Talk:Esther Shephard

This article was created/improved as part of Feminism and Folklore 2023 online edit-a-thon.

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Esther Shephard article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

A fact from Esther Shephard appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 19 February 2023 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that American folklorist Esther Shephard collected tall tales from logging camps in the state of Washington to complete her 1924 book about Paul Bunyan?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2023/February. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Esther Shephard.

Wikipedia

Women in Red: Folklore (2023)

This article was created or improved during the Folklore edit-a-thon hosted by the Women in Red project from February to March 2023. The editor(s) involved may be new; please assume good faith regarding their contributions before making changes.Women in RedWikipedia:WikiProject Women in RedTemplate:WikiProject Women in RedWomen in Red articles

Women writers Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Women writers, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of women writers on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Women writersWikipedia:WikiProject Women writersTemplate:WikiProject Women writersWomen writers articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Folklore Low‑importance

	This article falls within the scope of WikiProject Folklore, a WikiProject dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of the topics of folklore and folklore studies. If you would like to participate, you may edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project's page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to discussion.FolkloreWikipedia:WikiProject FolkloreTemplate:WikiProject FolkloreFolklore articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Minnesota Low‑importance

	Minnesota portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Minnesota, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles related to Minnesota on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MinnesotaWikipedia:WikiProject MinnesotaTemplate:WikiProject MinnesotaMinnesota articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Biography

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cielquiparle (talk) 23:05, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

(

Comment or view
Article history

)

... that American folklorist Esther Shephard collected tall tales from Washington State logging camps to complete her 1924 book about ‘’Paul Bunyan’’? Source:https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv23297
- Reviewed:

Created by Treesiati (talk). Self-nominated at 20:23, 3 February 2023 (UTC). Note: As of October 2022, all changes made to promoted hooks will be logged by a bot. The log for this nomination can be found at Template talk:Did you know nominations/Esther Shephard, so please watch a successfully closed nomination until the hook appears on the Main Page.[reply]

General eligibility:
New enough:
Long enough:
Other problems:

Policy compliance:

Adequate sourcing:
Neutral:
Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:
Other problems:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

QPQ: None required.

Overall: Nicely written! The article meets all eligibility criteria. It's good to go RV (talk) 03:09, 5 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Treesiati and RAJIVVASUDEV: I really want to promote this hook, but am having trouble finding the source that says that Esther Shephard went to the logging camps to collect tall tales. (There are sources that say that she interviewed retired lumberjacks, but not that she went to any camps; her own book just says she spoke to "loggers".) In re-reading the proposed hook, I am wondering: Was the intention to say "tall tales *of* the Washington state logging camps" rather than "from"...? And/or, is there a source we can cite to explain how she undertook her research, if in fact she actually visited logging camps? Cielquiparle (talk) 12:02, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

From Treesiati (talk) 15:02, 9 February 2023 (UTC): Thank you. Answers below, perhaps.[reply]

Question 1: Was the intention to say "tall tales *of* the Washington state logging camps" rather than "from"...? Rewriting the hook as “Shephard collected tall tales of Washington State logging camps to complete her 1924 book” would be fine. Or perhaps “Shephard collected tall tales from Washington State loggers to complete her 1924 book.”

Question 2: Is there a source we can cite to explain how she undertook her research? I found the information about her going to the camps from the University of Washington archives: “The tales, collected in West Coast logging camps by the Shephards, were retold in warm and witty prose by Mrs. Shephard” (Archives West). This statement by the archivists must be based on her papers in the archives, which date from her initial MA thesis (1921) and the publication of Paul Bunyan (1924). Archives West is reference [17] in the article. Treesiati (talk) 15:02, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Treesiati: Thank you for the clarification. In that case, I am happy with the hook as it currently stands, but the fact stated in the hook ("collected in/from the logging camps") must appear in the article text, with the corresponding citations. Cielquiparle (talk) 15:05, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Cielquiparle: I've changed the reference line and attribution of the source to read According to the University of Washington Archives, the tall tales were "collected in West Coast logging camps" by Shephard and her husband. (Reference: Archives West. Thanks for the suggestions! Treesiati (talk) 15:17, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Cielquiparle:, Treesiati Archives West is reference [15] in the article. The source of the hook has been changed per the inline citation. Thanks RV (talk) 15:58, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]