Eleven generations of brides have worn the same bridal veil in Catherine Horman's family on their wedding day.

Originally, the veil belonged to Louise Elizabeth Walder Howard. The tradition has passed from generation to generation since 1918.

The custom is like many other student-documented folklore exhibits in the Harold B. Lee Library's folklore collection's "Illuminating Then and Now."

The display, open until May 31, demonstrates and emphasizes folklore in every day life, said Kristi Bell, folklore archivist and curator of the William A. Wilson Folklore Archives.

The exhibits created through undergraduate and graduate classes are only a few of thousands in the archive, Bell said.

Bell said folklore is tradition throughout any culture created on a regular basis. It is not just in the past or a primitive culture.

Families create folklore as they decorate their homes, Bell said. In turn, the decorations emphasize what they value.

One of the most recognizable forms of folklore is Christmas customs, Bell said. But folklore encompasses traditions and customs found every day, like crafts, missionary experiences and religious folk songs. It is more like a sense of individuality.

"Folklore is what is going on right now," said Bell, who approves and works directly with most student projects before admittance to the archive.

Students are often surprised at the broad spectrum of folklore, Bell said. When they go into one of the classes that directly contributes to the archive, they are often surprised.

"A general misconception is that folklore is primarily Grimm's fairy tales and superstitions," Bell said.

For the most part, it is not.

For example, two students, Ana Viera and Michael Aagard, examined items on refrigerators, Bell said.

From drawings that adorn the front of the door to the magnets that hold them in place, it is all folklore, she said.

"It is basically what you make, do and say," Bell said. "Birthday parties, making quilts and dolls - it (folklore) covers a wide variety of areas."

Aleisha Bourne's 2002 quilting collection is another exhibit on display.

According to Bell, quilting displays a sense of custom because it is now more of a form of artistic expression than a basic need.

Before convenience stores with pre-made blankets were available, quilts were made and used to keep warm, Bell said. Now, depending on their artistic appearance, quilts are becoming wall hangings, a fairly new phenomenon.

Expertise is always changing, which is evident in Bourne's display, Bell said. One of Bourne's quilts has pictures of her wedding spread throughout several of the quilt's squares.

"The technology to put photos on fabric didn't exist," Bell said.

Another area students have studied is high school traditions like the individuality of locker decorations and creative date invitations.

Over the past few years, the archive has collected more than 250 accounts of Utah's popular custom of creative date invitations, Bell said.

In 2001, BYU alumni Whitney Carlton studied and documented how students individualized their lockers at Park City High School while she taught at the school.

Each of the displays directly reflects the mission statement of the archive in preserving and collecting folklore, Bell said. Many of the students who have contributed to the exhibit have graduated.

Currently, the folklore display is booked until 2007.

The William A. Wilson Folklore Archives is part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections and is on the first level of the library.

As a repository for American folksong, it is now the nation's largest collection of documented traditional heritage.

It contains more than 3,000 field studies and thousands of individual studies, Bell said. Every semester, students contribute to the archive through classes in the English Department.

More than two million manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, films, videos, periodicals and other materials are available to researchers.

Folklore scholarship, legends, customs, speech, beliefs, songs, material culture, tales and jokes, games, riddles, and personal narratives and other American traditions are among the archives resources.

According to Bell, the archive also has the largest collection of LDS culture and tradition.

"It is a religious experience in a positive way in understanding how they mold their lives," Bell said.