Paper short abstract:

The first main collection of folktales in Iceland was done by Jón Árnason. A project on his work has the aim to document all related archived materials. It will involve the scanning and transcription of letters between him and his co-workers and the scanning of the manuscripts of the collected tales.

Paper long abstract:

The paper will describe a research project on the collection and publication process of Jón Árnason's Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (1862-1864). The main aim of this project is to document carefully the process that lay behind the first main collection of folk tales in Iceland. The focus of the project will be on documenting all materials relating to the collection of Jón Árnason's work. It will essentially involve the scanning and transcription of all letters between Jón Árnason and his collectors (including others who declined to send him material), and between Jón and his fellow editors, Guðbrandur Vigfússon in Copenhagen and Konrad Maurer in Munich; and the scanning of the manuscripts of all the folk tales collected by Jón Árnason and his co-workers. The present aim is that the scans and transcriptions of these original materials will go into databases already existing and that direct links will be made to these from the main project website and the already-established Sagnagrunnur database of all Icelandic folk legends in print. The intention is that the core part of the Jón Árnason archive will be in Icelandic and English and comprise of biographical and bibliographical information, extended entries on key topics and other relevant details about cultural context at home and abroad. Careful examination of these primary materials will then allow us to come closer to finding answers to a number of central questions concerning Jón Árnason's collection and publication of folktales.