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In the fall 1998 issue of Western Folklore, we noted with sadness the death of Professor Daniel J. Crowley on February 24, 1998 in Oruro, Bolivia. Crowley had been participating in the latest of his many research expeditions documenting Carnival around the world. There are many ways one can remember this remarkable man. Some will think of him primarily as a student of Herskovits and Bascom, who dedicated his long and productive scholarly career to demonstrating the strong connections between African-based traditions in the New World and their sources on the mother continent, as well as to helping a broad audience understand and appreciate the creativity and beauty of these traditions. Others will recall him as a colleague and humanist who generously shared his tremendous knowledge and offered encouraging tips and suggestions to generations of students and future scholars. Readers of this journal will also recognize him as a folklorist concerned with effectively recording, comparing, and analyzing narrative and festive performances. Some will think of Crowley as a person who overcame physical disability to undertake travels most able-bod ied folks cannot even imagine. And many of us will choose to remember him as a friend and family man who enjoyed entertaining in his home (he opened his doors to the entire California Folklore Society when we met in Davis) and with his often self-deprecatory tales of adventures around the world. This issue of Western Folklore celebrates all these aspects of Dan's life by focusing on an area of his work which draws them together: the study of Carnival celebrations.
If it is possible to identify the area of research which was closest to Dan Crowley's heart, then surely Carnival held that position. Crowley visited his first pre-Lenten festival in 1936 in New Orleans at the age of fifteen. However, it was his subsequent Carnival experience in Trinidad which truly convinced him of the remarkable power of this celebration. As he stated in a 1993 lecture, delivered in San Diego and printed for the first time in this issue, "the 1954 Trinidad Carnival was a revelation, as that rather stuffy British colonial society blew up into astonishing street parades preceded by daring calypso songs and showcasing the recently-invented steelband. I was delighted, fascinated, mystified, and I...