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The replies from Swabia concerning the “survey” of the Bayerischer Verein für Volkskunst und Volkskunde, 1908/09

There are 77 answers in the collection, concerning the “survey” from the administrative district of Swabia. Previously submitted for Upper Bavaria were the reports from Aichach and Stotzard (community of Aindling, district of Aichach-Friedberg). With the administrative reform of 1972, the towns changed their district association. The answer from Ammerfeld (community Rennertshofen, district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen) was submitted for Swabia and today belongs to the administrative district of Upper Bavaria. In the course of time, at least 28 letters disappeared from the holdings.

Who replied?

Of 77 answers, 75 are identified by name. Two are written by female teachers, all others by males. Twice, two people responded together, making 77 people identifiable. Almost two-thirds of them were local teachers and chief teachers, almost one-fifth were pastors and other types of clergymen. About one-tenth of the answers came from officials, mostly from mayors. In two of these answers, in addition to their function within municipal administration, their occupation as farmers was mentioned as well. One answer was written by a “man of private means”. Almost two-thirds of the answers from Swabia are between one and nine pages long, a quarter contains up to 19 pages, eight are up to 29 pages long and two reach up to 34 pages. The longest contribution of 34 pages came from Daiting in the Donau-Ries district.

Population structure of the villages

In c.1900 slightly less than half of the settlements had less than 500 inhabitants, about a quarter up to 1,000 and a third over 1,000; the statistics do not contain information on social stratification. More than 90% of all places were predominantly Catholic, only six were mainly Protestant. Nearly 80% of all places were of mixed denominations. In one fifth of the places lived only Catholics. Residents of Jewish faith were only represented in new places; further religions were indicated with “other” for 20 places. The answers, however, hardly took diversity of faith or confession into account. An impression of the regional distribution is given by the map, which Torsten Gebhard presents in his essay “Bemerkungen zur volkskundlichen Umfrage” (Remarks on the Folkloristic Survey, Bayerisches Jahrbuch für Volkskunde 1986/87, p. 14). In 1999, Gerhard Willi edited all Swabian answers to the survey in “Alltag und Brauch in Bayerisch-Schwaben” (Everyday life and custom in Bavarian-Swabia). As early as in 1990, Walter Pötzl had published the answers from the district offices of Augsburg, Schwabmünchen and Zusmarshausen in “Brauchtum um die Jahrhundertwende” (Traditions around the Turn of the Century).

Selected collectibles from the “survey” of 1908/09

>> This collection concerns the “survey” of the Bayerischer Verein für Volkskunst und Volkskunde (Bavarian Society for Folk Art and Folklore) from the collection of the Institut für Volkskunde (Ethnological Institute).