Hello from Caida Stanelle, Folklore Society intern!

Hello! My name is Caida Stanelle and I’m from the American South. I grew up in Florida and North Carolina, so I’m used to a bit sunnier weather than I’ve been finding studying abroad in England. Pictured above is me on a recent daytrip to “The Sunshine Coast” of Eastbourne…

As a third year student at UNC Chapel Hill, I’ve had the chance to take a range of classes - on horror movies, food and memory, queerness in media, artistic responses to climate change, Southeast Asian North Carolinian oral histories - which support a common focus: to try to understand why people come to believe what they do about themselves, their relationship to the world; mapping informal/subversive/iterative communications about identity. 

Which leads me to the realm of folklore!

During my time in London, I’m so excited to be hosted as an intern with the Folklore Society. Some projects I’ve been working on:

• Typing searchable copies of the FLS newsletter from old image files, 1985-present.
• Transferring the Folklore Society Library Cuttings collection to a more accessible, digital format.
• Creating a finding aid for boxes of Peter and Iona Opie’s research material on superstitions, held at UCL Special Collections.

With the internship, my goal is to gain practical experience with basic archival skills, to develop an understanding of the discipline of folklore as it exists and is thought about in the UK versus the US, and document my experience throughout! It has been such a delight so far, and I am very grateful to Caroline Oates, Ross MacFarlane, and Claire Collins for welcoming me aboard.

Published 17th March 2026