The digital search service has been developed in the Digital Access to the Sámi Heritage Archives project, coordinated by University of Lapland. The main organizer of the international name competition was the Sámi Archives in Norway, and the competition was targeted primarily at Sámi communities.

Nuohtti, the name of the new search service, literally refers to a long fishing net, which is used in shallow waters. Nuohtti is a good metaphor for a digital service that collects archival materials held by various memory organizations available to its users. With Nuohtti, it is possible to trace original historical materials about the Sámi and Sámi culture across Europe from a single web address, and explore already digitized archive materials. The service also provides information on Sámi materials that have not yet been digitized.

As part of the work related to the development of Nuohtti, the project has mapped archival material related to the Sámi cultural heritage in various European memory organizations. A total of 59 European organizations have reported that they have materials on the Sámi in their collections, and more than 40 of them had begun digitizing the material. The construction of the search portal is currently in the final stage.

Digital Access to the Sámi Heritage Archives is a joint Nordic project funded by the Interreg Nord program (2018–2021). The project is led by prof. Jonna Häkkilä, University of Lapland. The project partners are the Sámi Archives in Finland (Inari), the Sámi Archives in Norway (Kautokeino), University of Oulu, and Umeå University.

See more information at the project website: https://digisamiarchives.com

More information:

Professor Jonna Häkkilä, PI, University of Lapland
jonna.hakkila@ulapland.fi, +358-40-4844203

Maija Mäkikalli, project manager, Sámi Archives / Finnish National Archives
maija.makikalli@arkisto.fi, +358-46-9237162