Michael Preston
preston@colorado.edu

Michael J. Preston, Professor of English, received an A.B. (Classical) from Gonzaga University, an M.A. from the University of Virginia, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. Preston and others founded the Center for Computer Research in the Humanities at the University of Colorado in association with the Literary and Linguistic Computing Centre at Cambridge University, and he was its director from 1976 to 1990. An early user of computer technology, he published a series of concordances, most notably听A Concordance to the Middle English Shorter Poem, which was published in a Cambridge-related series in 1975. Preston鈥檚 teaching and research may be characterized as embracing both learned and vernacular texts, with an emphasis on medieval and Renaissance drama and lyrics, but extending into later historical periods as well. Indeed, his work with the British mumming plays has revealed them to be, not medieval as formerly thought, but rather 听18th-century to modern-day phenomena.听 His joint work on the mumming plays with Paul Smith, Professor of Folklore at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, has been published in many articles as well as in a series of monographs with the generic title of听Chapbooks and Traditional Drama. The study of the chapbooks containing mumming plays is based on having visited every library in Britain in order to locate these ephemeral printed texts as well as historical information about their printers.听 Preston has also published widely on contemporary jokes and 鈥渦rban鈥� legends, in part to develop the theoretical bases for understanding听 texts transmitted by mixed oral-written-printed-(and now)electronic 听means.

Research & Teaching Interests

  • Middle English and early Renaissance literature
  • Vernacular culture
  • Folklore
  • Traditional drama

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Colorado, 1975
  • M.A., University of Colorado, 1972
  • M.A., University of Virginia, 1967
  • A.B., Gonzaga University, 1965

Publications

Books

  • With Paul Smith. Sir Walter Scott and the Sword Dance from Papa Stour in Shetland, Including a Facsimile Edition of James Scott鈥檚 1829 Manuscript 鈥淭he Sword Dance: A Danish or Norwegian Ballet, &c, as Performed in the Island of Papa Stour, Zetland.鈥� FLS Books, forthcoming
  • With Eddie Cass and Paul Smith,听The English Mumming Play: An Introductory Bibliography. FLS Books, 2000
  • With Paul Smith, 鈥淎 petygree of the Plouboys oR modes dancers songs鈥�: The Morris Dance at Revesby: A Facsimile of the 1779 Manuscript in the Lincolnshire Archives, with an Introduction and Transcription. University of Sheffield, 1999
  • With Georgina Boyes and Paul Smith, Chapbooks and Traditional Drama: An Examination of Chapbooks Containing Traditional Play Texts, Part II, 鈥淭he Christmas Rhyme Book鈥� Chapbooks. University of Sheffield, 1999
  • Co-ed. with Cathy Lynn Preston. The Other Print Tradition: Chapbooks, Broadsides, and Related Ephemera. Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995
  • With M. G. Smith and P. S. Smith, Chapbooks and Traditional Drama: An Examination of Chapbooks Containing Traditional Play Texts, Part I, 鈥淎lexander and the King of Egypt鈥� Chapbooks. University of Sheffield, 1977
  • With M. G. Smith, and P. S. Smith. An Interim Checklist of Chapbooks Containing Traditional Drama. Publications of the Society for the Book Trade of the North. 1976. Rpt. The Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language, Sheffield, 1977. Revised and expanded edn., 1998 (electronic publication)
  • Co-ed. with Cathy M. Orr, Urban Folklore from Colorado: Typescript Broadsides. University Microfilms, 1976
  • Co-ed. with L. Michael Bell and Cathy M. Orr, Urban Folklore from Colorado: Photocopy Cartoons. University Microfilms, 1976
  • Co-ed with M. G. Smith, and P. S. Smith, Morrice Dancers at Revesby. University of Sheffield, 1976
  • Ed., The Revesby Sword Play: An Eighteenth-Century Folk Play Adaptation. University Microfilms, 1975

