Query about address

[thomas e murray]

I have a question for the list on forms of address--specifically, on the
form of address that uses some title plus the addressee's first name, as
in "Judge Judy," "Dr. Laura," and the like.  I'm looking into the history
of this formula, and would appreciate any help anyone can give.

Because the "title + first name" formula doesn't occur in the standard
treatments of address (the one by Roger Brown and Marguerite Ford, from
1961, and the one by Susan Ervin-Tripp, from 1969), and because "Dr.
Ruth" Westheimer began to popularize the current modern wave of title +
first name usage in the early '80s, I initially thought that the entire
phenomenon was modern.  Then a secretary in my department reminded me
that the house slave in *Gone With the Wind* addresses Scarlett O'Hara as
"Miss Scarlett," and that triggered a dim memory of more priveleged
slaves/servants in general calling their masters/mistresses/overseers by
the "title + first name" formula.

Unfortunately, I don't know whether *Gone With the Wind* is historically
accurate, and I don't trust my dim memory.  I've taken a quick run
through the transcripts published by Natalie Maynor, Guy Bailey, and
Patricia Cukor-Avila in 1991, but didn't see anything pertinent.  So:
Can anyone put me on to a published source that can verify the "title +
first name" form of address in use during slave times?  Anyone know of
any literary examples?  Natalie Maynor tells me that she remembers this
form of address being used in the South in the mid-twentieth century in
worker-employee contexts--does anyone else have such a memory?  What
about children being called "Master/Mistress [first name]" by adults in
certain situations?  Anything anyone can offer regarding where American
English got this pattern?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Tom Murray
Professor of English
Kansas State University