THE LATVIAN FOLKLORE ARCHIVES

Beatrise Reidzane

Latvieshu folkloras kratuve (LFK = the Latvian Folklore Archives) were founded on December 2, 1924, following the initiative of Anna Berzkalne (she was a teacher at that time). The LFK. was under the Ministry of Education, Department of Monuments and was ruled by a special board. The actual work began on September 3, 1925, when the first collection of materials was registered. (Anna Berzkalne provided approximately half of that amount - 42,358 items.) LFK was situated at Riga Castle.

The first scientific work was the compilation of the Register of Mythological Beings in "Latvju dainas". In 1926 the Board of LFK decided to start the compilation of the parts of speech in "Latvju dainas" (by that time this was the only major edition of Latvian folk songs). Students were engaged in this work, with financial support coming from the Culture Fund. Although the only task completed was the Register of Nouns, dialects and toponyms were also collected. The authors of more recent songs were established and their melodies classified. LFK published different questionnaires, contributions by supporters found appreciation in newspaper articles. Folklore material was collected by both individuals and groups of pupils and students (the best ones of them were granted valuable books). LFK strived to find older manuscripts as well.

Anna Berzkalne was a good specialist in folklore. She got acquainted with the experience of similar institutions in Finland, Denmark, Germany and Estonia, and she had elaborated on the principles of systematization and arrangement of the material. According to this system, every correspondent got their own number, and the particular item had two numbers -the first being that of the correspondent, the second - that of the item in the material sent. The Systematic Catalogue was compiled in which the date of the reception of the material was stated, as well as the data on the performer and the correspondent, place of recording and genre. Genre and topographic catalogues were compiled as well. For that purpose every item had three type-written copies.

In 1929 "Tales about God" - the first collection of material (arranged by Anna Berzkalne) was published. Some months later Anna Berzkalne was fired, without explaining the motives of the action. Up to that moment she had been the supervisor of LFK. The new one to hold this position was professor Kärlis Straubergs, the former Minister of Education. LFK organized also some expeditions with the purpose of collecting folklore -in 1931 to Kurshu kapas (the Kurshu dune, a region in Lithuania inhabited by people ethnically related with Latvians), in 1943 - to different regions of Latvia.

LFK published a total of 28 books, divided into 3 series.

A - collections of folklore, compiled by the employees of LFK;

series V - scientific works and collections of folklore;

series S - melodies.

During World War 2, such important materials and manuscripts as the manuscript of the second book of the 7th volume of folk tale edition (compiled by Ansis Lerhis-Pushaitis) and the manuscripts of "Latvju dainas" (the legendary "Shelf of Dainas " systematized by Krishjanis Barons) became the property of LFK. All the material was preserved and saved during the war. (By May 1945 there were 2,308,348 items in the archives of LFK.)

In 1945 at the Latvian State University the Institute of Folklore was founded and 8 employees of the former LFK (including Anna Berzkalne) started working there. In 1946, when the Academy of Sciences was founded, the above-mentioned institute became a part of it, with all the archives. In 1950 the Institute of Folklore and Ethnography was organized, but some years later it was divided, ethnographers became a part of the Institute of History and folklorists were joined with the Institute of Language and Literature.

The work of collecting, systematizing, studying and publishing the material, based on the principles established by the pre-war LFK has been continued. The main source of material are the expeditions (with 37 having taken place by now), the total amount of the material collected being ca 200,000 items. The public correspondents of LFK have also continued giving their contribution.

Series A are continued by collections of riddles and proverbs, as well as the publication of all the song texts collected (intended already by LFK);

volumes 6 and 7 are being prepared for print. Also series V have their supplement - studies and selected editions of the material, while series S are approaching to be completed - with all the melody material published.

The contents of the Latvian Folklore Archives by January 1, 1990

Latvian Folklore Archives. Riga, Latvia