Collections
COLLECTIONS OF THE INSTITUTE OF SLOVENIAN ETHNOLOGY
The central multimedia archive of ethnological material is comprised of collections containing unique information on the culture and lifestyle of the Slovenians. Its beginnings reach back to the first years of the institute’s foundation. The collection of ethnological material was already the basic task of its predecessor, the Commission for Slovenian Ethnography, established in 1947. An overview of the work and collections from the first twenty-five years of the institute’s existence was presented in three articles by Niko Kuret titled “Naša 25-letnica" (Our 25th Anniversary), "Komisija (1947–1951)" (The SASA Commission [1947–1951]), and "Inštitut za slovensko narodopisje SAZU (od 1951)" (The Institute of Slovenian Ethnology [since 1951]), which were published in the journal Traditiones 1 (1972), 2 (1973), and 3 (1974). The ISE archive contains complete collections of works by individual authors or on particular topics, as well as collections that are still being built.
The head of the documentation department is Stanka Drnovšek.
Göth's Topography
The material concerning the survey of Archduke Johann from the first half of the 19th century covering the territory of Styria, also named “Göth's topography” after Georg Göth, who processed and published the material for the German part of Styria as early as 1848. The original version is kept by the Graz Regional Archive. The institute keeps 17 archive boxes of copies of the material for 505 places, involving the Slovene-speaking territory. Niko Kuret critically evaluated four of them and published his findings under the title Slovensko Štajersko pred marčno revolucijo 1848 (Slovenian Styria prior to the 1848 March Revolution): Part 1, 1st fascicle, 1985; 2nd fascicle, 1987; 3rd fascicle, 1989; Part 2, 1st fascicle, 1993; all published in the series Gradivo za narodopisje Slovencev ((Materials for the ethnography of Slovenians), Ljubljana, SASA.
Archive of folk customs and games
Transcriptions of printed and manuscript sources, questionnaires, and field records of the ISE, material from other institutions (the Institute of Ethnomusicology, the Slovene Ethnographic Museum), individual researchers and record takers as the institute's external associates, some complex printed sources, papers from estates, calendars, minor resources and periodicals; with rare exceptions, all from the 19th century. Survey on wedding customs: a questionnaire of 828 questions with every question taking into account three periods (pre-First World War, the interwar period, and post-Second World War). It includes 120 places in Slovenia and across the borders, with approx. 250,000 answers.
Folk narrative
– Archive of Slovenian folk tales (excerpts from periodicals, manuscript transcriptions, excerpts from material collected through field surveys, transcriptions from tapes with field recordings)
– Manuscripts from the estate of Karel Štrekelj. Collection of folk tales and other forms of folk tradition (folk songs are kept by the Institute of Ethnomusicology). This is the material that was collected at Štrekelj's initiative (“Prošnja za narodno blago," Appeal for National Material) in 1886, which was sent to Slovenska Matica (Slovenian Society) by around 300 collectors. It primarily contains material relating to folk tales.
– Collection of Gašper Križnik's material, “Narodno blago iz motniške okolice" (National Material from the Vicinity of Motnik) from around 1878, which was later sent to Karel Štrekelj. It contains a rich collection of folk tales and other ethnological material in the form of manuscripts and transcriptions. In addition, it contains copies of manuscripts from the St. Petersburg Archive (the former Leningrad Archive) and originals from the Zagreb Archive.
– Collection of sound recordings by Milko Matičetov with more than 3,000 units of narrative material.
– Estate of Josip Šašel
– Manuscript transcriptions of folk tales made by Milko Matičetov, marked "EM" and "1950," from when he was still working at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.
– A card catalogue for the index of tales following the international Aarne-Thompson classification is being prepared and computerized.
– Manuscripts books.
Literary folklore
Field material
– Various activities in which children and adults participated (folders)
– Excerpts from field records made by the associates of the SRC SASA Archeological Institute in Ljubljana (card index)
– Language and genre forms (folders)
– Language forms (card index)
– Material from regional museums (card index)
– Regional field and other sources (folders)
– Material donated by individuals
Excerpts from manuscripts
– Manuscript Department of the Ljubljana National and University Library
– School chronicles, Slovenian School Museum, Ljubljana
– Undergraduate theses and seminar papers in ethnology and Slavic studies
Excerpts from school newsletters
– Pre-Second World War
– After 1945
Excerpts from printed sources
– Photocopies
– Newspaper excerpts
– Hermagoras almanacs
Excerpts from Slovenian literature
In addition to the above, the institute keeps material in literary composition and chronicles with their sources.
Visual documentation
The institute has kept pictorial documentation since the very first years of its operation. The first systematic black-and-white photographic documentation can be traced back to 1954. The institute began creating color slides in 1955. The collection contains a collection of drawings and blueprints, a photo library (since 1954), and a slide library (since the 1960s).
Audio records
The record library was established within the folk narrative section and the section for folk customs and games. An audio tape archive by Milko Matičetov from Carinthia, Lower Carniola, the Littoral, Upper Carniola, Prekmurje, the Rába River Valley, and Resia, recorded from 1958 onwards. The majority of the tapes were recorded in Resia between 1959 and 1981. The archiving, recording, transcribing, and sorting of this material is still ongoing. The ISE cooperates with the University of Udine, which has purchased copies of cassettes made from the tapes recorded in Resia.
An archive of tapes with recordings of ethnological themes of RTV Slovenija and the Bovec radio station from the 1960s.
Audio recordings on folk narrative and customs from recent field research.