Allegheny Episodes is the eleventh of twelve volumes in Henry Shoemaker s Pennsylvania Folklore Series. Published in 1922 years before Shoemaker s time as Pennsylvania s first state folklorist Allegheny Episodes includes twenty-five stories written in his typical literary style. Some tales recall famous hunters and loggers who made their way through Pennsylvania s rough country; others center on rivalry and lost love, ghosts and other supernatural phenomena, and the wilderness itself.
Shoemaker saw Pennsylvania s folklore as a melding of Native American and European practices. Though his methods have been contested over the years, Shoemaker s work as a folklorist stemmed from his deep affinity for Pennsylvania s fading wilderness and his desire to capture the heart of its people through the spoken and written word.
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