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Audio Recording Interview with Janie Doss and her children (20 July 1977), Tift County, Georgia, parts 5 and 6, family activities

About this Item

Title

  • Interview with Janie Doss and her children (20 July 1977), Tift County, Georgia, parts 5 and 6, family activities

Names

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

Created / Published

  • Tift County, Georgia, July 20, 1977

Headings

  • -  Foodways
  • -  Folklore--Georgia
  • -  Children's games
  • -  Snakes
  • -  Remedies (health)
  • -  Practical jokes
  • -  Fishing
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  Sound recording
  • -  United States -- Georgia -- Tift County -- Tifton

Genre

  • Field recordings
  • Sound recording

Notes

  • -  Side A: Part 5 of a 7-part recording of a visit with Janie Doss and children Mark, Tracy, and Lisa, at the home of Janie and Keith Doss, Rt. 2 Box 280B, Tifton, GA, location identified on fieldworker Thomas Adler's field map of Tift County GA as site H (lat-long: 31.380925, -83.489494): continued discussion of Janie Doss's musical preferences, mentions of weekend-oldies radio station WSIZ in Fitzgerald GA; about sister's mother-in-law, sick; remedies include putting sugar on a cut to stop bleeding, another method for treating a wound or snakebite, left unstated but fieldworker's notes indicate that urine was meant, Janie heard this from brother when back from the war in Vietnam, fieldworker asks about beefsteak for black eyes, Janie says, no, use cucumber, as cosmetic, reduce wrinkles, "we use vegetables for cosmetics," eggwhites and vinegar for your hair, mayonnaise as cream rinse, beer for hair rinse; fieldworker photographs Tracy; eggwhites good for your face, lemon juice for hair, vanilla extract for burns; playing with children, Janie pulls skin on her throat to the sides, says, "swallowed my toothbrush," fieldworker responds by putting bent index finger in his throat and saying "madam would you please remove your umbrella," then puts finger in one ear and puffs out opposite cheek ("the kids love it"), Janie touches her index finger to Mark's chin, nose, and forehead, saying, "rooster lived here, pullet lived here, hen lived here, now, (pointing at nose) what did I say lived here?"; demonstration of trick of pulling string through your neck, with a loop of string; other string tricks, e.g., crow's feet, cup-and-saucer, and seesaw, string games as rainy day entertainment; about school, commencements in recent times; Tracy tells about a supper she cooked, pork chops, fried squash, hush puppies, then fish and hushpuppies, latter did not come out correctly, Tracy tried to eat the evidence, now she and Mark cook often; Tracy's recipe for sweet bread, self-rising flour, sugar, and milk; Mark names favored foods, macaroni and cheese, hamburgers, hot dogs, Janie on biscuits, Tracy made them once with plain flour instead of self-rising; Mark has two spoons, plays them in the traditional manner, learned from television; about the Doss family in the region, numerous, includes an attorney, hand things down, including names, Keith is Mac Keith Doss Jr., someone has family records, photos, family Bible, Janie's family (Richardson?) did not keep records; Keith used to sing to Lisa, "Bye Baby Bunting"; Keith and Janie's marriage is second for both; Keith also sings "Lisa, Lisa, give me your answer too" (like Daisy, Daisy); Keith's mother Zema Doss has a chair and sewing machine with toothmarks from Keith biting them as a child; Janie says her family was not prone to family traditions, Keith was "born on a tractor, when he could walk he was riding"; about 11-year old neighbor Steve Woods, can drive anything and fix cars, precociousness grows out of farming's tough life; about youths and cars and motorcycles ("everyone has one"), doing donuts and wheelies, building ramps and jumping hills for motorcycles; about fishing, used to go every day, catfish, bass, and warmouth (probably Lepomis gulosus, freshwater member of the sunfish family), discussion of fishing continues in part 6.
  • -  Side B: Part 6 of a 7-part recording of a visit with Janie Doss and children Mark, Tracy, and Lisa, at their home in Tifton, GA: continuation of discussion of fishing, about fishing boats, pond boats, pond worms bought at bait store, Janie Doss says they only catch a few at a time, clean and freeze, save for a meal, have not been fishing recently, worry about snakes with Lisa being so small, story about Janie almost stepping on a water moccasin, about rattlesnakes and cottonmouths; about the screaming bridge legend, highway I-75, Janie Doss says she heard a boy and girl had just gotten married, accident, there is a certain place on the highway where you can hear her screaming, roses on the girl's lap, a book about this came out a year after the event, titled At Least We Were Married (Terry C. Thomas); discussion of fieldworker's plan to participate in snipe hunt, Janie suggest pranks in response; discussion of tape recorder with children, Janie suggests On Top of Spaghetti, Tracy sings "On top of old Smoky all covered with sand, I shot my poor teacher with a red rubber band," also "Glory, glory, hallelujah, our school is burning down"; discussion of school activities, baseball, Janie remembers a treasure hunt with a church group, Tracy sings more songs; about alligators, eating alligator steaks, "the tail of the alligator, skin them, cut into steaks, oh, is that good," prepared by frying, "tasted between rabbit and fish, about frogs as food, "we couldn't find enough," how to catch frogs, "grab them"; discussion of snakes and risk of snakebites, mention of oak snakes, rat snakes, king snakes, Janie shows her snakebite kit, never used, rarely opened; Tracy tells of an injury sustained when she and brother Mark were fighting with wooden swords; asked about tape recorder, fieldworker plays back a segment; Janie has a clipping about her cousin, "smartest student in Tift County, valedictorian at Tift Area Academy, straight A grades, but she's as friendly as can be."

Medium

  • audiocassette

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1982/010: AFS 20915
  • MBRS shelflist: RYA 0873
  • Field project identifier: GA7-TA-C13

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.

Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these collection materials should contact the Folklife Reading Room for assistance. Rights assessment is your responsibility. The written permission of the copyright owners in materials not in the public domain is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Permissions may additionally be required from holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights). Whenever possible, we provide information that we have about copyright owners and related matters in the catalog records, finding aids and other texts that accompany collections. However, the information we have may not be accurate or complete.

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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 Doss. Interview with Janie Doss and her children 20 July , Tift County, Georgia, parts 5 and 6, family activities. Tift County, Georgia, 1977. Audio. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs20915/.

APA citation style:

Adler, T. A. & Doss, J. (1977) Interview with Janie Doss and her children 20 July , Tift County, Georgia, parts 5 and 6, family activities. Tift County, Georgia. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs20915/.

MLA citation style:

Adler, Thomas A, and Janie Doss. Interview with Janie Doss and her children 20 July , Tift County, Georgia, parts 5 and 6, family activities. Tift County, Georgia, 1977. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/afc1982010_afs20915/>.