Of the older collections of folklore all the great collections of Svend Grundtvig (1825—1883, the celebrated editor of ballads, professor in the university of Copenhagen) are incorporated in DFS. Collections anterior to this (e. g. the ballad-books of 16th and 17th centuries) are scattered in several public libraries.
The intention of DFS has hitherto been: 1) to complete the collection from oral tradition, 2) to arrange and book the Danisch tradition in a systematical way. A little hand-library is connected with the MS collection; the large folkloristical library (c. 3,000 volumes) of dr. H. F. Feilberg belongs testamentary to DFS, but is yet in its owner's possesion. The great MS collection of Evald Tang Kristensen is for some part (fairy tales) incorporated in DFS, for some part only deposed, and still a part of the collection remains with the collector himself (living in Vejle, Jutland).
DFS contains these sections: I) MS of Svend Grundtvig, II) The New Collection, III) MS of Evald Tang Kristensen, IV) Phonographical Section.
In the following pages will be given an abridged catalogue of its contents. (O means: original MS of the collector, C copy, XC exerpt, P scraps of Journals etc., CAT catalogues, CLL collectanea).
