Rikard Berge (7 November 1881 – 26 September 1969) was a Norwegian

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

, museologist biographer and magazine editor.

Biography

Rikard Gjermundsen Berge was born in

Rauland Rauland is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1860 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Vinje Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Raulandsgrend (also known ...

in Vinje,

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

, Norway. He was the son of Geirmund Hallvordsson (1857–1926) and Sigrid Rikardsdotter Berge (1854–1943). Berge started writing down traditional folklore from the rural districts of Telemark from he was twelve years old. From 1908 he was married to the painter Johanna Bugge (1874–1961), daughter of Sophus Bugge (1833–1907) and Karen Sophie Schreiner (1835–1897). Her father was professor of philology, Indo-European linguistics and Old Norse at Christiania University (now

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

). Berge inherited the collections of folk songs from his father-in-law. In 1907 Berge helped establish the Kviteseid District Museum and in 1909 the Fyresdal Local History Museum. He was curator of the Telemark Museum from 1916 to 1951. Berge wrote mostly about of folk culture and music. He published two journals: ''Norsk bondesylv'' from 1925 and the series ''Bygdedikting fraa Telemarki'' (23 volumes, from 1907 to 1933). Among his works are biographies of the fiddlers Myllarguten (1908) and Håvard Gibøen (1932). He also edited the magazine ''Norsk folkekultur'' from 1915 to 1935.

References

1881 births 1969 deaths People from Vinje Norwegian folklorists Norwegian curators Norwegian magazine editors Norwegian biographers Norwegian male writers Norwegian male biographers {{Norway-writer-stub