Jurgita Ūsaitytė

Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore

Expression of Cultural Identity in Personal Songbooks

The presentation will introduce one of the forms of vernacular literacy – personal songbooks. These are collections of texts compiled for personal use, dominated by poetic creativity – songs, poetry, memory verses, although there are also inscriptions of domestic content. The Archive of Lithuanian Folklore, which is the largest repository of the Lithuanian folklore, holds over a hundred songbooks from the mid-19th to the early 21st century, which are made up of texts associated with various forms of culture (folklore, written, mass). Traditionally, songbooks have been seen as an object of folkloristics, but, in the last decade, the concept of songbooks as a source of egodocumentary value has been increasing.

There is scarce specific data in the songbooks to identify the owner. And, also, there are few entries of a personal nature that would directly describe the author’s views and evaluation of various phenomena. Nevertheless, these collections of texts make it possible to highlight the cultural identity of their compilers, which becomes apparent when the sources are examined in their historical, political and socio-cultural contexts. The paper presents the tradition of songbooks that existed in three different periods – the Lithuanian national revival, the interwar period, and the early Soviet period. By capturing the attitude of different members of society towards official and popular forms of culture, these songbooks reveal people’s aesthetic inclinations, such as their preference for certain styles and themes. On the other hand, personal collections of poetic texts testify to their compilers’ national, civic and social consciousness, choices and attitudes in various situations in which they found themselves in life.