Folklore as an Historical Science

This is a foundational text in folklore studies that made a radical argument for its time: the stories common people tell carry the same weight as official records. Gomme, a pioneering British ethnologist, directly challenges the academic establishment's dismissal of folklore as mere superstition or entertainment. He contends that oral traditions preserve historical truths about everyday life, community customs, and social structures that formal history ignores. The book functions as a manifesto for treating folklore as a legitimate historical science. Gomme addresses the prevailing skepticism among historians and offers a methodological framework for extracting historical truth from oral tradition. He uses the legend of the Pedlar of Swaffham, a Norfolk tale in which a peddler dreams of treasure buried at a specific bridge, as his primary case study demonstrating how local legends encode genuine historical information. By examining such narratives, Gomme argues, researchers can fill the gaps in traditional historical narratives and gain a more comprehensive understanding of past societies.