Archives as Knowledge Hubs: Initiatives and Influences

Call for Papers

The Estonian Folklore Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum is delighted to announce the call for papers for its upcoming conference celebrating its 90th anniversary.

Tradition archives engage and integrate various persons, initiatives, and purposes. Researchers and archivists design and envisage the collection and preservation of information, following established aims, standards, and traditions for collecting and long-term preservation of cultural knowledge. In addition, the requirements and perspectives of historical momentum within an ideological framework, social expectations, and cultural backgrounds, influence the formation of archival collections. Individual approaches, initiatives, and aims of the persons engaged shape the processes and choices. The use of archival collections, in turn, depends on the choices made during the collecting and organisation processes and on the value attributed to specific knowledge at different times. Accessibility, openness, dissemination, and research of the archival materials are under the influence of the relevant historical circumstances. An aspirational role and value of an archive is to offer a neutral space for the safeguarding of currently sensitive or unacceptable material, from the present into the future. The long-term nature of archives arguably makes the people responsible for organizing the collecting activities into the position of seers – the archives are meant to respond to the interests and needs not only of the people of the present time, but also of the future. Time and space influence the different needs and expectations of archive users.

In this conference, we invite archivists and scholars of folkloristics and other disciplines to discuss the initiatives and influences that shape the movement of knowledge through archives. Suggestions include, but are not limited to, the following questions and topics:

The conference is organized by the Estonian Folklore Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum in collaboration with the Network of Nordic and Baltic Tradition Archives and the Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies.

Please submit your paper proposals by April 7, 2017 to avegorsic@folklore.ee, including the name and affiliation of the participant(s), and the title and abstract of the presentation (up to 300 words). Acceptance notifications will be sent by May 5.

Ave Goršič, Risto Järv, Mari Sarv