The Folklore Collections

The archives of the Institute for Language and Folklore houses Sweden’s largest folklore collections. The result of more than a hundred year's work documenting folk culture is archived in Gothenburg, Umeå, and Uppsala; written, illustrated, and audio recorded narratives of everyday lives and festivities, from the 19th century agrarian and fishing society to today's multicultural society. The material encompasses multiple genres including life stories, different types of folk poetry and music, traditions and beliefs.

The Institute is dedicated to preserving and adding to the folklore collections, and to the research and edification of Swedish folk culture. A large portion of our collecting is done in the context of contemporary research projects, but material can also be donated to the Institute.

The majority of the collections are open to the public. For further information or if you have questions you are welcome to contact us using the addresses and phone numbers listed here. 

*The Institute is formerly known as The Institute for Dialectology, Onomastics and Folklore Research (SOFI).