Object of the month: Books with gold lettering and thinned edges

Books with gold lettering and thinned edges

Marking the occasion of the Kven people’s Day on the 16th of March, we display two books that in different ways tell stories of the Kven people. A well-preserved book, «Tre stammers møte» written by Carl Schøyen in 1918, bound in black and with the tittle written in gold. The book is based on stories from the Kven teacher Skouluk–Andaras and emphasise, among other things, the significance of Laestadianism in local society.

The other book is a Finnish hymnbook, well used and worn at the edges, with the title «Sioniin laulut wirret» barely traceable. Hymnbooks such as this was commonly used by Laestadian communities and this particular copy was in use in Kronstad, Alta.

Few of the museum’s collection of more than 3000 objects are registered as Kven. In certain cases, information such as the name of the donor, descriptions and area of use give us reason to assume that the object may have Kven and/or Sami affiliation. Often, however, we do not know enough about this part of the object’s history. This is something we would like to address, and we therefore welcome more knowledge about the objects. The whole of the museum’s collection is published and available at www.digitaltmuseum.no/owners/AM. Please feel free to contact us at leka@altamuseum.no if you have information that you would like to share with us concerning the objects in our collection.

Written by Kristin Nicolaysen, museum lecturer and Lena Karlstrøm, curator