Smålands Musikarkiv
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This study examines the cultural factors which necessitated the establishment of The Music Archives of Småland in 1991 in the city of Växjö. I wanted to know the importance of the local music tradition and the role of those people who worked to create an institution such as this. In order to do this I interviewed the chief collector of early folk music, Magnus Gustafsson, and made use of literary sources to devise questions and evaluate the results of the exercise. In this study I have made use of a model of a musical culture in a society, created by Lundberg and Ternhag, based on the theory of cultural fields by Pierre Bourdieu. According to this model, the stature of a musical culture gives different forms of musical expression certain roles, but these roles can be remodelled, reflecting perhaps political or ideological influence. The first national archives of music, founded at the end of the nineteenth century, stand as a monument to romantic nationalistic ideas about heritage, nation and people. The Music Archives of Småland were founded as a result of the recordings of regional folk music in the 1970s and 1980s. The Archives have also become home to a valuable regional collection of sheet music. The Music Archives of Småland have taken on a challenge which differs from that of the earlier form for music archives, that is to make the collections available and useful. In relation to the model, The Music Archives of Småland expand the position of the regional heritage of folk music from simply being part of the sub-field of cultural value to being part of the sub-field of commercial value as well, thriving as a result in a new context.