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Paper short abstract

I will focus on the very first woman collector in Finland, Charlotta Europaeus by shedding light on her writings and folklore collection to shape her ideas of folklore. Very little is still known about her and she has not been recognized in key sources of folklore research or collecting history.

Paper long abstract

Despite activities in the field, female scholars have remained largely unacknowledged, or if recognized, this was very often due to their relationship with a male family member or close male associate. Further, in the Finnish context, epic songs of male heroes and the Eastern part of the country have been considered the most admired part of the history of folklore.

In my paper I will focus on a very first woman collector, Charlotta Europaeus (1794–1858) in Finland in the 19th century. She transcribed diverse folklore material from the South-East part of Finland, described her field work in her writings, was active in translating folk lyric and wrote fiction based on folklore. As a woman, she had no possibility to make long collecting journeys. She did what she could, collecting folklore from near to her own life environment. With no institutional connections, she sent her collections to one of the male collectors and was reliant on his goodwill about passing on her folklore documents.

Very little is still known about Charlotta Europaeus, and she has not been recognized in key sources of folklore research or collecting history. By shedding light on personal writings as well as the folklore collection of Charlotta Europaeus, I shape her ideas of folklore and further, her role in knowledge production in folkloristics. Further, I ask to what extent and by whom her folklore collection represents silenced heritage as her documents, preserved in the archives, form the early female vernacular tradition and history of folklore studies.