Creating a Patrotic History: Historical Source-Editing as National Monument

Abstract

‘Kungliga samfundet för utgivande av handskrifter rörande Skandinaviens historia’ [Royal society for the publication of manuscripts on Scandinavian history], a society dedicated to the editing and printing of historical source documents, was founded in Stockholm in 1815. Earlier research has focused upon the editorial praxis of the society’s publication, Handlingar rörande Skandinaviens historia. Here I focus more upon the monumental and museological aspects of the society’s work. Viewed as types of national monument, source editions from the romantic era can tell us something about how history was produced and popularised during this period. The source documents printed in Handlingar served as educational tools intended to help the reader better understand history, specifically in this case the history of Sweden. But such editions also functioned – like a museum or a monument – as triggers for emotions, memory, and historicity, and like those other institutions, romantic-period source editions played a significant role in the construction and negotiation of national memory and heritage.