Introduction:

• This project examines the workplace folklore of Dartmouth Facilities, Operations, and Management (FO+M) employees. FO+M comprises numerous offices and shops, collectively charged with the daily operation and maintenance of Dartmouth’s facilities. Included within it are Engineering Services, Custodial Services, Hinman Mail Services, the Key Desk, Dartmouth Energy, Work Control, and other groups. FO+M, in turn, is a constituent part of Campus Services, which also includes Dartmouth Dining Services (DDS), Environmental Health and Safety, and other organizations.
• This collection was created using the Wilson collection procedure and Dundes’s “Context, Text, and Texture” framework. We contacted individual workers and conducted individual, one-on-one interviews with those who were willing to contribute. The types of folklore collected varied widely, including material folklore, narrative folklore, and rites of passage.

Presentation:

russian13FO+M_collectionpresentation

Items:

• Dorm Horse Legend
• Acceptance of New Hires
• Vietnam Era Legend
• Cushman Practical Joke
• Softball Injury
• Water Balloon Legend
• Hinman Window Superstition
• Rubber Band Game
• Dots Halloween Tradition
• Sparky’s Chair Legend
• Secret Societies Tradition
• Wayne’s World Joke
• Negotiation Views
• Origin of Chicken Mondays
• The Hop Fry
• “You Want Fries With That?”
• “Smooth Dinners”
• Pig Roast
• Custodial Joke
• Keystone Thursdays
• Dartmouth Dining Joke

Informants:

• We interviewed a total of 12 informants. We chose to protect the privacy of our informants as much as possible. Accordingly, each is identified only with a number.
• Each of our informants read and signed an informed consent/release. These documents, with identifying information concealed, are archived here.
• A breakdown of our informants by group is as follows:
  • Two from the Key Office,
  • One from Engineering Services,
  • Three from Hinman Mail Services
  • Three from Custodial Services
  • One from Dartmouth Recycles
  • One from Roofing
  • One from Dining Services

Collectors:

• Jacob Cruger
• Rick Gangopadhyay
• Harlan Smart
• Christopher “Ross” Wood

Tags/Keywords

• FO+M
• Narrative Folklore
• Material Folklore
• Dartmouth College