Information letter
Friday, April 25, 2025, 09.00 – 16.00 (Tallinn time), an online seminar
Preservation of Folklore in Modern Archives: Field Research and Documentation Issues in the Context of European Practices
The Estonian Folklore Archives, the Estonian Literary Museum, Tartu
M. T. Rylsky Institute of Art History, Folklore Studies and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Department of Folklore Studies, Educational and Scientific Institute of Philology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine
A collaborative online seminar, organised in conjunction with leading Estonian and Ukrainian research institutions, will focus on the preservation of folklore in modern archives.
The role of archival sources – and the current state of their preservation, research, and processing – is of paramount importance for cultural identification, understanding the past, and interpreting it in the present, as well for building and sustaining a shared national heritage. The issue of preserving archival materials has become particularly urgent in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. The purpose of this seminar is to discuss the problems and strategies related to safeguarding archival heritage, especially folklore sources, by Ukrainian researchers during wartime. The seminar will also explore the newly discovered or little-known materials in the archival collections of participating institutions, shedding light on cultural ties between Estonia and Ukraine, which are under-researched and largely unknown to the wider public. In addition, the seminar will serve as a platform for sharing information on the working methods between Estonian and Ukrainian colleagues on best practices of archival preservation, field research, documentation, and modern digital processing.
The speakers of the proposed webinar will be researchers from the above-mentioned institutions. The seminar is part of cooperation between the Estonian Literary Museum and the M. T. Rylsky Institute of Art History, Folklore Studies and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (started in 2024).
We warmly invite you to follow this online seminar. The working language will be English.
The information about the event, including the programme and abstracts, will be available and regularly updated on the following webpage: kirmus.ee/teadus/seminarid
The working language of the seminar will be English
Organising team: Inna Lisniak, Taive Särg, Mari Väina.
Contact address: inna.lisniak@folklore.ee
