Lietuvių tautosakos archyvas - The network of Nordic and Baltic tradition archives

The Lithuanian Folklore Archive is part of the Network of Nordic and Baltic Tradition Archives: http://www.traditionarchives.org/. This is a community of archives gathering materials related to folklore, ethnography, and cultural history, which shares its experiences over the internet and in annual meetings. Some of the archives belong to museums, others are part of academic institutes. The fact that they all systematize and present their material differently in databases gives archivists an opportunity to compare approaches and learn from each other. The representatives of the network have held meetings and conferences in Oslo (2014), Copenhagen (2015), Riga (2016), Tartu (2017), and in 2018 the conference took place in Vilnius.

Baltic folklorists meeting in Vilnius. Photograph by Austė Nakienė, 2018

The meetings and conferences were replete with discussions about what a contemporary folklore archive should be. The prevailing opinion was that it should be a center for collecting knowledge and a place for gathering researchers and like-minded folks concerned with the upkeep of tradition. The image of the archive as a repository of old, dated documents should be rejected. Rather, it should become the place where useful material that is interesting to society is stored.

Austė Nakienė