Metadata : Jewish folklore
Collection
- Country:
- Estonia
- Holding institution:
- Estonian Folklore Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Eesti Rahvaluule Archiiv
- Postal address:
- Tartu, Vanemuise 42, 51003
- Phone number:
- +372 737 7730
- Web address:
- http://www.folklore.ee/era/ava.htm
- Email:
- era@folklore.ee
- Country:
- Estonia
- Holding institution:
- Estonian Folklore Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Eesti Rahvaluule Archiiv
- Postal address:
- Tartu, Vanemuise 42, 51003
- Phone number:
- +372 737 7730
- Web address:
- http://www.folklore.ee/era/ava.htm
- Email:
- era@folklore.ee
- Reference number:
- ERA. Juudi 1
- Title:
- Jewish folklore
- Title (official language):
- Juudi Rahvaluulet
- Creator/accumulator:
- Estonian Folklore Archives
- Date(s):
- 1926/1929
- Language:
- Estonian
- Yiddish
- Russian
- German
- Hebrew
- Extent:
- 180 pages
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection comprises written recordings of Jewish folklore gathered in Tartu from 1926-1929. The materials consist of a collection of different, original manuscripts bound together. This collection is called “Juudi 1” comprising 180 pages. The inventory list was written by Paul Ariste who was also the initiator and one of the most important contributors to the Jewish folk collection. Besides Ariste, most of the contributions to the collection were made by Berta Kaplan who worked in the Primary Jewish school in Tartu; there are also some materials written by Bentse Haman, Avromka Kaplan, Frau Zlatkin, Ida Strassmann and others. The recordings are in the square script [Hebrew script?], however, some of the songs in Yiddish are written in Latin script. The inventory is written in Estonian with some notes in German and Yiddish.
The recordings were made in Tartu; the inventory also contains some information about the people who related these tales. They were mostly Jews who lived in Tartu and Tallinn and pupils of the Tartu Primary Jewish school, although there was also a Lithuanian and a Pole. In some cases, their previous places of abode were noted, for example: Tirza and Jakobstadt (now Jēkabpils). Most of the recordings were made between February 1926 and December 1927.
In 1926 many songs in Yiddish were written down, including 11 children’s Jewish folk songs. There are also texts of folk riddles (Estonain: mõistatus), jokes (naljand), old proverbs (vanasõna), folklore beliefs and ritual practices (uskumused ja kombed) and magic spells (nõidussõna). In 1927 these materials were collated and more proverbs (kõnekäänd) and folktales (rahvajutt) were added. There are also five recordings labeled as an “old proverb, byword” (vanasõna, kõnekäänd) and one joke (naljand, ajalugu). During 1928 only three children’s folk songs were written down. In 1929 a folk belief, a proverb and a folktale were recorded.
- Archival history:
- The Jewish folklore collection was compiled from 1926-1929 and was the first non-Estonian-language folklore collection in the Estonian Folklore Archive. Its initiator was Paul Ariste (1905-1990), a non-Jewish Estonian linguist and polyglot who, together with Jewish students of the University of Tartu, collected Yiddish folklore. In the 1930s and after the Second World War, Ariste continued to work on the collection which he deposited in the Estonian Folklore Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Estonian Folklore Archives was founded on 24 September 1927 and became the central depository for all the folklore collections gathered in Estonia. Non-Estonian-language collections (including the present collection on Jewish folklore) were first organised in the Archives between 1927 and 1944. During the Soviet occupation, the Estonian Folklore Archives became the Folklore Department of the Literary Museum. Today the Estonian Folklore Archives is one of four departments in the Estonian Literary Museum.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory.
- Finding aids:
- The collection is described in: Kotlerman, D.B., Lipsker A. “The Jewish Folklore Archive in Tartu, Estonia.” Hulyot (Ringen): Journal for Yiddish Literature and Culture 8 (Winter 2004), pp. 299-314 (in Hebrew); Personal teacher’s card of Berta Kaplan is preserved in ERA.2966.7.1040. Õpetajate isikulise koosseisu kartoteek, page 307 (available online at: ra.ee/dgs).
- Author of the description:
- Antonina Martynenko
- Reference number:
- ERA. Juudi 1
- Title:
- Jewish folklore
- Title (official language):
- Juudi Rahvaluulet
- Creator/accumulator:
- Estonian Folklore Archives
- Date(s):
- 1926/1929
- Language:
- Estonian
- Yiddish
- Russian
- German
- Hebrew
- Extent:
- 180 pages
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection comprises written recordings of Jewish folklore gathered in Tartu from 1926-1929. The materials consist of a collection of different, original manuscripts bound together. This collection is called “Juudi 1” comprising 180 pages. The inventory list was written by Paul Ariste who was also the initiator and one of the most important contributors to the Jewish folk collection. Besides Ariste, most of the contributions to the collection were made by Berta Kaplan who worked in the Primary Jewish school in Tartu; there are also some materials written by Bentse Haman, Avromka Kaplan, Frau Zlatkin, Ida Strassmann and others. The recordings are in the square script [Hebrew script?], however, some of the songs in Yiddish are written in Latin script. The inventory is written in Estonian with some notes in German and Yiddish.
The recordings were made in Tartu; the inventory also contains some information about the people who related these tales. They were mostly Jews who lived in Tartu and Tallinn and pupils of the Tartu Primary Jewish school, although there was also a Lithuanian and a Pole. In some cases, their previous places of abode were noted, for example: Tirza and Jakobstadt (now Jēkabpils). Most of the recordings were made between February 1926 and December 1927.
In 1926 many songs in Yiddish were written down, including 11 children’s Jewish folk songs. There are also texts of folk riddles (Estonain: mõistatus), jokes (naljand), old proverbs (vanasõna), folklore beliefs and ritual practices (uskumused ja kombed) and magic spells (nõidussõna). In 1927 these materials were collated and more proverbs (kõnekäänd) and folktales (rahvajutt) were added. There are also five recordings labeled as an “old proverb, byword” (vanasõna, kõnekäänd) and one joke (naljand, ajalugu). During 1928 only three children’s folk songs were written down. In 1929 a folk belief, a proverb and a folktale were recorded.
- Archival history:
- The Jewish folklore collection was compiled from 1926-1929 and was the first non-Estonian-language folklore collection in the Estonian Folklore Archive. Its initiator was Paul Ariste (1905-1990), a non-Jewish Estonian linguist and polyglot who, together with Jewish students of the University of Tartu, collected Yiddish folklore. In the 1930s and after the Second World War, Ariste continued to work on the collection which he deposited in the Estonian Folklore Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Estonian Folklore Archives was founded on 24 September 1927 and became the central depository for all the folklore collections gathered in Estonia. Non-Estonian-language collections (including the present collection on Jewish folklore) were first organised in the Archives between 1927 and 1944. During the Soviet occupation, the Estonian Folklore Archives became the Folklore Department of the Literary Museum. Today the Estonian Folklore Archives is one of four departments in the Estonian Literary Museum.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory.
- Finding aids:
- The collection is described in: Kotlerman, D.B., Lipsker A. “The Jewish Folklore Archive in Tartu, Estonia.” Hulyot (Ringen): Journal for Yiddish Literature and Culture 8 (Winter 2004), pp. 299-314 (in Hebrew); Personal teacher’s card of Berta Kaplan is preserved in ERA.2966.7.1040. Õpetajate isikulise koosseisu kartoteek, page 307 (available online at: ra.ee/dgs).
- Author of the description:
- Antonina Martynenko
