The Sámi Museum received a notable book donation

Harald Vartiainen's collection of books consists of approximately 1,750 volumes. The collection comprises mostly Finnish literature but also literature that has been written in Sámi and other languages. It contains a wide spectrum of literature that approaches the north from diverse perspectives and ranges from narrative literature and children’s books to academic publications and reports. The books of the collection have mainly been acquired when they were first published, but there are also older books from the early 1900s.

Harald Vartiainen has accumulated his extensive collection in the course of more than 50 years. Along with collecting books, he has also regularly read books acquired by him; he has also taken a great interest in Lapland. For example, Vartiainen has, for a long time, been a member of Lapin tutkimusseura, an association that promotes research on Lapland, and the earlier Lapin Sivistysseura, a society which promoted Sámi culture. Vartiainen’s collection that extends over 30 shelf meters has been transferred to Inari and Siida in January 2011. Earlier, in 2004, Harald Vartiainen donated annual volumes of magazines written in North and Skolt Sámi to the Sámi Museum.

The Sámi Museum has accepted the donation, assuming thus the responsibility for the management, organization and indexing of the collection. The collection will be named after the donator as a unit of its own, the H. Vartiainen Collection. From the point of view of the activities of the Sámi Museum, donations of this kind are extremely valuable. The museum was founded as early as the 1950s, but the collection and recording of books, magazines and newspapers in the Museum Library was not started until 1998 when the new Siida Building was finished.

The library of the Sámi Museum is meant to be used for research by the museum itself. A high-quality reference library enhances research dealing with the collections and the exhibitions of the museum, as well as the information services provided for customers.

The Sámi Museum cooperates with the consortium Lapin Kirjasto (Library of Lapland) as a member of the museum libraries of Lapland. The books of the Sámi Museum library are indexed into the Lapin Kirjasto system (www.lapinkirjasto.fi). The libraries and the museums of Lapland also produce jointly the information service Lapponica (www.lapponica.fi).

Further information:
Arja Hartikainen, Head Curator, tel. +358 (0)40 579 3313, arja.hartikainen(at)samimuseum.fi