The collecting of different material cultures has been portrayed as a popular lifestyle among folk researchers. The Sami culture has not been treated differently. George Stephens (1813-1895) was a professor at Uppsala and Copenhagen University and owner at Huseby in Småland. The essay has identified that a large number of the artefacts categorised as Sami were in fact of non-Sami background. George Stephens left the collection to the future without describing the origins of the Sami collection, leaving only notes for us to analyze. His work of historical melodies would significantly assist our searching for the truth concerning the objects including experts pinpointing the objects creators and cultural identity throughout Sápmi and history. This essay is an attempt to clarify both the cultural and historical background of said objects and to apply the Actor-Network Theory on the collections founder George Stephens. The study is based on Tetteris method of materialistisc analyzation aswell as Pearces method of specialist inclusion. The studies theory is based of Latour and Laws Actor-Network Theory, also called ANT, which maps relationships of people and intentions. A collectors network of contacts is vast, so a narrowing a network to George Stephens contacts creates the best possible approach to anwser the studies questions.

In February 2005, a collection predominantly containing medieval ballads was found in the library of Växjö. The collectors were mainly George Stephens, originally from Scotland, and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, both active in Småland in the nineteenth century. In connection with an intital inventory of the material, Magnus Gustafsson, ethnomusicologist at Smålands Musikarkiv, marked ballads of uncertain origin with a question mark. The purpose of this essay is to investigate 22 of these marked ballads. To be able to compare them with other material we have developed a method to identify differences. By means of the method both the text and the melody are compared and in addition the differences in terms of quality and quantity are assessed. We have compared the collection, named Växjö Stadsbiblioteks Stephenssamling (VSS), with the Swedish edition of medieval ballads, Sveriges Medeltida Ballader (SMB). In the comparison, a ballad forgotten since the mid nineteenth century was retrieved .

<p>In February 2005, a collection predominantly containing medieval ballads was found in the library of Växjö. The collectors were mainly George Stephens, originally from Scotland, and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, both active in Småland in the nineteenth century. In connection with an intital inventory of the material, Magnus Gustafsson, ethnomusicologist at Smålands Musikarkiv, marked ballads of uncertain origin with a question mark.</p><p>The purpose of this essay is to investigate 22 of these marked ballads. To be able to compare them with other material we have developed a method to identify differences. By means of the method both the text and the melody are compared and in addition the differences in terms of quality and quantity are assessed. We have compared the collection, named Växjö Stadsbiblioteks Stephenssamling (VSS), with the Swedish edition of medieval ballads, Sveriges Medeltida Ballader (SMB). In the comparison, a ballad forgotten since the mid nineteenth century was retrieved .</p>