Brand published his Observations on Popular Antiquities in 1777, the Folklore Society was founded a hundred years ago, but there has been little organised study of traditional customs. A contrast needs to be made between the collection of customs (mere accululation), and research – the attempt to analyse and draw conclusions.
A suggested outline of standards for research is given which sets out the basic requirements for recording field materials in terms of the informant and the custom itself. The problem is to try to establish what constitutes a full recording of the nature of the custom, rather than what one personally finds interesting. The record should be as full as possible at an early stage, because later it may be impossible, for various reasons, to obtain further information.
The Geographical Index of Traditional Customs is discussed. The Index was begun in 1956 with the object of defining the geographical distributions of customs and attempting to demonstrate their relationship to each other and to other features of traditional drama.