Folklore and history are currently distinguished as two disciplines separate from each other in their approach to study and method. However, both history and folklore originated from the same basic topic; both deal with the recording of human documentation. This essay will discuss whether folklore can be used by historians, and if so, what problems it presents in terms of reliability and usefulness in the context of evidence for historians. Before analyzing it, however, it is important to define the difference between folklore and history by starting with their independent definitions. An Oxford dictionary definition of folklore is “the traditional beliefs, customs and stories of a community, passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. "However, this definition ignores nonverbal traditions such as folk art and folk architecture. However, the most important part of this definition lies in the method of transcription over time through word of mouth. A comparative definition of the study of history is “The set of knowledge about the past produced by historians, together with everything involved in the production, communication and teaching of that knowledge” These definitions highlight a crucial difference between folklore and history is the study of the past by historians decipher and record the past; comparatively to this Folklore is the transmission of: beliefs, traditions and practices, across generations not by academic intrigue but rather by tradition itself. In short, it can be described as history of the elite versus "history of the common people". discuss the usefulness of folklore to historians, this essay will first examine the relationship between History... middle of paper... as direct evidence for the study of a specific event or an individual's biography; however its strength lies in reflecting the thoughts and beliefs of ordinary people on a topic. This can be seen by examining specific examples where folklore has been used by historians in a beneficial way. First of all trying to use folklore as a tool to recover traces of literary history. Works Cited AL Campa, Folklore and History, Western folklore, Volume.24, No.1 (January 1965), pp.1.' http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/folklore' (last accessed 10/01/2014) A.Marwick, The fundimentals of History,' http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus /Whatishistory/marwick1.html'P.Burke, History and folklore: a historiographical investigation, Folklore, Vol.115, .No.2 (August 2004). Pp.134A.L.Campa, Folklore and History, Western Folklore, Volume.24, No.1 (January 1965), pp.4.