Kolberg i inni. Z dziejów europejskiej dokumentalistyki folklorystycznej
Streszczenie
In the introduction to the article, the author sketches the European background
of the term “folklore” (coined by Thoms in 1846) and its historical and
aesthetic Polish determinants. Folk culture in Poland was basically a peasant
phenomenon that preserved its archaic character until deep into the 19th century
due to persistence of serfdom.In that era, the collections of folk-cultural artifacts were considered as a patriotic and romantic task within Europe, but particularly
in a country that had lost its independence.This article presents author’s overview
to the main European folklore collectors of the19th century and underlines that
the Polish folklore collector Oskar Kolberg was one of the biggest in Europe. His
unprecendented activity left panoramic and systematic ethnographical materials
of Polish folk culture in his monumental life work called Lud… His 92 volumes
of Complete Works have been fully edited posthumously.