Paper short abstract:

Why do we run a tradition archive? I identify some of the stronger reasons, and I considered how they blend and to what extent they matter today. Then the reasons are addressed with a suggestion for how a tradition archive might function in order to be useful in our present situation.

Paper long abstract:

I work at the tradition archive called Norwegian Ethnological Research, and the paper is a case study of this particular institution, but the aspects of the discussion will be recognizable in other settings. I will argue that access to documentation of traditional knowledge is more in demand now than it ever has been, and with the digital revolution the possibilities for constructing a sound and useful tradition archive are better than ever.

First I will present some of the stronger answers to the question: why do we run a tradition archive? The reasons are identified historically, and I will consider how they blend and how they differ and to what extent they matter today. Then I will address the identified purposes with a suggestion for how a multi institutional, project based and user oriented tradition archive migth function and what it might look like in order to be usefull, wanted and good in our present situation.

The digital revolution carries important new demands for extended popular access to the sources for knowledge. Democratic governments welcome this development as it provides new pathways for broad participation in shaping how we perceive our own society. To make visible the values in the lives we live in our culturally multi faceted world - also the varieties within the so called majority cultures - is a grand political task, where a modernized and extrovert tradition archive can make significant contributions.