Ausenber. ausenber and ausenber cloth refer to osnaburg, a "species of coarse linen, originally made in Osnaburg, Germany" ([WRUD](abbreviations.xml#wrud)). The same term, with nearly identical spelling as in the Muse notes, appears in the interview that Sadie B. Hornsby conducted with ex-slave Easter Huff, published in
SN, vol. 4 ("Georgia Narratives"), part 2: "In de winter us had good warm clothes, made out of coarse ausenburg (osnaburg) cloth" (247).
Board of Public Instructions. In several documents, when referring to state and county boards of instruction, Muse writes the final word in plural. See State Board of Public Instructions in [Minnie E. Washington (1 of 2)](./jhs-195918-02-06.xml) and [Minnie E. Washington](./jhs-195918-04-01.xml) (2 of 2), and Board of Public Instructions of Duval County in [Harden Woodham Stuckey (1 of 2)](./jhs-195918-02-11.xml) and [Harden Woodham Stuckey (2 of 2)](./jhs-195918-09-02.xml).
beam. The beam is "the width of a ship at the widest point, or a point alongside the ship at the mid-point of its length" ([OED](abbreviations.xml#oed)).
bow. The bow is the "fore-end of a ship or boat" ([OED](abbreviations.xml#oed)).
Boylan School. The Boylan School was an institution for the education of African American girls. For more information, see [the Boylan School Yearbook from 1932-1933](https://ufdc.ufl.edu/NF00000069/00001/1j), available through the website of the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida.
bush harbors. Muse uses this term in the [Willis Williams Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/80), [Willis Williams Narrative (1 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/81) and [Willis Williams Narrative (2 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/99). It may possibly be a combination of two terms: hush harbor, meaning a location in which enslaved persons could engage in clandestine religious practice, and bush arbor, which [DARE](abbreviations.xml#dare) registers as a variant of brush arbor, 'an arbor made of brushwood especially as a place for a camp meeting' ([MW](abbreviations.xml#mw)). The related term bush meeting is 'a gathering in the woods for the purpose of open–air preaching, and other religious exercises ([DARE](abbreviations.xml#dare)).
calvary. In the [Willis Williams Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/80), the [Willis Williams Narrative (1 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/81), and the [Lindsay Moore Interview Notes](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/120), Muse writes calvary (and at times calvery) in place of cavalry. [DARE](abbreviations.xml#dare) registers calvary as a variant of cavalry resulting from metathesis. We have not emended, but have standardized calvery to calvary.
Cologne, South America. In the [Rebecca Fulton Narrative](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/76), Dr. William Sams is said to have come to the United States from "Cologne, South America," a place mentioned also in the [Rebecca Fulton Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/88). The reference is perhaps to Colonia del Sacramento, which since its founding in the seventeenth century passed back and forth between Spanish and Portuguese control, and then was a city in the independent national of Brazil, and since 1828, has been part of Uruguay.
Crowther of Sierra Leone. This work, apparently a biography of Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c1809–1891), has not been identified. According to both [Reverend Thomas H.B. Walker (2 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/46) and [Biographical Sketch of Reverend Thomas H.B. Walker in The Florida Negro](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/104), this volume was utilized as a school textbook in Liberia.
draft. draft is "the depth of water which a vessel draws, or requires to float her" ([OED](abbreviations.xml#oed), s.v. draught).
Eaverson. Muse writes Everson in place of Eaverson in [Notes on Art in Public Schools](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/4), [Willis Williams Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/80), [Willis Williams Narrative (1 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/81), and [Willis Williams Narrative (2 of 2)](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/99). We have emended in all cases. Everson also appears in a struck paragraph (see transcription view) in [Poets Among Children](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/66).
Earthquake, c.1888. In the [Irene Coates Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/3), [Irene Coates Narrative (1 of 4)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/93), [Irene Coates Narrative (2 of 4)](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/94), and [Irene Coates Narrative (4 of 4)](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/97), reference is made to an earthquake in approximately 1888. The geography of this event is unclear in the [Irene Coates Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/3) and [Irene Coates Narrative (2 of 4)](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/94), but [Irene Coates Narrative (1 of 4)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/93) and [Irene Coates Narrative (4 of 4)](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/97) indicate that it took place in Charleston, South Carolina. The event is not mentioned in the incomplete [Irene Coates Narrative (3 of 4)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/86).
The Face on the Bar Room Floor. John Henry Titus wrote
The Face on the Bar Room Floor in 1872. In 1887, Hugh Antoine D'Arcy printed in the New York Dispatch The Face on the Floor, which Titus claimed to be a version of his own work—to that time unpublished—presented under false pretenses. The text, as popularized by D'Arcy, was the basis for a 1914 film by Charlin Chaplin, as well as numerous musical recordings (see the [Worldcat entry for the 1890 book version of the poem](http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8858402)). A newspaper article from May 22, 1929, pasted inside the front of [a copy of the 1918 edition D'Arcy's book](works-cited.xml#darcy-1918), held by the University of Indiana and digitized by Google Books, recounts this controversy, as explained by Titus to a judge in New York City as part of an eviction hearing against the author, who appears to have not benefitted financially from the commercial success of his poem.
