From the beginning, the Folklore Society has committed itself to publishing to a wide audience. Since the 1830s oral stories have been collected among Norwegian peasants, sailors, and students. The most important of these sources (collected by
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and
Jørgen Moe,
Sophus Bugge,
Moltke Moe, etc.), led to the creation of Norsk Folkeminnesamling (NFS). By 1914, these materials had become entered the public domain. Nevertheless, archives were essentially inaccessible to ordinary people. The same applied to other collections (i.e. Johan Theodor Storaker etc.), which were taken care of at the Manuscript Collection in the
University Library of Oslo (now the
National Library of Norway, Oslo). NFL in particular emphasized folklore genres, beliefs, and customs that were linearly passed on from one generation to the next. While the early editions were systematically parent material collections the books in recent years have been more focused on historical context and commentary, with book decor, illustrations, hardback, and bindings. Earlier the Norwegian Folklore Society was most focused on making available the already collected material at NFS. This was done to refute allegations that the reconstruction of such a central archive would only cause the material exclusively reserved for a small circle of scholars. It was an explicit national program to make sure the oral sources in published form should be returned to the areas where they were originally collected. At the same time, the releases were meant to be a tribute to the collectors, and a way to encourage them to continue their efforts to save important oral culture that surrounded them in everyday life. ==The purpose of the Folklore Society's business==