Mission
The Board of the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology at Lund University approved the mission for The Folklife Archives with the Scania Music Collections on September 30, 2020.
The Folklife Archives capture everyday life for tomorrow
Background
Lund University Folklife Archives (LUF) has been part of the university since its inception in 1913, for a long time as part of the Department of Ethnology. The Scania Music Collections started in 1981 at the initiative of the Skåne County Council's cultural organization and the material was added to the Folklife Archives in 1991. Since 2012, LUF has been an independent unit within the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology. The archives conduct documentation and collection of own initiative and in collaboration with researchers and students, and make the material available to broad groups of users. The collections mainly consist of cultural-historical and ethnological documents in the form of narratives, sound recordings and photographs, and other images, which are sources of knowledge about everyday life in both the past and present.
The purpose of Lund University Folklife Archives
LUF has a dual purpose, focusing partly on the academic world and partly on cultural heritage issues in a broad societal perspective.
The archives is an infrastructure that promotes both research and education by providing research support and offering to archive research data and students' collected material. The archives participate in teaching and is a knowledge resource for students. LUF also initiate and conduct own research on both older and newly collected material.
The archives is a cultural heritage actor that actively collects, manages, processes, and disseminates knowledge that reflects people's everyday lives in different times and contexts. The material found at the Folklife Archives with the Scania Music Collections is an important part of the university's historical heritage. It constitutes resources for the whole of society's understanding of how the past affects the present.
The Folklife Archives will:
- Be an infrastructure for research and education.
- Initiate and conduct own research.
- Long-term management, expansion, and accessibility of the collections, both physical and digital.
- Initiate, collect, preserve and make visible daily life in Sweden through stories and other forms of expression.
- Conduct outward and public activities and collaborate with the surrounding community.
- Be part of the university's cultural activities and play an active role in the cultural heritage sector.
A reference group appointed by the faculty management is attached to the archives. Its role is to provide scientific support and advice.