Henri Gaidoz Collection

The Gaidoz collection is open for research but does not circulate. The IU Libraries purchased this collection from Librairie M. Slatkine & Fils (Geneva). in 1973. Slatkine & Fils had acquired it from a Mr. Gerchel who died in Paris in 1970.

The collection consists of 6,785 items collected and organized by Henri Gaidoz. Most are previously published works (pamphlets, booklets, offprints, and extracts from journals), while a few (notes, correspondence) are unpublished Most of the collection dates from the mid 19th to early 20th centuries, but a few (24 items in all) date from the 16th to 18th centuries. 140 publications in the collection are dated between 1933-1968, i.e. after Gaidoz’ death; these were presumably added by Gerchel or by previous owners.

The collection is organized according to the subject classifications devised by Gaidoz. He filed materials in pamphlet boxes by subject, and we have preserved that system while replacing the original boxes with archival-quality enclosures. Gaidoz’ classification scheme divided items into 206 boxes from Box 1 (“Folklore of the Human Body”) to Box 206 (“Education—History”). A few subjects are represented by more than one box.

Subjects in the collection span the breadth of Gaidoz’ wide-ranging interests in folklore, mythology, Celtic studies, and comparative religion. The bulk of the collection is in French but English, German, Italian, Late Latin, and other languages. also appear.

ProQuest microfilmed the Gaidoz collection in 2007 and the IU Libraries own a copy [link to IUCAT]. The microfiche collection is divided into 5 unites but retains the original classification scheme with some slight variations in the naming of subjects, e.g. "Folklore of Food" instead of "Food".