The Estonian Folklore Archives (EFA) is the central folklore archives in Estonia. The Archives functions currently as the subdivision of the Estonian Literary Museum but it was established in 1927 as the division of the Estonian National Museum. The current Head of the Archives is Dr. Risto Järv.
History Established in 1927, the Estonian Folklore Archives was made the central folklore archive and research institution of Estonia. Located in Tartu, the main purpose of the archives was to bring together all the previous existing collections to facilitate research, to start research in a broad scope and to organize fieldwork in Estonia.
Foundation and early years The original collections of the archives were based on manuscript reports and accounts of Estonian folklore gathered together by Estonian folklore collector Jakob Hurt (1839–1907). Estonian folklore had been previously collected by Baltic Germans, as a literary hobby or amateur linguistic activity. Jakob Hurt brought together different initiatives and encouraged people in Estonia to collect folklore. Collecting their own folklore and creating their own history through folklore collections supported the national awakening. Work of Jakob Hurt resulted in a manuscript collection of 114 696 pages containing songs, proverbs, riddles, legends, folk tales and other folklore materials from various regions of Estonia, sent by more than 1400 collectors. Hurt systematized manuscripts and arranged the collected material into volumes by format and place of collection. After the death of Hurt his collection was transferred to the repository of the Finnish Literature Society in Helsinki as by that time there was no appropriate preservation condition in Estonia for such a material. Finnish folklorist Kaarle Krohn (1863–1933) was the initiator of the move.
Discussions about the return of J. Hurt's collections were started in 1924 with an idea of founding folklore archives in Estonia. Estonian folklorist Oskar Loorits (1900–1961) was one of the scholars standing behind this idea. Estonian archive was based on the example of the Finnish Literature Society and inspired by the Archives of Latvian Folklore which was founded in 1924 as the first of its kind in the region. On September 24, 1927, the Estonian Folklore Archives was formed as an independent subdivision of the Estonian National Museum, and it was headed by Oskar Loorits. The archivists concentrated on the processing of previously collected materials, making them available for research, and started to collect folklore and compile publications. Collections of the Archives grew considerably during the 13 years before the Soviet occupation. In addition to the manuscripts, the collections of sound recordings and photographs were established. The geographic distribution of the collected folklore materials was taken into consideration – the aim was to complement previous collection work. Archives begun to document the folklore of minority groups in Estonia as well as of kindred Finno-Ugric peoples, broadening the area of the collections.
Second World War In 1940 the Estonian Folklore Archives were reorganized into the Department of Folklore of the State Literary Museum. During the Nazi German occupation (1941–1944) reorganization happened again. The Folklore Department with its collections became part of the University of Tartu, and the State Literary Museum ceased to exist. Oskar Loorits was removed from the position of the director of the Archives. In 1943 in order to save collections from destruction, they were evacuated to different places all over Estonia. The Soviet Union occupied again Estonia in 1944 thus the Folklore Department belonged once again to the State Literary Museum, and collections were brought back to their former depositories. The revisions and censorships of the collections were superficial during the first part of the Soviet occupation (1940–1941), but this changed during the period that followed after 1945, when the Soviet repressions became evident.
Period of Soviet occupation In the year 1944 Estonia was deliberated from Nazis by Soviet Army. However, in reality it was only about replacing one occupier by another. Soviets incorporated Estonia into Soviet Union and established Estonian SSR which remained until the collapse of USSR in 1991. Soviet occupation influenced all levels of political, social and cultural life in the country. The Estonian Folklore Archives – renamed at that period as the Folklore Department of the State Literary Museum – were not exception. Under the rule of Soviet ideology some significant changes took place. The approach towards folklore, the dynamics of collecting and archival practices where adjusted to fit the Soviet ideology. In addition, some of the archivists were repressed in the end of the 1940s.
The Soviet approach towards folklore and national identities was in some way contradictory; on the one hand it repressed nationalism but on the other hand it supported significantly national cultures of particular Soviet Socialist Republic claiming the right for national and cultural autonomy of every republic. It was for example visibly seen in increasing numbers of various folklore ensembles, in borrowing folk motives in official art and state propaganda, in maintaining folk traditions etc. Together with that the study of folklore was supported however only in ways which fitted the regime. Generally speaking emphasize was placed on working class and lower social strata while topics like religion and beliefs were omitted. During the Stalinist era, the concept of Soviet folklore was exalted. Instead of depicting the Finnic, Scandinavian, Germanic or Baltic influences, the impact of Russian tradition was emphazised. Praise to the new social order and Soviet leaders was made, while the figures of bourgeois Estonians and German landlords were allowed to be satirized. Themes that reinforced Soviet rhetoric, such as heroic epics, were promoted consolidating a one-sided construction of history. Themes such as the struggle of social class depicted from the perspective of the working masses or life in collective farms were imposed as a reference to the modern thinking that promulgated the regime.