Concordances

  • Co-ed. with Samuel S. Coleman, A KWIC Concordance to John Cleland鈥檚 鈥淢emoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.鈥� Garland Publishing, 1988
  • Ed., A KWIC Concordance to Lewis Carroll鈥檚 鈥淎lice鈥檚 Adventures in Wonderland鈥� and 鈥淭hrough the Looking-Glass.鈥� With a Critical Introduction by James R. Kincaid. Garland Publishing, 1986
  • Ed., A Concordance to the Verse of Lewis Carroll. Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985
  • Co-ed. with Jean D. Pfleiderer, A KWIC Concordance to the Plays of the Wakefield Master. 听Garland Publishing, Inc., 1982
  • Co-ed. with Jean D. Pfleiderer, A Complete Concordance to the Chester Mystery Plays. Garland Publishing, 1981
  • Co-ed. with Anne Kearns Lyons and Thomas R. Lyons, A Concordance to the Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear. Norwood Editions, 1980
  • Ed., A Complete Concordance to the Digby Plays. University Microfilms, 1977
  • Ed., A Complete Concordance to the Wakefield Pageants in the Towneley Cycle. University听Microfilms, 1977
  • Ed., A Concordance to Four Moral Plays: 鈥淭he Castle of Perseverance,鈥� 鈥淲isdom,鈥� 鈥淢ankind,鈥澨齛nd 鈥淓veryman.鈥� University Microfilms, 1975
  • Ed., A Concordance to the Middle English Shorter Poem. W. S. Maney & Son, 1975
  • Co-ed with Thomas R. Lyons, A Complete Concordance to Two Chaucerian Poems: 鈥淭he Floure and the Leafe鈥� and 鈥淭he Assembly of Ladies.鈥� University Microfilms, 1974
  • Ed., A Complete Concordance to the Songs of the Early Tudor Court. W. S. Maney & Son, 1972

Selected Essays (since 1985)

