The Strindberg Archives from Private Archives to Cultural Heritage : A Study of the Application of the Principle of Provenance and of a Nationalistic Interpretation of History.

In this thesis I examine the events that followed the death of August Strindberg and resulted in his private belongings becoming an important part of Swedens cultural heritage. My purpose has been twofold: firstly, to identify which aims were sought to be achieved when dealing with Strindberg's archives and his home and to relate these to a nationalistic interpretation of history, secondly, to relate this work to the then newly introduced archival principle, the Principle of provenance. I identified three different aims: firstly the economic aim must be seen in the light of an increasingly expanding publishing market. I argue that the author gained a new and important role in the general social debate a nationalistic one, an important point with regard to my following conclusions. Secondly, the aim to store and display the material in a museum is discussed in relation to different views of cultural history and the interpretation of history. August Strindberg was himself involved in this debate and therefore a close connection can be found between different theoretical views and the practical problems of presenting history in a museum. The third aim was research which is, of course, also related to the previous aspects and which is furthermore affected by an individualisation of historical research and the scientific belief that a distance in time is needed before the researcher can fully understand what is being studied. I discuss the introduction of the Principle of Provenance from a practical and theoretical angle. A connection between the principle's respect for the integrity of the individual and the individualistic historical view of the Swedish nationalism is made. Through different agents with different aims, we can also see several ways of interpreting the meaning of the principle and how they practise it.Uppsatsnivå: