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Paper short abstract:

The digitizing and open access of archival materials raise a wide variety of questions. The archives must lavish between the interests of individuals and the presumptions of communities that folklore is their heritage. The paper focuses on specific problems of representation in public databases.

Paper long abstract:

The intention of the founding of Estonian folklore collections in the 19th century was to create one large imaginary community, eventually a nation, joining small local communities through a common goal. The idea was to collect folklore, evanescent antiquities, from local communities and then "give it back" in the form of academic or popular publications.

The community of Estonian folklore collections, however, consists of communities of 107 parishes, hundreds of municipalities and villages, and thousands of individuals. Individuals are both collectors, narrators, and singers, as well as characters of narratives. Just as the religious, educational, and economic backgrounds of individuals have undergone major changes, so have the communities. Modern local communities may not share any knowledge, mentalities, genealogies, nor languages with the former ones.

Today, archivists confront quite different problems than 150 years ago, as the digitisation and open access of old archival materials in the public databases raises a wide variety of questions regarding copyright and the protection of sensitive personal data. In addition, the archives must lavish between the interests of the individuals on the one hand, and the legitimate presumptions by communities of folklore as their intangible heritage and the availability of knowledge on the other. The paper gives examples of specific problems of conflicting representations of local communities and individuals, the solution of which is not just closure and hiding.