Sofia Seifarth, Arbetets museum

2009-2012

The aim of the project "Stories, memories and objects. Developing methods for collecting memories of housework and everyday life in the 1950s and 1960s", was to collect personal stories about housework and everyday life in the 1950s and 1960s. The aim has been two-folded: 1) to create a rich source material available for future research and exhibition, 2) to develop study circles in museum settings as a method for collecting personal stories.

The personal stories of ordinary people are an important source material since the stories shed light on aspects not available in other kinds of sources. By combining three methods - interviewing, own personal writing and writing in the context of a study circle group - the aim is to collect a material showing a broad picture of housework and everyday life during the 1950s and the 1960s. The stories collected within this project has been told or written in different contexts, by a range of persons with different backgrounds. Thanks to the combination of collecting methods and diversity of informants the collected material give a broad and diversified picture of the housework and everyday life in the 1950s and 1960s.

The project was obtained during the period 2010-2012. During this time we have collected more than two hundred personal stories written by people all over Sweden and made more than twenty interviews. We have developed and organised study circles of writing in the museum exhibition Industrialised Country - When Sweden became modern (about the development of Sweden from 1930 up until the 1980). We also organised a circle for oral telling for people unable of writing. By offering different ways of telling the story we have managed to collect stories from people who had not contributed to this project if writing had been the only option. We also made some interviews directed to groups of people that were underrepresented in the collection, for example people with other background than typical Swedish like immigrant workers and people with experiences of living in other kinds of relations than heterosexual.

The study circle in museum settings is a new way of collecting personal stories. The aim is to combine the traditional study circle with the museum setting as an inspiring context for storytelling and writing. The basic assumption is that the museum objects will arouse personal memories and inspire storytelling, which are further developed in a dynamic way when different stories and experiences are presented in the group. The result from this project shows that this is really the case. Stories and objects clearly woke memories that lead to other stories and memories in a very dynamic way.

The project - the developed methods, the stories and other results - have been vastly spread through articles, presentations, publications, courses, public activities and by media coverage (TV, radio and press). Some of the stories have been made available at the museum's website and can be read and listened to through podcasts (in Swedish) http://www.arbetetsmuseum.se/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&catid=&Itemid=149. The recorded stories are read by the authors themselves. In September 2012 we launched an anthology with twenty six of the collected stories including a chapter about the project and method (called "We boasted about having water in the house!"/Vi skröt om att ha vatten inne!).

Even though we tried to reach out to a broad public and the stories are quite diversified, there are still some groups that are overrepresented in the collection. The stories were written by both men and women but the female perspective is far more represented than the male perspective, which is the case in most projects of this kind. However, this is a result in itself that raises gender issues. A reasonable assumption and conclusion is that elderly men disqualified themselves from the target group because of the theme - household work in the 50s and 60s.

The collection also raises issues about narratives and strategies when telling about life and society and related issues like identity, class, generation and ethnicity. Throughout the project it has been clear that objects carry both collective and individual symbolic values, and both individual and collective stories.
The collected stories are kept in the museum archives and are available for research and exhibitions. The study circle has proved to be a promising method for this type of collecting. We are looking forward to using it in new projects and we see a great potential in using it as an inter-generational activity for the older and younger generations to meet and exchange experiences.

Publications:

Övling, J. (2011) ”Vad olika liv vi haft!” i Samdok-forum 2/2011. Kan laddas ner på http://www.nordiskamuseet.se/publication.asp?publicationid=860&topmenu=143

Seifarth, S. (2011) ”Med berättelserna i fokus och föremålen på plats”, i Forskning vid museer, red. Svanberg, F. Historiska museet/Kulturrådet.

"Hushållsarbete och vardagsliv under 1950- och 1960-talen"(2009)notis i Samtid och museer 1/2009, http://www.nordiskamuseet.se/publication.asp?publicationid=860&topmenu=143

Övling, J. (2012) ”Värdefull växelverkan: Om konsten att knyta samtid till samlingar”, i Sprängskiss, nr1/2012, http://www.sprangskiss.se/index.php?/project/spraengskiss-no1/

Övling, J. red.(2012) Vi skröt om att ha vatten inne! Premiss/Arbetets museum.