Talvadas / Dálvadas collection of the Sámi folklore research project

The Talvadas / Dálvadas collection of the Sámi folklore research project is the world’s most extensive collection of recordings related to Sámi heritage. The project lasted from 1967 to 1975, and it was led by Lauri Honko, professor of folklore studies and religious studies at the University of Turku. The interview material produced by the project has been used in dozens of theses and other scientific research projects in a variety of fields such as folklore studies, religious studies, ethnomusicology and study of Sámi languages. In addition to this scientific value, the collection has great symbolic value for the Sámi community.

The oral history preserved with the interviews spans a significant amount of time, starting from deep in the 1800s, covering subjects such as the local environment and nature, livelihoods, family relations, and local and belief traditions. The material includes several different dialects of Sámi languages, some of which are already extinct. The project contributed to the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore guidelines published by UNESCO in 1989, and Lauri Honko had a key role in drafting the guidelines. The research project was based on a new kind of fieldwork methodology that prioritised the processes by which traditions were passed on and used in a single village, and what their significance in the village was. The in-depth research was pioneering even on an international scale. The practice of recording the interviews onto tape reels and systematically archiving them for later use was also new. The subject selected for the in-depth research project was Talvadas (Dálvadas), a village by the Tenojoki river. In addition to Talvadas, interviews were also conducted in other villages in the Tenonlaakso region, such as Aittijoki (Áitejohka) and Nuvvus (Nuvvos) in Finland, Porta (Barta) in Norway, and other locations in Lapland.

A new generation of researchers continued the fieldwork in Talvadas and the neighbouring villages in the 1990s and 2000s. The Talvadas collection includes approximately 1,200 hours of interview material, approximately half of which is in Sámi languages. It includes approximately 700 photographs and approximately 900 slide film photographs. It also includes approximately 5 hours of video material. In addition to the tape minutes, transcriptions and translations, the collection also includes a comprehensive and diverse set of manuscript material, maps, fieldwork diaries, index files and matrices. The collection is archived in its entirety in the University of Turku’s current Archives of the School of History, Culture and Arts Studies (SHCAS Archives). When work on the digitisation of the archive’s material was started in 2000, the Talvadas collection was the first set of material to be digitised. In 2020, the Talvadas collection was selected as the University of Turku’s first set of material to be stored in the Fairdata PAS service for long-term storage. The SHCAS archive is a research archive, and its material can be used for the purposes of research, museum operations and education. The restriction also applies to the Talvadas collection, but family members, descendants and relatives have the right to peruse images and interviews featuring their ancestors and relatives.