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Title: Making the Documents Speak—A Creative Exploration of the Mihai Pop Fonds Authors: Rucsandra Pop, Alexandru Iorga How to cite this article: Pop, Rucsandra, Alexandru Iorga. 2019. “Making the Documents Speak—A Creative Exploration of the Mihai Pop Fonds.” Martor 24: 151-170. Published by: Editura MARTOR (MARTOR Publishing House), Muzeul Național al Ţăranului Român (National Museum of the Romanian Peasant) URL: http://martor.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro/archive/martor-24-2019/ Martor (The Museum of the Romanian Peasant Anthropology Journal) is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1996, with a focus on cultural and visual anthropology, ethnology, museum studies and the dialogue among these disciplines. Martor Journal is published by the Museum of the Romanian Peasant. Interdisciplinary and international in scope, it provides a rich content at the highest academic and editorial standards for academic and non-academic readership. Any use aside from these purposes and without mentioning the source of the article(s) is prohibited and will be considered an infringement of copyright. Martor (Revue d’Anthropologie du Musée du Paysan Roumain) est un journal académique en système peer-review fondé en 1996, qui se concentre sur l’anthropologie visuelle et culturelle, l’ethnologie, la muséologie et sur le dialogue entre ces disciplines. La revue Martor est publiée par le Musée du Paysan Roumain. Son aspiration est de généraliser l’accès vers un riche contenu au plus haut niveau du point de vue académique et éditorial pour des objectifs scientifiques, éducatifs et informationnels. Toute utilisation au-delà de ces buts et sans mentionner la source des articles est interdite et sera considérée une violation des droits de l’auteur. Martor is indexed by: CEEOL, EBSCO, Index Copernicus, Anthropological Index Online (AIO), MLA International Bibliography. This issue of Martor has been published with the financial support of the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN Romania). Making the Documents Speak—A Creative Exploration of the Mihai Pop Fonds Rucsandra Pop University of Bucharest, Faculty of Letters [email protected] Alexandru Iorga University of Bucharest & Constantin Brăiloiu Institute for Ethnography and Folklore [email protected] ABSTRACT KEYWORDS In 2016, the Mihai Pop Fonds was established as part of the Image Archive Mihai Pop, personal archives, inter- at the Romanian Peasant Museum, and this past year has seen a real effort to disciplinarity, social sciences in organize the documents left behind by the scholar. The Fonds brings together Romania. key documents: a rich correspondence with Romanian and foreign research- ers; Mihai Pop’s field notes from the sociological research campaigns; his PhD thesis, which has yet to be published; documents related to his participation in national and international congresses; his notes for the folklore lectures he gave at the University; and many other documents. The paper aims to present how an interdisciplinary team of ten researchers and artists organized various types of documents from the personal archive of Mi- hai Pop in order to make it accessible to both specialists interested in the topic and the general public. The paper highlights the contents of the Fonds and focuses on the difficulties involved in organizing a personal archive. The paper will show not only how the Mihai Pop Fonds was shaped in the process, but how the network of people interested in his work has grown and come together in this process, generating new knowledge and new perspectives. ........ in semiotics, and, along with Tudor Vianu2 1) Dimitrie Gusti (1880 3 – 1955), Romanian Introduction and Alexandru Rosetti, he ran the Circle sociologist who taught of Poetics and Stylistics. On his visits to the at the University of Ia[i and the University of orn in 1907, Mihai Pop first United States, Pop discovered the American Bucharest and served as Romania’s Minister developed an interest in linguistics— school of anthropology, and, in addition of Education in 1932– attending the meetings of the Prague to studying anthropology, he made an 1933. Being the creator of the Bucharest School BLinguistic Circle in 1930s and studying important contribution to the spreading of Sociology and of in Poland. He continued with sociology of anthropology concepts and literature in several other Institutes, he led, between 1925 and ethnomusicology, as a participant in Romania. “Looking into someone’s life with and 1948, research campaigns in several the research campaigns initiated by the help from instruments such as pictures, Romanian villages. sociologist Dimitrie Gusti,1 before he finally recordings, letters feels almost sacred. It feels turned to the study of literary theory in Bonn. strange, sometimes voyeuristic, and it comes From 1949, when the Folklore Institute was with a deep responsibility of holding in 2) Tudor Vianu (1898 established, he became a specialist in folklore your hands a snippet of someone’s personal – 1964), Romanian literary and art critic, studies, which he started teaching in the history.” It is with these words that the Black poet, philosopher, and 1950s. In the 1960s, he became interested Horse Mansion4 video collective captured translator. 