Silent films and photographs were one professor’s gateway into the history of Nazi folklore.

James Dow, professor of foreign languages and literatures and this year’s Distinguished Humanities Scholar, will present research done by the SS Office of Ancestral Inheritance in the lecture “Austrian Nazis Reinvent the Past Through Folklore” Thursday at 7 p.m. in 240 Scheman.

Dow said the research, completed in 1940 and 1941, restored the traditions of the German-speaking people of South Tyrol, Italy, so they could move them to Germany.

“Folklorists were sent there to collect stories, songs, traditions, customs, folk speech and vernacular architecture,” Dow said.

The information gathered was then used to help relocate German-speaking Italians back to Germany, he said.

Richard Wolfram was a key Austrian in this work and Dow said he will focus on him during his lecture.

Wolfram recorded customs through silent films and photographs. Dow said 11 silent films have been found and 5,000 photographs from Wolfram’s papers exist.

Dow will be showing some of these pictures during his lecture. He said they include pictures of wild men being captured from mountains; Egetmann, a Mardi Gras celebration; and people herding cattle into mountains.

Dow said he and Konrad K”stlin, professor and director of the Department of European Ethnology at the University of Vienna, will be showing the silent films on Friday afternoon in 315 Pearson.

This will be the first time any of these films or photographs have been seen in North America, Dow said.

George McJimsey, chair of the Council on Scholarship in the Humanities, said Dow’s lecture is part of his responsibilities as Distinguished Humanities Scholar. He must also report on his research to the council.

In return, Dow is allowed a semester to focus on his research without teaching responsibilities, McJimsey said.

Departments submit information about professors who deserve to be scholars based on their accomplishments and include a recommendation from the head of the department.

McJimsey said he thinks this program is great and gives the campus an opportunity to see the significant contributions being made by humanities professors.

He said Dow was chosen for this year’s honor because of his long record of involvement in his field.

“He seems to be one of half a dozen scholars in the world who have been engaged for a long period of time and have become prominent in this field of study,” McJimsey said.