# Dansk Folkemindesamling (DFS), The National Collection of Folklore in Copenhagen

FF COMMUNICATIONS N:o 1.
DANSK FOLKEMINDESAMLING (DFS)
THE NATIONAL
COLLECTION OF FOLKLORE
IN
COPENHAGEN
BY
AXEL OLRIK DIRECTOR OF THE COLLECTION
HELSINKI 1910 SUOMALAISEN TIEDEAKATEMIAN TOIMITUKSIA
HELSINKI 1910 PRINTED BY THE FINNISH LITERARY SOCIETY.
Of the older collections of folklore all the great collections of Svend Grundtvig (1825—1883, the celebrated editor of ballads, professor in the university of Copenhagen) are incorporated in DFS. Collections anterior to this (e. g. the ballad-books of 16th and 17th centuries) are scattered in several public libraries.
The intention of DFS has hitherto been: 1) to complete the collection from oral tradition, 2) to arrange and book the Danisch tradition in a systematical way. A little hand-library is connected with the MS collection; the large folkloristical library (c. 3,000 volumes) of dr. H. F. Feilberg belongs testamentary to DFS, but is yet in its owner's possesion. The great MS collection of Evald Tang Kristensen is for some part (fairy tales) incorporated in DFS, for some part only deposed, and still a part of the collection remains with the collector himself (living in Vejle, Jutland).
DFS contains these sections: I) MS of Svend Grundtvig, II) The New Collection, III) MS of Evald Tang Kristensen, IV) Phonographical Section.
In the following pages will be given an abridged catalogue of its contents. (O means: original MS of the collector, C copy, XC exerpt, P scraps of Journals etc., CAT catalogues, CLL collectanea).
I. Svend Grundtvig's collection.
A. The main collection of Svend Grundtvig.
DFS 24—71: Ballads. 24—26 old codices, 27—28 older cat, 29—33 cat, 34-43 c (34—41 old ballads, 42 humerous, 43 new ballads), 44—63 cll. & additions to old ballads (»Danmarks gamle folkviser»). 64—64b Swedish & Norwegian ballads, 65-67a Icelandic, 68—68b Faeroic (codex Sandoyjarbók), 69 English (correspondence with F. J. Child), 70 French (c of printed book: Ampère, Instructions, 1853), 71 Grundtvig's university lectures of Danish ballads 1864.
DFS 72—87: Fairy Tales. 72—72a cat, 73—75 xc, 76—87c.
DFS 88—103: Legends & Superstitions, 88—89 xc, 90— 98 legends c, 99—102 superstitions c, 103 customs c.
DFS 104—118: Rhymes Etc. 104—110 rhymes c, 111—113 proverbs c, 114—115 enigms c, 116—117 Icelandic enigms, Icelandic rhymes etc.
B. The Faeroic collections of Svend Grundtvig and J. Bloch
(these works were planned by Grundtvig in his later years, and elaborated by Bloch in these and after Gr.'s death; see Aarbøger for nordisk olkyndighed 1882, p. 357. & Arkiv för nordisk filologi VI, p. 246).
C. Biographical collections concerning Svend Grundtvig and his wife
(bequeathed 1910 by Jörgen Bloch; not yet arranged in detail).
II. The new collection.
DFS 1904, 37—46: Folklore collections of J. Kamp († 1904). 37—38 folklore in general, 39 ballads, 40 tales, ​41—42 legends & superstitions, 43—44 rhymes etc., 45 dances, 46 life of peasantry, 47 folklore & rural architectures, 48—49 rural architectures.
DFS 1904, 50—52: Surnames in Denmark, collections of the committee of government 1901.
