or the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters is the home of Folklore Fellows International. It is the largest science academy in Finland. It is divided into two sections, “Science” and “Humanities”, and represents all fields of academic research. It was on the initiative of one of the founding members of the Academy, Kaarle Krohn, Professor of Folklore Research at Helsinki University, that the decision was made back in 1908, in the founding year of the Academy, “to publish in a separate series the news bulletins and material collections of the Folklore Fellows, the international union of researchers of folklore”. The newly established “Folklore Fellows” (a coalition of mainly Nordic and German scholars) was thus invited to place some of its activities in Finland. The multifaceted work of the first international folkloristic society subsided in the turmoils of the First World War but the series Folklore Fellows’ Communications, which had begun to appear in 1910, survived. Its international board of editors represented the idea of sustained cooperation. In the 1920s, when the Finnish government allocated funds for scholarly academies and societies, it sometimes recognized the FFC as a separate item for funding because of its internationality.
A new beginning was made in 1990 when the Academia Scientiarum Fennica founded the present international network of Folklore Fellows. The purpose of this step and the structure of the FF are described in detail in FF Network No. 1, pp. 1-2. The statutes are reprinted in the present issue (p. 10). The continuation of scholarly training courses, publication and thematically focused specialist conferences are top priorities for the future.
Today the recruitment of members has reached the point where membership diplomas can be issued. The first to receive diplomas were the participants of the 3rd Folklore Fellows’ Summer School in Mekrijärvi, who became associate members on June 30, 1995. All other members are receiving the diploma with the present issue of our bulletin. The receivers are 30 honorary, 88 full and 458 associate members. Some of you are entitled to more than one diploma because of two nominations. We have now sent the diploma according to the latest nomination. Should you wish to obtain the earlier one as well, please notify us. If you receive nothing, you should check your address with us.
Among the membership benefits is a considerable discount when purchasing volumes of the FFC series. Please send orders for these to the TIEDEKIRJA Bookstore in Helsinki.
Lauri Honko
(FFN 11, October 1995: 1)