have been receiving a large number of extremely interesting stories of
ex-slaves. The historic background of the institution of slavery, which
should be disclosed with the information we are now requesting, will be
very helpful in the execution of the plans we have in mind.

Copies sent to:
Alabama Georgia Maryland North Carolina Tennessee
Arkansas Kentucky Mississippi Oklahoma Texas
Florida Louisiana Missouri South Carolina Virginia
West Virginia
Ohio
Kansas




[Document 7]

Notes by an editor on dialect usage in accounts
by interviews with ex-slaves. (To be used in
conjunction with Supplementary Instructions 9E.)


Simplicity in recording the dialect is to be desired in order to hold
the interest and attention of the readers. It seems to me that readers
are repelled by pages sprinkled with misspellings, commas and
apostrophes. The value of exact phonetic transcription is, of course, a
great one. But few artists attempt this completely. Thomas Nelson Page
was meticulous in his dialect; Joel Chandler Harris less meticulous but
in my opinion even more accurate. But the values they sought are