Page:Transactions of the Second International Folk-Congress.djvu/17

 TRANSACTIONS

Second international Folk-Lore Congress.

INTRODUCTION.

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the close of the first International Folk-lore Congress, held at Paris in August 1889, the following "vœu" was formulated: "Que des congrès internationaux de traditions populaires se réunissent tous les deux ou trois ans et que la prochaine réunion se tienne à Londres." Mr. Charles Leland accepted the task of formally bringing this motion before the Folk-lore Society, and of taking the necessary steps to organise the next Congress.

Mr. Leland placed himself in communication with the Council of the Folk-lore Society, and met with immediate and ready response to his appeal, that its members should, individually and collectively, interest themselves in the organisation of the forthcoming Congress. Preliminary meetings were held in the spring of 1890, at which the date of the meeting was agreed upon and an Organising Committee was appointed, a list of whose members will be found on p. vii of this volume.

The Organising Committee met for the first time in July 1890, and continued meeting until the 4th of February 1891, by which time the main outlines of the Congress had been laid down, the details being left to be worked out by the sub-committees. A substantial guarantee-fund was raised (a list of the guarantors will be found p. viii), and sufficient adhesions secured to ensure the material