Voices of the archives

Link to the materials

This bank provides selected stories (wav/mp3) in three Saami languages (North, Inari and Skolt Saami) as well as related learning materials to be utilised at comprehensive schools.

Note that the bank only operates in these three Saami languages. Recordings, instructions and learning materials are not available in other languages. However there is a summary of each recording in Finnish and also the essential vocabulary from Saami to Finnish is provided.

Saami storytellers in these recordings were born at the end of 19th century or in the early 20th century and were interviewed by researchers from 1950’s to 1970's. Topics of their stories vary from the old everyday life in to mythical creatures and traditional ways of predicting the weather.

Researchers have interviewed the Saami people for a long time, but for the common Saami public, the recordings have been practically unavailable. At the same time ways of transferring traditional knowledge have changed and there are fewer opportunities for storytelling. The aim of this project is to support and reinforce the identity of the present Saami generations by bringing the traditional Saami knowledge from the archives in to schools and to the Saami community.

This page was established in 2018 at the Arkiivvaid jienat oahppamateriálan -project by The Saami Culture Archive of University of Oulu. Use of the materials requires logging in with a password. Teachers of Saami classes and relatives of the storytellers as well as researchers and other interested members of the Saami community may apply for the password from the Saami Culture Archive:

The Saami Culture Archive of University of Oulu
Giellagas Institute, Department of Saami Studies
P.O. Box 1000, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland
ska(at)oulu.fi / +3584 14 363 964