ISS 25 (1995).pdf - The International Council of Museums

V,las founctea. ill llSbj. At 1 UfKU. !'ill1ana, me tilstonCa! Museum ..... 'as IO\lfiUetl
in 1891; in Helsinki. the National Museum in 1893.
V.
But nationalism fed on the illusory idea that an original. genuine and
unique national culture had survived and could still be found. recorded and
analysed in distant and isolated districts and settlements on the periphery.
untouched by influences from an urbanized and industrial society. In the
provinces learned associations were organized by gymnasium teachers, state
servants and officers to contribute to the nationai project by recording folk
uaditions and starting local history research. The associations were formed
ill lilt, period 1858-1885. They also started collections - collections later often
to be found as the core of many regional museums. One unforeseen result
was that those associations soon began to revolt against the centralistic
prerogative of a national heritage represented in the national museums of
the capital. It was a reaction based on local pride and a new awareness of the
diversity of cultural traditions that refused to surrender to a central
proposal of what constituted a genuine national culture.
And on the threshold of the 20th century something important is
happening, foreboding the birth of museums created from below.
In the 19th century the Swedish compulsory school system had been
organized and literacy spread quickly. The economic transformation had
slowly started both through industrialization and a considerable growth in
agricultural productivity. The population growth was speedy and the growth
of urban centres even more so, due to the demographic movement from
countryside to towns and cities. Popular movements were formed around
controversial ideas directed against the authority of church and state, and
like the anti-drug movement of the day, the temperance organizations
recruited numerous members. NFS Grundtvig in Denmark propagated his
school ideas which resulted in the so called 'folkhojskoler',
which spread over Scandinavia in the second half of the century. The idea
, was to open schools providIng adult education esp for the rural population,
an education explicitly aimed at the spiritual development of the personality.
The objective of the school should be 'life enlightenment' according to
Grundtvig. It offered unconditional admitment and no examination. The
teaching should rely on the value of the living spoken word. The first
school was opened in 1844 in Denmark, in 1864 in Norway, in 1868 in Sweden
and in 1889 in Finland.
The schools became immensely popular and strongly influenced popular
opinion. The idea was readily adopted by the popular movements whether
they honoured religious, political or temperance ideas. They started their
own schools, where of course the ideological element was prominent. Later
on also the county councils started such schools which have prepared adults
for both professional and higher studies.
Around the turn of the century a specific not much researched
phenomenon appears - the big youth meetings bringing hundreds of young
people together. The meetings had probably their background in the
idealistic and nationalistic spirit of the popular movements and they were
eVidently born in Norway. A novel published in 1900 written by a journalist,
Karl-Erik Forsslund, who had left Stockholm and settled in Dalecarlia, the
patriotic heart province of Sweden kindled the flame in Sweden. It glorified
rural life In euphoric descriptions and close to his house a new school of the
'folkhojskole' type was started in 1906. Youth meetings were held in various
183