Zwischen Folklore-Forschung, Anthropologie und Journalismus

Abstract

Based on the publication Légendes et curiosités des métiers (1895) by the French folklorist Paul Sébillot (1843–1918), this article, in an exemplary and exploratory manner, discusses the connections between early works in the field of folklore studies and journalistic publication formats. The use of diverse source material and the conception of the publication as text oscillating between academic and ‘popular’ reading material are interpreted in two ways: on the one hand, they are examined concerning the scientific identity, the working method, and the oeuvre of Sébillot. On the other hand, they are placed in the context of recent considerations of nineteenth-century journalistic and literary formats as important source material for the historiography of social sciences.