The creation of Latvian mythology: The institutionalisation of

The institutionalisation of research

The Latviešu folkloras krātuve (the Archives of Latvian Folklore, established in 1924; hereafter referred to as the LFK) is still the main folklore collection and research institution apart from the University of Latvia (established in 1919).

Considering the role of folkloristics in the early history of nationalism in Latvia, the establishment of the LFK was an institutionalisation of existing practices, especially the collection of folklore materials. Even in the nominal sense krātuve literary means ‘depository’, ‘storage’, sharing the same root as the verb krāt, to collect. Similarly to the situation in Finland, folklore was considered a replacement for national history, necessary for any fully fledged nation (cf.

Anttonen 2005); it is also declared so in a programmatic LFK booklet,

published in 1925: “And especially to us, Latvians, it is important to collect as much as possible evidences on our ancient life and poetry, because only by saving and cultivating their previously formed particularity do small nations acquire full and undisputable rights to exist beside the large nations of culture”

(Bērzkalne 1925: 11). The establishment and organisation of the LFK was to a great extent influenced by the example of the oldest institution of this kind, the Finnish Literature Society Archives in nearby Helsinki, with Finnish experts (e.g. Kaarle Krohn) coming to Latvia to lecture about the work principles of the archives. The legal act of establishment was signed by philologist and folklorist Kārlis Straubergs, the government Minister of Education at this time. However, the initiative came from Anna Bērzkalne (1891–1956), a teacher, folklorist, and one of the first academically educated Latvian philologists. Bērzkalne accomplished the study of philology at the Kazan Women’s Higher Courses (1913–1917), defending her thesis О фонетических изменениях в индоевропейских языках (On phonetic changes in Indo-European languages) and obtaining a cand. phil. degree. There she studied comparative linguistics and folkloristics with Professor Walter Anderson, eminent Baltic German philologist and follower of the historic-geographical school of folkloristics.

Bērzkalne, together with the establisher and head of the Estonian Folklore Archives Oskar Loorits, continued her studies under the supervision of Anderson later (1922–1942) at the University of Tartu, Estonia. In 1942 she defended her thesis Dziesma par žēlumā nomirušo puisi (The Song of the Youth who Died in Sorrow. Its Primary Form and Latvian Versions, 1942) and a acquired doctoral degree in Estonian and comparative folkloristics. It was the first and is still the only research into Latvian folksongs based exclusively on the methods of the Finnish school. Bērzkalne’s initiative of establishing the LFK was directly related to her preference for this particular school of folkloristics: such an institution would serve for the collecting and mapping of folklore materials, thus creating the data base for historical-geographical investigation of particular songs, tales or other units of folklore. The LFK started operating in 1925, headed by Bērzkalne. From 1924 to 1927 she made several journeys abroad, getting acquainted with the experience of archival institutions in Finland, Denmark and Germany. Bērzkalne was asked to resign in 1929 by officials of the Pieminekļu pārvālde (the Authority of Monuments) for reasons somewhat obscure. Presumably, the decision was an indirect result of conflict involving unlawful activities in the Authority of Monuments (cf.

Vīksna 2008), backgrounded by Bērzkalne’s personal conflict with Pauls Gailītis, head of the Authority of Monuments. At this time the LFK also came forward with legal initiatives that would subordinate the institution directly to Ministry of Education, thus granting independence from the Authority of Monuments (LFK protocols [1929]: 27), but the Authority of Monuments proposed an opposite initiative. As a result, Bērzkalne left the position and it was taken by the same previous Minister of Education, Straubergs, who led the institution until 1944. Bērzkalne returned to the LFK (then the Institute of

Folklore) only in 1945. Keeping in mind the almost totally masculine nature of the highest academic and political circles, gender issues might have been in play as well, or, at least, might be considered important background to these events.

The original LFK statement of purpose heavily exploits the rhetoric of folklore as something belonging to times gone by, juxtaposed to the modern situation; folklore is called “the treasures of our forefathers”, stored in the

“people’s (i.e. nation’s) memory”. Moreover, a moral imperative is evoked in the agenda of salvaging activity:

And if we, Latvians, now at the very last moment, when our old generation, weakened by the war and the paths of refugees, rapidly perish, will not try with the greatest energy and selflessness to save at least to some extent the disappearing heritage of our ancestors, then later it will be an indelible shame for us: that because of negligence, carelessness, and spiritual laziness we had let treasures of our forefathers to perish

(Bērzkalne 1925: 4).

Technically, one of the main tasks of the newly established institution was related to Barons’ folksong edition. It had turned out, despite the large quantity of folksongs collected, that 218 of 526 Latvian parishes were not represented at all, and more than 200 other parishes were represented poorly. The explanation for these so-called ‘mute parishes’ was related to early folklore collecting practices, which were based solely on the enthusiasm of particular individuals.

If there were none in a particular parish and it was not visited during the few ethnographic expeditions that took place until World War I, folksongs just did not reach the editor of Latvju Dainas. In order to collect more folksongs, and other folklore materials as well, the LFK introduced questionnaires, sometimes simply urging the teachers to instruct their pupils how to record narratives and song texts from their elderly relatives. Questionnaires were both distributed separately and also printed in newspapers. One fieldwork expedition was organised (apart from the individual expeditions of scholars) and even an ethnographic movie Dzimtene sauc (the Fatherland Calls)⁵⁷ was made in 1935.

The scholarly work at the LFK resulted in 28 books published, including the folklore collections, scholarly articles, thematic materials, and folk music melodies, until the LFK’s reorganisation by Soviet power. In addition to written texts, audio materials were recorded from 1926 when three phonographs were bought. Altogether in this period more that 2.5 million folklore units were stored in the LFK.

Under the first Soviet (1940) and subsequent German occupation the LFK managed to continue its work, also conducting fieldwork expeditions to several

57 Technically, the movie was commissioned by the Department of Propaganda and the LFK was just a consulting institution. Bearing strong nationalistic connotations, the movie intended to represent an ethnographically authentic wedding at a wealthy peasant’s home.

locations in Latvia in 1943. After the war, in 1945 the LFK was reorganised into the Institute of Folklore at the University of Latvia, and in the next year included in the newly founded Academy of Sciences. In 1950 the Institute of Folklore was reorganised into the Institute of Folklore and Ethnography; then, in 1956 it was again divided with the ethnologists forming a department at the Institute of History, while the folklorists were included in the Institute of Language and Literature. The institution’s work was mainly focused on fieldwork, from 1947 conducting an expedition almost every year and as soon as possible exploring the opportunities of the up-to-date technologies of photographic, audio and video recording of traditional materials as well as of so-called Soviet folklore. All in all, about 300 000 units of folklore were collected during the post-war period. According to Ojārs Ambainis, during the first post-war fieldwork trips “the folklore collectors’ attention was focused on the research of folkloristic processes in the context of revolutionary struggles as well as deep social contradictions of the post-war period” (1989: 93). Later, special expeditions were organised to regions bordering other republics of the Soviet Union with the purpose of collecting materials reflecting international relations. The Institute published multiple editions of selected materials belonging to various folklore genres, scholarly articles, and also several books for wider audiences, especially youth, often with an obviously educational or ideological character. The work of cataloguing folklore materials was also continued.

In 1992 the original name of the LFK was restored. Since that time the institution has been part of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, until 1999 subordinated to the Academy of Sciences and now to the University of Latvia with the status of independent agency. In the current period the main activities of the LFK consist of research, publication (including the academic edition of folksongs), digitising and cataloguing collected materials, and the collection of new materials.