Cratis Williams was a scholar and folklorist who was an early leader in establishing the discipline of Appalachian Studies. He was an eastern Kentucky native but spent the major part of his academic career teaching literature, speech, and drama at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

The audio and video recordings in this collection document Williams' class lectures, interviews, and public performances at Berea College during the period 1971-1985. In varying combinations, these presentations focus on Appalachian history and culture especially the areas of speech, music, religion, and literature.

His approach to understanding the cultural life and history of the southern Appalachian region was interdisciplinary, synthesizing the region’s history, economics, literature, speech, music, religion, politics, philosophy, folk tales and folk art. Among his well-known written works are The Southern Mountaineer in Fact and Fiction, Southern Mountain Speech, Ballads and Songs, and I Became a Teacher.