Appalachian-Scottish and Irish Studies Collection, 1957-1997 | Archives of Appalachia

The idea for a studies program examining the cultural and historical connections of Appalachia with Scotland (and later with Ireland) developed in the early 1980s when Barbara McDermitt, then a doctoral student at the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, began studying this connection in the area of storytelling. McDermitt worked with Dr. Thomas G. Burton, Department of English, ETSU, and subsequently invited him to Edinburgh to share his knowledge of folklore with faculty and students at the School of Scottish Studies. There Burton and McDermitt, together with the Edinburgh faculty, discussed the possibility of establishing an Appalachian-Scottish studies program.

Burton subsequently brought ETSU's Center for Appalachian Studies and Services (CASS) into the program. The Appalachian-Scottish & Irish Studies program officially began in 1988 with the inaugural five-week program of study held at ETSU. In 1989, ETSU and the University of Edinburgh entered into a formal agreement which provides for the following: an ongoing program to be held each year, alternately at ETSU and the University of Edinburgh; exchange of faculty and students; the exchange of research materials; and the shared use of research facilities.

From 1988 until 1996 the program was known as the Appalachian-Scottish Studies Program. The name changed to its present form in 1996 to denote its expanded mission of also examining the cultural and historical connection between Ireland and Appalachia. Dr. Burton directed the program from 1988-96. Upon Burton's retirement in 1996, Stevan Jackson, holding a joint appointment with CASS and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, ETSU, became director. Dr. Ted Olson became the current director in Fall 1999.

Appalachian-Scottish Studies
Appalachian Region--Population
Ballads
Banjo music
Bennett, Margaret, 1946-
Clans--Scotland
Edinburgh Tattoo
Folk dancing--Appalachian Region
Folk dancing--Scottish
Folklore--Scotland
Folk songs, Scots
Fraser, Ian
Gaelic language
Grandfather Mountain Highland Games
Hicks, Orville
Hicks, Ray (1922-2003)
Hicks, Rena, 1899-1976
Ireland--History
Jack tales
McDermitt, Barbara
Northern Ireland--Description and travel
Northern Ireland--History
Northern Ireland--Population
Northern Ireland--Social conditions
Pipe music
Proffitt, Frank, 1946-
Robertson, Stanley
Scotland--Church history
Scotland--Description and travel
Scotland--Economic conditions
Scotland--Emigration and immigration
Scotland--Population
Scotland--Social conditions
Silkie tales
Spalding, Susan Eike
Sports--United States--History
Storytelling
Storytelling--Technique
Travelers--Scotland
Williamson, Duncan

Personal papers
Photographs
Publications

English
Gaelic;ScottishGaelic