Out of the Northwoods: The Many Lives of Paul Bunyan, With More Than 100 Logging Camp Tales
by Michael Edmonds
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2009 eISBN: 978-0-87020-471-5 | Cloth: 978-0-87020-437-1 Library of Congress Classification GR105.37.P38E35 2009 Dewey Decimal Classification 398.2097302
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Every American has heard of the lumberjack hero Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox. For 100 years his exploits filled cartoons, magazines, short stories, and children's books, and his name advertised everything from pancake breakfasts to construction supplies. By 1950 Bunyan was a ubiquitous icon of America's strength and ingenuity. Until now, no one knew where he came from—and the extent to which this mythical hero is rooted in Wisconsin.
Out of the Northwoods presents the culture of nineteenth-century lumberjacks in their own words. It includes eyewitness accounts of how the first Bunyan stories were shared on frigid winter nights, around logging camp stoves, in the Wisconsin pinery. It describes where the tales began, how they moved out of the forest and into print, and why publication changed them forever. Part bibliographic mystery and part social history, Out of the Northwoods explains for the first time why we all know and love Paul Bunyan.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Michael Edmonds has published several books and articles on literary and intellectual history. He joined the staff of the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1982 and helped lead its effort to mount rare books and manuscripts on the Web, stumbling on the mystery of Paul Bunyan's origin while looking for lumberjack memoirs to share online. He holds degrees from Harvard University and Simmons College. He received a 2007 American Local and State Historical Society Award for his pioneering work on the “Turning Points in Wisconsin History” portion of the Wisconsin Historical Society website.
REVIEWS
"Long left for dead by folklorists as the largely fake creation of timber industry ad men and bombastic fiction writers, the real Paul Bunyan of lumber camp storytelling lives through Michael Edmond's superbly researched, richly illustrated, and engagingly written study. The last and best word on Bunyan!" (James P. Leary, Professor and Director of the Folklore Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
"Through exhaustive research and sound reasoning Michael Edmonds makes a convincing case to move Bunyan's birthplace from New England or Canada to the logging camps of northern Wisconsin. In the process, he introduces readers to a largely unfamiliar, unsanitized, pre-print Bunyan known only to woodsmen of a bygone era. This is an important contribution to the study of folklore and, at the same time, something new and fun for the Bunyan fan in all of us." (Professor Kurt Kortenhof, Saint Paul College)
2009 Bronze in the Reference Category from ForeWord Magazine's Book of Year Awards 2010 Bronze in the Great Lakes Best Regional Non-fiction from Independent Publisher Book Awards 2010 Finalist in the Regional Non-fiction Category from National Indie Excellence Awards 2010 Bronze in the Historical/Biography Book Category from PubWest Book Design Awards
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
List of Tables
Cast of Characters
Preface
Map
1. Who Was Paul Bunyan?
2. Bunyan’s Origins in Fact and Fiction
3. Lumberjacks and Their Culture
4. How the Tales Were Told
5. The Earliest Surviving Versions
6. The Curious Claims of Gene Shepard
7. Out of the Woods and onto the Page
8. Stewart and Watt, the First Careful Collectors
9. Charles Brown Gets Caught in the Middle
10. Bunyan Becomes a Celebrity
11. Competing Claims to Fame
Appendix: Bunyan Tales Told in Wisconsin, 1885–1915
Out of the Northwoods: The Many Lives of Paul Bunyan, With More Than 100 Logging Camp Tales
by Michael Edmonds
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2009 eISBN: 978-0-87020-471-5 Cloth: 978-0-87020-437-1
Every American has heard of the lumberjack hero Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox. For 100 years his exploits filled cartoons, magazines, short stories, and children's books, and his name advertised everything from pancake breakfasts to construction supplies. By 1950 Bunyan was a ubiquitous icon of America's strength and ingenuity. Until now, no one knew where he came from—and the extent to which this mythical hero is rooted in Wisconsin.
Out of the Northwoods presents the culture of nineteenth-century lumberjacks in their own words. It includes eyewitness accounts of how the first Bunyan stories were shared on frigid winter nights, around logging camp stoves, in the Wisconsin pinery. It describes where the tales began, how they moved out of the forest and into print, and why publication changed them forever. Part bibliographic mystery and part social history, Out of the Northwoods explains for the first time why we all know and love Paul Bunyan.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Michael Edmonds has published several books and articles on literary and intellectual history. He joined the staff of the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1982 and helped lead its effort to mount rare books and manuscripts on the Web, stumbling on the mystery of Paul Bunyan's origin while looking for lumberjack memoirs to share online. He holds degrees from Harvard University and Simmons College. He received a 2007 American Local and State Historical Society Award for his pioneering work on the “Turning Points in Wisconsin History” portion of the Wisconsin Historical Society website.
REVIEWS
"Long left for dead by folklorists as the largely fake creation of timber industry ad men and bombastic fiction writers, the real Paul Bunyan of lumber camp storytelling lives through Michael Edmond's superbly researched, richly illustrated, and engagingly written study. The last and best word on Bunyan!" (James P. Leary, Professor and Director of the Folklore Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
"Through exhaustive research and sound reasoning Michael Edmonds makes a convincing case to move Bunyan's birthplace from New England or Canada to the logging camps of northern Wisconsin. In the process, he introduces readers to a largely unfamiliar, unsanitized, pre-print Bunyan known only to woodsmen of a bygone era. This is an important contribution to the study of folklore and, at the same time, something new and fun for the Bunyan fan in all of us." (Professor Kurt Kortenhof, Saint Paul College)
2009 Bronze in the Reference Category from ForeWord Magazine's Book of Year Awards 2010 Bronze in the Great Lakes Best Regional Non-fiction from Independent Publisher Book Awards 2010 Finalist in the Regional Non-fiction Category from National Indie Excellence Awards 2010 Bronze in the Historical/Biography Book Category from PubWest Book Design Awards
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
List of Tables
Cast of Characters
Preface
Map
1. Who Was Paul Bunyan?
2. Bunyan’s Origins in Fact and Fiction
3. Lumberjacks and Their Culture
4. How the Tales Were Told
5. The Earliest Surviving Versions
6. The Curious Claims of Gene Shepard
7. Out of the Woods and onto the Page
8. Stewart and Watt, the First Careful Collectors
9. Charles Brown Gets Caught in the Middle
10. Bunyan Becomes a Celebrity
11. Competing Claims to Fame
Appendix: Bunyan Tales Told in Wisconsin, 1885–1915
Bibliography
Notes
Index
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC