The Student Ethnographic Projects (SEPs) comprise one of the Folklore Archives most important and continually evolving collections. The earliest SEPS date from 1967 and contributions have been made almost every year since, as OSU students regularly carry out fieldwork assignments for their folklore, writing, and other courses, then submit their final projects to the Archives.
There are now over 11,000 OSU folklore student research projects in the SEP collection. They cover almost every genre of folklore, including regional oral traditions (such as contemporary and historical legends, anecdotes, jokes, and oral history), beliefs, customs, festivals, material culture, and traditional ways of living.
Research the SEPs
Contact the Center for Folklore Studies at cfs@osu.edu if you are a researcher and would like to be sent a copy of the most up-to-date finding aid for the SEPs. We can help you access the SEPs digitally, or provide you with the files for in-house viewing.
Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live by Bill Ellis is a groundbreaking work of scholarship that draws heavily on the OSU Folklore Archive's Student Ethnographic Projects collection (SEPs). It was published in 2001 by the University Press of Mississippi.
Teach with the SEPs
If you are an instructor, see our course modules page on using the SEPs for a research project in your course.
