Cultural heritage and women's history collections in focus for new collaboration
A new collaboration between the Centre for Critical Heritage Studies (CCHS) and KvinnSam, the national library for gender research at the University of Gothenburg, has started. The first joint project is based on unpublished material in the University Library's archive with a collection of minutes from the association called Ikarosklubben.
The Ikaros club – a treasure among the library's collections
The Ikaros club was an educational and discussion club started by a number of women in the Stockholm area in the 1930s. The club was active for nearly 60 years and their archive was handed over to KvinnSam (then Kvinnohistoriska samlingarna) in 1994, by Brita Ekström, one of the initiators of the club
The archive gathers the club's carefully recorded minutes from the years 1934–1992. Five volumes are bound in beautiful semi-French bindings and contain drawings, paintings, songs and verses sprung from the talents of members. Photos, newspaper clippings and a number of letters are interspersed here and there in the minutes books together with the members' self-made paper wings as well as their small printed songbooks.
Lift the women and the club out of the archive
KvinnSam's collections show the archive's potential to preserve material that blurs the line between the private and political. The Ikaros club is one of many archives at KvinnSam that exceeds this limit.
"The Ikaros club is also something special. Despite its size, the archive covers almost the entire 20th century and turns its records into objects of art. This opens up the archive to an infinite number of research angles – food, art, Greek mythology, politics, family and friendship as well as the archive's materiality and the archive as a process" says AnnaLena Bergquist, deputy director of KvinnSam.
Draws attention to various aspects of cultural heritage
The project will focus on different themes and, among other things, study food heritage, art, poetry and ancient references in the books. The idea is that the results will be summarized in an anthology and follow-up conversations in the Matarvspodden (Podcast on foodways) with a food focus.
The Ikaros material absolutely reeks of food culture, says Astrid von Rosen
"It is gratifying that CCHS is now starting a collaboration with KvinnSam to research gender-focused cultural heritage", says Astrid von Rosen, director of the Centre for Critical Heritage Studies.
"Since 2013, CCHS has had a research group with a focus on critical archival issues and theories. Not least, questions have been raised about the multi-sensory power of archives beyond the dryness of bureaucratic documents. It will be exciting to see what the Ikaros project can lead to, based on questions about the history-making power of different bodies, actions, media, stories, voices and places."
Deltagare
- Rachel Pierce, forskningssamordnare KvinnSam, Humanistiska biblioteket, GU.
- AnnaLena Bergquist, biträdande föreståndare KvinnSam, GU.
- Jenny Högström Berntson, koordinator för Centrum för kritiska kulturarvsstudier, GU.
- Astrid von Rosen, institutionen för kulturvetenskaper och föreståndare för Centrum för kritiska kulturarvsstudier, GU.
- Maria Persson, institutionen för historiska studier, GU
- Eva Knuts, institutionen för kulturvetenskaper, GU
- Maria Cavallin-Aijmer, institutionen för historiska studier, GU
Ytterligare material med intresse för matarvsforskning i KvinnSam
KvinnSam är det nationella biblioteket för genusforskning som är en universitetsgemensam forskningsinfrastruktur vid Göteborgs universitet.
Förutom Ikarosklubbens material kommer samarbetet lyfta andra arkiv kopplade till mat, kulturarv och hushållsarbete, inklusive en del arkiv som innehåller cirkulerande dagböcker (från Fackskolan för huslig utbildning i Uppsala, 1920-2008 samt Kortspelsgänget, 1984-2016) som också visar sambandet mellan mat och kvinnosällskapslivet. KvinnSam har också ett arkiv från Institutionen för hushållsvetenskap, vilket består av fotoalbum, kokböcker, arbetsmaterial och recept bland annat från ca 1950-1980-talet. Arkivets materialitet har mycket betydelse här givit att allt var verktyg – att använda i klassrummet eller på kontoret – och på grund av detta har stort behov av vård och möjligtvis digitisering.
Det finns dessutom ett arkiv om ransonering i Göteborg under andra världskriget. Sist men inte minst har KvinnSam en del bortglömt matarv i annars välbeforskare arkiv: Kerstin Hesselgrens kokbok och Elin Wägners diverse likörrecept bland annat.
Det finns möjlighet för fler forskare att ansluta sig och djupdyka i materialet.