Together with the new regime the deep re-evaluating of collections occurred. For example, Jakob Hurt was proclaimed a bourgeois researcher and the founder of archives Oskar Loorits was regarded as worthless and his name was erased from indexes and he was rarely mentioned in any new scholar works and publications. All of the existing collections were censored between 1945 and 1952, and the manuscript volumes were checked page by page. The methods of censorship included cut-outs, black ink, glue and ripping pages out from the volumes. Most of this work was carried out by folklorists themselves and censoring was part of the working plans of the staff of the Folklore Department. Some volumes were controlled by people from the Central State Archives and there, censorship had been stricter.
Most of the censored materials consisted of songs and jokes of the genres that reflected the contemporary society most clearly. During the 1940s and 1950s anti-Soviet folklore that was hostile or ironic towards Soviet ideas was cut out or covered by ink. Similarly obscene folklore as blue jokes, raunchy songs, riddles or sayings was censored. Also the principles of copying and indexing were affected by dominant state ideology. For example, above mentioned Oskar Loorits, was erased from indexes and thus finding his materials was very complicated. New and detailed indexes were made about topics such as class struggles and historical events such as Great Patriotic War while other topics (for example Estonian Republic) were omitted. This indexing significantly hindered the possibility to find in the archives anything out of official stream.Kulasalu, Kaisa (2017). From Estonian Folklore Archives to Folklore Department of the State Literary Museum: sovietization of folkloristics in late Stalinist Estonia. In: Laime, Sandis; Bula, Dace (Ed.). Mapping the History of Folklore Studies: Centers, Borderlands and Shared Spaces. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 132−153. In the 1960s, after the so-called period of ‘Khrushchev's Thaw’, separated pages and documents of the Stalinist period were returned to the Folklore Department. Since the local KGB officers systematically monitored the content of the collections until the late 1980s, the material was kept in separate boxes to avoid complications.
During the Soviet period collective field trips of 10 to 15 professional folklorists were introduced. Up to the 1990s, expeditions to rural areas were of main interest and focus was mostly on archaic folklore. However, step by step folklorists returned to contemporary matters. During the last decade of the Soviet period childlore became a new research topic and a special collection RKM, KP. was created. By the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the interest in the origins and roots increased as well as the topic of folk beliefs became popular. The folklore archives recovered its old name.
Present days After Estonian re-independence and institutional reorganization of the Estonian Folklore Archives in 1995, collections of the Department of Literature and Folklore at the University of Tartu and the Tallinn Institute of Language and Literature of the Estonian Academy of Sciences were incorporated into the Estonian Folklore Archives. Thus, by the year 2000, all of the larger folklore collections formerly held by different institutions had been concentrated within the Folklore Archives. Today, the archived material is primarily intended for researchers and students in the field of folklore studies. The archives’ employees offer assistance and consultations to ethnologists, cultural anthropologists, and researchers of other disciplines in Estonia and elsewhere in the world. In addition to such researchers, the target user group of the archives could consist more generally of everyone interested in Estonian folklore.
The research results of the archive's workers are published as articles and monographs, academic source publications are produced as well. In 2000 the Publication of the series Proceedings of the Estonian Folklore Archives (Eesti Rahvaluule Arhiivi Toimetused) was restored after the long break during the Soviet regime. The Archives is also responsible for preparing and publishing the collections of runic songs (such as Vana Kannel [“Old Harp”]) by parishes of Estonia and academic anthologies of folk tales in the edited series Monumenta Estoniae Antiquae.
Along with digital technologies's development in the 1990s the digital means helped in keeping of various registers, and in working with texts. Various digital registers and databases were created, the digitization projects were initiated and digital materials started increase in numbers. At the same time the formation of analogue registers and cardfiles ceased one by one. However, at the beginning of the 2000s somewhat chaotic situation had arisen – it was easier to work with computers, but there was no coherent system to manage and access the data in the archives.
The new, digital consolidation of the archival system was developed by the archives' team, bringing the functionality of registers and cardfiles into an archival information system. Later the idea of digital repository in order to store the voluminous digital collections was realized with the financial help of the Estonian Information System Authority (2010–2012). Emerged digital archive consisted of the repository module and the archival information module – for folklore archives as well as for the neighbouring archives in the Estonian Literary Museum. One of the outcomes of digital development was emergence of the Estonian Literary Museum's file repository called Kivike.
The Folklore Archives directors