Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1943, Page 32

z6
LE NORD
That the study of folk culture needed an institute of its
own seemed to me beyond doubt. Only a new Academy would
be able to promote the long-neglected systematic publication of
Swedish folk-literature. The great thing was now to get the initial
work done in time to make the formal establishment of the Aca-
demy form part of the Gustavus Adolphus tercentenary on Nov.
6, 1932.
III.
In drawing up the rules of the proposed Academy, I decided
to utilize the experience I had gained during my eight years of
work for the New Society of Letters at Lund. The election of
contributory members had provided that society with a sound
financial basis. Accordingly, Section 5 of the rules for the new
Academy, which is copied almost word by word from the rules
of the Lund Society, ran as follows:
“Contributory members, who must be persons who have given
proof of an interest in the humanities, shall pay an entrance fee
of at least 1000 kr., and, in addition, an annual subscription of
1000 kr. during each of the years following that in which they
have been elected to membership. Contributory members have at
all times and in all respects the same rights as working members.”
My first efforts were directed towards enlisting contributory
members. I first turned to two old friends, Mr. Edwin Berger
and Mr. Johan Lindström Saxon, both businessmen and deeply
interested in Swedish cultural work. With great generosity, Mr.
Berger promised to present the projected Academy with a sum
of 25.000 kr. in order to get it started as early as Nov. 6, 1932,
Nor did Mr. Saxon, who himself had already taken the initiative
to found the Antiquarian Society of Jamtland, need any per-
suasion to join. A third donor was Mr. Carl Z. Hággström,
managing director of the Almquist & Wiksell Printing Works,
Ltd.
Equally important was, of course, the enlistment of a body
of working members. Several men who occupied leading positions
in Swedish cultural life gave the undertaking their enthusiastic
support, and by Nov. 6, 1932, the list of working members in-
cluded among others: Secretary of State Ernst Wigforss and
Professors K. G. Westman, J. A. Lundell, Evald Lidén, Otto von
Friesen, Bengt Hesselman, Elof Hellquist, K. B. Wiklund, Nils