Creating Destiny: Crafting a Historical Tale Based upon the Life of Emmeline B. Wells.

• Main Author: Richardson, Rishi Allen
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2008
• Subjects: Storytelling; Historical Story; Crafting; Story; History; Communication; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Speech and Rhetorical Studies
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1934; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3286&context=etd

This study examines the process and procedures employed by storytellers to craft an oral historical narrative. Contemporary storytellers are working toward a transferable methodology and this work is an effort toward that end. Using the various procedures described by nearly 20 storytellers, a single process is assembled. The methodology is then tested, checking for transferability. The case study used to test the methodology is based on the life of Emmeline B. Wells, the fifth Relief Society President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Wells was born in Massachusetts and emigrated to the west in 1848. She edited a leading suffrage paper of her time, The Woman's Exponent. Wells also worked, unsuccessfully, to repeal anti-polygamy laws. Engaging the methodology, through the means of this case study, the paper outlines both the contemporary storytellers' crafting processes as well as her own experiences. As gaps in the descriptive model are noted, techniques are discovered to strengthen the procedure. Through replication of this process, insight will be provided into a transferable methodology.