they love to come down South to eat, [where] everything is so different," about corn, including peg corn and cream corn; creamed corn goes well with sliced tomatoes, fried chicken, and biscuits; about stewed okra, corn, and tomatoes; peas and butterbeans, corn and tomatoes; grace (prayer) was said at every meal by the man of the house, not a "regular" grace but from the heart; about breakfast, bacon, eggs, sausage, or ham and redeye gravy. with coffee; redeye gravy and grits with biscuits, "mother and dad used to open their biscuits, you know, and pour that redeye gravy over it"; about fish fries, "the men would go fishing, you know, and go out to some ' like up to Whiddon Mill or some lake somewhere, or some creek, and they would go an fish, maybe a day in advance, and camp out that night, then the women and children would go to join them the next day and they would take food, but they would have fish fries, they'd gather up somewhere on that creek or near that pond and they'd all go an have a fish fry, that was through the week, any day, you didn't go fishing on Sunday, that was a no-no, no one would fish on Sunday"; activities that could be considered as labor not done on Sunday, e.g, fish, clean the yard, fix the roof; at fish fry, corn bread, grits or rice, peas or butterbeans; fishing in spring or summer, not winter; about molding butter, using molds bought at hardware store; [phone call interruption]; butter molds typically for half pound; Janie Nelson's family was from near Ty Ty, her current address is 725 E. 14th St., Tifton; about how it used to seem like a long way from Ty Ty to Tifton (about 10 miles); about taking the train from Fitzgerald to Sylvester [via Tifton], there was a train stop at ABAC; about going to Tifton with parents to shop, go to the movies maybe 2 or 3 times per year; about restaurants [in Nelson's childhood], none in Ty Ty, several in Tifton, the Byron, Lankford Manor where "they knew a stranger when he walked in, the older home-town folks went there"; Nelson explains about here positive feelings for the close-knit Tifton community; people socialize at big stores, like the Piggly-Wiggly; "nowadays even farmers buy their vegetables in town"; how Nelson's parents grew onions and stored them in "croker sacks"; about sharing produce with neighbors; food brought to family with sick person or a death, Nelson tells of visit to sister in Pennsylvania, surprised when she did not help out when a death in a friend's family occurred; about festive and holiday foods, "green" (unsmoked) ham at Thanksgiving or Christmas; about "ice cream suppers" with pound cake, at homes or at church; Christmas tends to be family affair, turkey and ham, sweet potato souffle, canned peas, butterbeans, green beans, desserts ("you'd bake for weeks"), coconut and chocolate cakes, two types of fruitcakes, continued on part 4.

Medium

  • audiotape reel, 7 in.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1982/010: AFS 20895
  • MBRS shelflist: RXA 1552
  • Field project identifier: GA7-TA-R22

Source Collection

  • South-Central Georgia Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/010)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use or reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

In addition, the American Folklife Center and the professional fieldworkers who carry out these projects feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people they have visited and who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

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Credit line: South-Central Georgia Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/010), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Adler, Thomas A, and Janie Nelson. Interview with Janie "Ma" Nelson 18 August , ABAC, Tifton, Georgia, part 3, foodways and other topics. Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tifton, Georgia, 1977. Audio. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs20895/.

APA citation style:

Adler, T. A. & Nelson, J. (1977) Interview with Janie "Ma" Nelson 18 August , ABAC, Tifton, Georgia, part 3, foodways and other topics. Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tifton, Georgia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs20895/.

MLA citation style:

Adler, Thomas A, and Janie Nelson. Interview with Janie "Ma" Nelson 18 August , ABAC, Tifton, Georgia, part 3, foodways and other topics. Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tifton, Georgia, 1977. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs20895/>.