  • 鈥淩eading Chapbooks Closely: Gleaning Evidence about their Composition, Hisotry, and Relationship to Oral Traditions.鈥� Folk Drama Studies Today: The International Traditional Drama Conference 2002. Ed. Eddie Cass and Peter Millington. Traditional Drama Reserach Group, 2003, 133-75
  • With Eddie Cass and Paul Smith. 鈥淭he Peace Egg Book: An Anglo-Irish Chapbook Connection Discovered.鈥� Folklore 114 (2003): 29-52
  • 鈥淐ontemporary Riddles in the Personal Ads.鈥� Festschrift for Professor J. D. A. Widdowson. FLS Press, 2003
  • 鈥淢aterial Riddle-Jokes as Traditional Novelties: Homemade and Purchased Misrepresentations.鈥� Lore & Language, 2003
  • With Paul Smith and Michael J. Preston. 鈥淭he Christmas Rhyme Chapbook Tradition in Ireland鈥� in From Corrib to Cultra: Folklife Essays in Honour of Alan Gailey, ed. Trefor M. Owen. Institute of Irish Studies, Queen鈥檚 University, and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Belfast, 2000, pp. 150-162
  • 鈥淣ever Talk to Strangers: Parental Warnings, Contemporary Legends, and Popular Fiction.鈥� Contemporary Legend, n.s. 2 (1999): 63-72. Rpt., Border Crossings: Legend, Literature, Mass Media, and Cultural Ephemera. Ed. Cathy Lynn Preston. International Society for Contemporary Legend Research, 2000, 55-64
  • 鈥淪ometimes the Dragon Wins: Yet more Urban Folklore from the Paperwork Empire.鈥� Mid- America Folklore 26, 1-2 (1998): 95-102
  • 鈥淕ene Irey and His Concordance.鈥� Emerson Society Papers 9, 2 (1998): 7
  • 鈥淴eroxlore鈥�; 鈥淚nscription.鈥� Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Forms, Methods, and History. Ed.听Thomas A. Green. Garland Publishing, 1997, 853-54, 464-66
  • 鈥淐omputer Folklore鈥�; 鈥淴eroxlore.鈥� American Folklore: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Jan H. Brunvand. Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996, 154-55
  • 鈥淩e-presentations of (Im)moral Behavior in the Middle English Play Mankind.鈥� In Folklore, Literature, and Cultural Theory: Collected Essays, ed. Cathy Lynn Preston. Garland Publishing, Inc., New York, 1995, pp. 214-239
  • 鈥淩ethinking Folklore, Rethinking Literature: Looking at Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver鈥檚 Travels Chapbooks as Folktales.鈥� 鈥淚n Addition to Xeroxlore: Related Subversive Traditions.鈥� The Other Print Tradition: Essays on Chapbooks, Broadsides, and Related Ephemera. Ed. Cathy Lynn Preston and Michael J. Preston. Garland Publishing, 1995, 19-73, 223-65
  • 鈥淭raditional Humor from the Fax Machine: 鈥楢ll of a Kind鈥�.鈥� Western Folklore 53 (1994): 147-69.
  • With Cathy Lynn Preston, 鈥淟orena Bobbit Bobbed It: News Becomes Faxlore.鈥� Folklore Society News 19 (1994): 14-16.
  • 鈥淢odern Alchemy: Changing Xeroxlore into Silver.鈥� Folklore Society News 18 (1993): 13-15
  • 鈥淧hotocopied Flyers Prompt Contemporary Legends: Or, Do-It-Yourself Kits for Paranoid听Stories.鈥� Folklore Society News 15 (1992), 20-11
  • 鈥淧reface.鈥� A Reconstruction-Analysis of 鈥淏uried Child鈥� by Playwright Sam Shephard. By听Frederick J. Perry. Mellon Research University Press, 1992, xi-xiii
  • 鈥淕etting Back into Coins; Or, Trying to Get My Feet Wet without Taking a Complete Bath.鈥澨齁ohn Reich Journal 6 (1992): 30-32
  • With Hobart M. Smith, Rozella B. Smith, and Eugene F. Irey. 鈥淛ohn White and the Earliest听(1587) Illustrations of North American Reptiles.鈥� Brimleyana 16 (1990): 119-31
  • With Hobart M. Smith and David Chiszar,鈥漇uperciliary: Pertaining to the Eyebrow or Its听Analog.鈥� Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society 26, 2 (June 1990): 60-63
  • 鈥淭he Mouse in the Coors Beer Can: Goliath Strikes Back.鈥� Foaftale News: The Newsletter of the听International Society for Contemporary Legend Research 14 (June 1989), 1-3
  • With Hobart M. Smith and Richard E. Jones, 鈥淥viductal, not Oviducal.鈥� The Anatomical Record听223 (1989): 446-47
  • 鈥淩obinson Crusoe, Gulliver鈥檚 Travels, and Alice鈥檚 Adventures in Wonderland: Wonderful Texts.鈥澨齅erveilles & Contes 2, 2 (December 1988): 87-105
  • 鈥淎 鈥楪rass-Roots鈥� Approach to Computer-Assisted Research in the Humanities.鈥� Computers and听the Humanities: Today鈥檚 Research, Tomorrow鈥檚 Teaching. University of Toronto, 1986, 32-42
  • 鈥淔olklore: Some Grumblings from the Sideline.鈥� Talking Folklore 1, 2 (Winter 1986-87): 43-48

Selected Honors & Awards

  • Big 12 Faculty Fellowship, CU 麻豆影院, 1998
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association Research Grant, 1989; Renewed, 1990
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Research Tools Grant, 1985-1987
  • Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Research Grant, 1976

Current Projects

  • Beyond Oral Tradition (book)
  • Monographs on various aspects of traditional drama (鈥渇olk plays鈥�) in Britain, including:
  • With Paul Smith, Mumming and Mountebanks (songs involving quack doctors and their relationship to literary drama and traditional folk plays)
  • With Eddie Cass and Paul Smith, the third volume of studies of commercially printed versions of the Peace Egg Chapbooks (versions from the Industrial North of England)
  • A Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing British Folk Plays