DFS 1906, 1—92: Danish Folklore, increasing collections etc. 1—2e: Folklore in General, 1 o, 2 p, 2b c, 2c—2e o (special coll.). 3—9: Ballads, 3 o, 3b p, 4—4b c, 5 reproductions of old codices, 6b fly-scheats, 7 printed pieces relating to »Daum. gl. Folkeviser», 8 unprinted researches concerning ballads, 9 p concerning ballads. 10—13: Ballad-Melodies, 10—11 cat, 12 o (and transscriptions of phonograph records), 13 c. 11—22: Tales, 14 o, 15 p, 16—(17) c, 18—22 xc. 23—34: Legends and superstitions, 23 o, 24—25 p, 26—27 processes against sorcerers XVI—XIXth cent. (26 c, 27 p), 28—28c legends c, 29 legends of supernatural beings xc, 29b creeds of su pernatural beings c, 30—30c superstitions c, 31 holy wells cll, 31b folklore of great stones xc, 31c increasing stone hills xc, 31d holy trees xc, 31e holy wells xc, 31f folklore of dolmans xc, 32—34 legends of Slesvig cll. 35—42: Rhymes etc., 35—35c rhymes, 35d-35e games & sports, 36—37 dances, 38 proverbs etc. o, 39 proverbs etc. p, 40 proverbs c, 40b enigms c, 40c folklore of natural sounds c, 41—42 proverbs (local coll.). 43—45b: Festivals, 43 o, 44 p, 45 c, 45b cll. 46—53: Popular Life and Customs, 46 o, 47—47b p, 48 c, 49 o (local), 50 o (communal), 51 (Gipsies), 52 (Jews), 52—53 o p (in dialect). 54—73: Illustrations, 54—55 largest form & folio, 56 superstitions, 57 relating to ballads and legends, 58—60 the ballad-singers and ​storytellers of Evald Tang Kristensen, 60b ballad singers & story-tellers, 60c—60d games etc., 61—65 peasantry life etc., 66 buildings (photographed for the National Museum), 67 peasant vestiments, 68—71 peasant vestiments (phot. by the Folkdance Society), 71b transparent-plates, 72—73 ill. from the isle of Falster (F. L. Grundtvig's coll.). 74—78: Dialects, 74—75 Falster (F. L. Grundtvig). 76 glossaries o, 77—77b misc. p, 78 Jutland (J. Madsen). 79—92: Names, 79—80 person-names o p, 81—84 surnames o p & local, 85—92b place names.
DFS 1906, 93—114: Scandinavian folklore. 93—100: Sweden, 93—94 folklore in general o p, 65—96 do. local, 97-98 illustrations, 99 names, 100 dialects. 101—104: Norway, 101—102 folklore o p, 102b ballads cat., 103—104 illustrations. 105—110: Faeroe Islands, 105 folklore o p, 106 ballads o, 107 ballad-melodies, 108 legends etc. o p, 109—110 illustrations. 111—114: Iceland, 111 folklore o & cll, 112 p, 112b c, 113—114 illustrations.
DFS 1906, 114—115d: Folklore of other countries, 114b England, 115 Germany, 115b roman peoples, 115c Celtic, 115d Finns & Lapps.
DFS 1906, 116—133: Folklore of the world, 116—117 tales (116 cll, and 116b xc, 117 papers p), 118 legends cll, 119—121 Scandinavian legends of supernatural beings xc (by A. Olrik), 122 Northern mythology p papers & illustrations, 123—125 Superstitions of diverse lands (p cll illustrations), 126 appendix to F. Grundtvig's »folklore of birds» (cfr. 1904, 1—36), 127—133 illustrations [127 games etc., 131—132b savage peoples], 133 illustrations of modern artists to popular poetry). ​DFS 1906, 134—143: Letters and notices, especially concerning danish folklore and folklorists (134 letters, 135 notices, 136 H. F. Feilberg, 137 F. L. Grundtvig, 138 Kamp, 139—140 E. T. Kristensen, 141 Recke, 142—143 illustr.)
DFS 1909, 1—12: Miscellaneous, 1 superstitions (Fionia), dances (Bornholm), 3 books of sorcerers, 4 proverbs (Jutland), 5 dialect dictionary (Jutland), 6—7 miscell. p, 8—9 MSS of A. Olrik (Edda, Saxo), 10—12 photograph. plates.
DFS 1910, 1—5: Proverbs (Jutland, Ditlevsen).
III. MSS. of Evald Tang Kristensen.
Folklore in General, o, 23 voll.
Tales, vol. I—XXVI (containing N:o 1—2550); Humoristic tales.
Legends & Superstitions 26 voll.; Sorcerers books and medical books.
IV. Phonographical section.
Faeroic N:o I—V ballads.
Icelandic [in preparation].
Eskimoic »T» (Thalbitzer from Ammassalik in East-Greenland) 23 N:os (and the other of this series as depositum) legends, incantations, rhymes etc. Another series Refsaas from the Polar Eskimoes) is going to be incorporated.
Directions for use.
Ballads are arranged in this way: 1) Old ballads (corresponding to the edition: »Danmarks gamle Folkviser») 2) Humerous ballads (»Skæmteviser») (cat. DFS 32); 3) Younger ballads (»Kæmpevisens efterklang») (cat. DFS 33).
Tales (»Æventyr») are arranged mainly after the system of Grundtvig, described in the following paper. (In future this system will be compleated by the system of FF, which is in elaborating yet.)
Local legends (»sagn») are in the New Collection arranged topographically. (For the legends of Mythical beings a system is in work; cfr. DFS 1906, 29. 29b. 119—121).
Superstitions & Customs (»folketro», »folkeskik»). A system is in work.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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