Folklore and history are currently distinct as two disciplines distinct from each other in their approach to study and their method. However, history and folklore arise from the same basic subject; both concern the recording of the human record. This essay will examine whether folklore can be used by historians and if so, what problems it presents in terms of its reliability and usefulness in the context of evidence for historians. However, before analyzing this, it is important to define the difference between folklore and history, starting with their independent definitions. A definition of folklore given by the Oxford Dictionary is "the traditional beliefs, customs and stories of a community, passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation." » However, this definition ignores non-verbal traditions such as folk art and folk architecture. However, the most important part of this definition lies in the method of oral transcription over time. Comparatively, one definition of the study of history is "the body of knowledge about the past produced by historians, as well as everything involved in the production, communication, and teaching of that knowledge." “These definitions highlight a crucial difference between folklore and history; History is the study of the past by historians to decipher and record the past; Compared to this folklore, there is the transmission of beliefs, traditions and practices, through generations, not because of academic intrigues but rather from the tradition itself. In short, it can be described as the history of the elite versus the “history of ordinary people”. In an attempt to discuss the usefulness of folklore to historians, this essay will first examine the relationship between Histo...... middle of article...... as direct evidence for the study of 'a specific event or the biography of an individual; However, its strength lies in the fact that it reflects the thoughts and beliefs of ordinary people on a subject. This can be seen by looking at specific examples in which folklore has been used by historians in beneficial ways. First of all, it is about using folklore as a means of recovering 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 01/10/2014) A.Marwick, The fundamentals of History,' http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/ Focus /Whatihistory/marwick1.html'P.Burke, History and folklore: a historiographical survey, Folklore, Vol.115, .No.2 (August 2004). Pp.134A.L.Campa, Folklore and History, Western Folklore, Volume.24, No.1 (January 1965), pp..4.