Fitzgiles. Muse spells the surname of Willis Williams' maternal grandmother with an s (Fitsgiles) in the [Willis Williams Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/80), but it appears with a z in [Willis Williams Narrative (1 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/81) and [Willis Williams Narrative (2 of 2)](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/99).
goofer dust. [DARE](abbreviations.xml#dare) registers goofer as a verb meaning 'to bewitch, to practice conjure' and goofer dust (along with goofer dirt, goofer powder, goofer root, and other forms) as a substance used to cast spells.
guana. [DARE](abbreviations.xml#dare) registers guana as a variant of guano 'fertilizer. See [WRUD](abbreviations.xml#wrud), s.v. guano: "a substance found in great abundance on some coasts or islands frequented by sea fowls, and comprised chiefly of their excrement. It is rich in phosphates and ammonia and is used as a powerful fertilizer."
gritsmill. [DARE](abbreviations.xml#dare) explains the term ('a mill for grinding grits') as arising possibly by influence of gristmill. Standard dictionaries, including [WRUD](abbreviations.xml#wrud), [MW](abbreviations.xml#mw) and [OED](abbreviations.xml#oed), do not register gritsmill.
happening. Muse appears to use the term happening as a plural noun in two documents — [Florida Times-Union, "Star Edition"](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/54) and [The Jacksonville Advocate](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/55). We find no documentation of this usage, but honor it in our reading versions, as its occurance in two separate items suggests that it is not an error. Muse does not, however, appear to use this form to the exclusion of the more common happenings, which appears in the last sentence of [Florida Times-Union, "Star Edition"](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/54) and the first sentence of [Jacksonville Journal, "Star Edition"](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/56).
hollow. [DARE](abbreviations.xml#dare) registers hollow as a variant of holler.
keel. The keel is the "lowest longitudinal timber of a ship or boat, on which the framework of the whole is built up; in boats and small vessels forming a prominent central ridge on the under surface" ([OED](abbreviations.xml#oed)).
Man Without Blemish. This work has not been identified. The entry for Walker in [Who's Who in Colored America](works-cited.xml#yanser-1941) mentions this text, indicating it was published by Hall & Bros.
Mandarin. Zora Neale Hurston's birthplace is given erroneously as Mandarin, Florida, in [Biographical Sketch of Zora Neale Hurston in The Florida Negro](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/106) and [Contemporary Life" in The Florida Negro](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/107). Hurston was born in Alabama, though she claimed Eatonville, Florida, as her hometown.
pomper. The
[OED](./abbreviations.xml#oed) registers pomper as a variant of pamper that is mainly a regional usage in the United States. [DARE](./abbreviations.xml#dare) gathers the term as well.
plat. 'to braid' ([WRUD](abbreviations.xml#wrud)).
Pythian/Pythians. Muse writes Knights of Pythian in place of Knights of Pythias in [John Henry Adams (2 of 3)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/25) and Pythian Temple in instead of Pythias Temple (unless Pythian is intended in the latter case as an adjective) in ["Amusements and Celebrations, Jacksonville, Fla."](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/89) In contrast, Muse writes Knights of Pythias in [John Henry Adams (1 of 3)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/24) and Knights of Pythias Hall in the [Irene Coates Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/3).
Saplo Island. In the [Rebecca Fulton Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/88) and the [Rebecca Fulton Narrative](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/76), Muse writes Saplo in place of Sapelo when referring to the island in McIntosh County, Georgia.
Shinplaster. A shinplaster was "a piece of privately issued paper currency" and, in particular, "one poorly secured and depreciated in value" ([MW](abbreviations.xml#MW)). The term appears in the [Willis Williams Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/80), [Willis Williams Narrative (1 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/81), [Willis Williams Narrative (2 of 2)](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/99), and the [Lindsay Moore Interview Notes](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/120).
spider. 'a cast-iron frying pan originally made with short feet to stand among coals on the hearth' ([MW](abbreviations.xml#mw)). The term appears in the [Willis Williams Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/80), [Willis Williams Narrative (1 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/81), [Willis Williams Narrative (2 of 2)](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/99), and the [Lindsay Moore Interview Notes](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/120). It is found also in ["Git It 'n Run!" from The Florida Negro](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/105).
stem. The stem is the "curved upright timber or piece of metal at the bow of a vessel, into which the planks of the bow are scarfed" ([OED](abbreviations.xml#oed)).
stern. The stern is the "hind part of a ship or boat" ([OED](abbreviations.xml#oed)).
Sunshine and Shadows. The book mentioned is [William Evey Dancer, Sunshine and Shadows: A Concert Book of Easter, Christmas and Exhibition Speeches for Any Occasion, Jacksonville, FL, Sentinel Print, 1918](works-cited.xml#dancer-1918). Both [Sunshine and Shadows by W.E. Dancer (1 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/47) and [Sunshine and Shadows by W.E. Dancer (2 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/id/48) mention five editions. The 1918 edition appears to have been the first. We have found evidence of only one other, published 1930.
The Tattler. The
Tattler was a newspaper for African American readers in Jacksonville. Muse mentions the paper in [Aria Louise Rogers](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/52) and [Poets Among Children](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/66), and profiles it in [The Tattler](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/53), expressing a negative opinion of what she views as its scandalizing nature and negative effect on youth.
trite. The term trite in the quotation from John Henry Titus in the various versions of the biographical notes on Pattie Louphelia Busby Green appears to have the sense of 'well worn,' not the more common and pejorative 'devoid of freshness or novelty; hackneyed' ([OED](abbreviations.xml#oed)).
whelp. 'a bump or ridge on the surface of the skin' ([DARE](abbreviations.xml#dare)).
William Williams. Towards the end of both [Willis Williams Narrative (1 of 2)](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/81) and [Willis Williams Narrative (2 of 2)](http://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/99), the first name of Williams' father is given, apparently in error, as William. As indicated earlier in both documents, as well as in the [Willis Williams Interview Notes](https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/80), his name was Ransom.