Collection of Riga Secondary School No. 2

This is one of the largest collections of the Archives of Latvian Folklore. It was received from Riga Secondary School No. 2 (later, Riga Gymnasium No. 2) where it was initiated by Latvian language and literature teacher and folklorist, Anna Bērzkalne (1891-1956). There are altogether 31 274 folklore units in the collection, and 31 311 of them were written down by schoolchildren from 1922 to 1944 following encouragement from Mrs. Bērzkalne. The multi-genre folklore collection consists both of students’ summer tasks with which they were to document the repertoires of their parents, grandparents and other elder people and write the materials in the class from memory.

Among students, there are many names who later became significant figures in Latvian culture, such as linguist Daina Zemzare (born Auniņa), poet Mudīte Austriņa, historian and writer Uldis Ģērmanis.Alma Medne and Velta Rezovska who were well trained in folkloristics already at Riga Secondary School (Gymnasium) No. 2 later on became the first employees of the Archives of Latvian Folklore which was founded in 1924 andheaded until 1929 by their former teacher, Anna Bērzkalne.

Written by: Rita Treija