151 Rucsandra Pop, Alexandru Iorga the experience of working for almost one perspective. It is largely acknowledged year on a project meant to shape, categorize among Romanian scholars and practitioners and showcase to the public the Mihai Pop (Grosu 2014; Chirilă 2016) that archives 3) Alexandru Rosetti (1895 – 1990), Fonds. Indeed, immersing yourself into a were and still are depositaries of materials Romanian linguist, editor and memoirist. professional yet very personal archive is an and documents about various issues and He was the promoter intimate experience and a powerful way to elements related to national identity. of new research directions, such connect different generations and histories. Although the very first archives in Romania as mathematical The experience is even more intense if the emerged from personal initiatives and linguistics and structuralism. In 1961, owner of those documents has touched so collections, the conceptual structure of Rosetti established the Romanian Academy’s many lives, as professor Mihai Pop has. archives is that they should follow a specific Center for Phonetic This paper aims to present how an institutionalized agenda oblivious of the and Dialectological Research. In 1974 interdisciplinary team of over ten researchers personal fonds, data, and collections which this Center merged and artists5 immersed themselves into the were incorporated into larger archival with the Institute of Ethnography and massive body of documents that constitute projects to varying degrees. Unlike other Folklore. the Mihai Pop Fonds to structure it and traditions of archival practice based on to make it visible for both the specialists personal fonds and collections, archives in interested in the topic and the general public. Romania, more specifically professional The paper, while obliquely highlighting ones (vs. bureaucratic and state archives), 4) Black Horse the contents of the archive, mainly focuses were collective efforts documenting specific Mansion is a video on the exploratory research challenges elements considered for preservation and production studio born out of the pleasure of involved in structuring a personal archive. further investigation. Dealing with personal creative collaboration. It includes many voices, with the purpose archives involves new challenges (Chirilă Miruna Vasilescu, Ana Banu and Alina of showing that, while the people involved 2016). What happens with personal archives Manea are collectively exploring the world of in the project had different approaches, of prominent figures that were discovered video art, site-specific personal motivations, and findings, there by serendipity? installations and performance, creating was a clear common purpose: to stimulate In line with Kaplan’s 2002 seminal paper, inspiring video critical thinking around Mihai Pop’s cultural as well as Pop’s own thoughts (further de- content. legacy and bring to light as many facets as veloped below) and Barthes’ point of view possible of his complex personality. The (1972), we deemed it necessary to use an diverse points of view of the researchers approach both interdisciplinary and anthro- led to different ways of understanding and pological in organizing the materials from 5) Project team: processing the material. We treated the body the Mihai Pop Fonds as part of the Image Rucsandra Pop, Gra]iela B\descu, of documents as a living organism that was Archive of the Romanian National Peasant Cristina }ineghe, Denisa Pleoscariu, being structured by the researchers and, in Museum (Arhiva de Imagine a Muzeului Paul Drogeanu, Alex return, (re)structured them, their way of Național al Țăranului Român). In this paper, Iorga, Mirela Stan, Andrei Ro[ca, Ramona thinking, and their research methods. The we have chosen to engage in a descriptive and Barbu, Ana Banu, paper shows not only how the Mihai Pop a self-reflective approach to files, documents, Miruna Vasilescu, Alina Manea, Fonds was shaped in the process, but also and the whole work involved in organizing Alexandru Vlad, Simona-Ioana Ghi]\. how the network of people interested in his the Fonds and less in issues related to their In the second part of work has grown and come together in this content, as we decided to emphasize the prac- the article the role of each