Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how archived material collected in the past can be interpreted in modern research by taking Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnian folklore as a case study. Focus is on the character of Lovisa Törndal who was interviewed by collector Valter W. Forsblom about magical healing.

Paper long abstract:

Various archived material about Lovisa Törndal, who lived in the Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia, Finland in the late 19th century, exists and has been published over the years. During her lifetime, she defined the norms of her community set for married women by living without her husband and behaving unruly. She was gossiped to practice witchcraft, both healing and malevolent. When folklore collector Valter W. Forsblom arrived in the region, he was warned by the locals that Törndal would not share her craft with him. Nevertheless, Forsblom interviewed Törndal and was so impressed by her knowledge that he validated her as a last remnant of the magical healers. According to Forsblom, Törndal told him all her magical knowledge to be preserved in the archives and wanted even to have her picture taken with him, which was later sent to the archives as well.

In this presentation, I will look how Törndal appears in Forsblom’s collection as a tradition-bearer and in his letter exchange with the head of the archives, Ernst Lagus. Focus is on how Törndal’s character is approached by him as a folklore collector and how a contemporary scholar who is writing about her today can evaluate and understand material connected to her. I argue, that by looking at the archived material stemming from the late 19th century to the early 21st century, we can see that Törndal’s character has been othered in the local narratives about her, in the eyes of the folklore collector as well as in modern research.