Editing Axel Olrik (section)

===Folklore===
While a student, Olrik soon came under the influence of [[Svend Grundtvig]], and until the latter's death in 1883, was treated almost like a son. His first major scholarly work was therefore a continuation of Grundtvig's work on the Danish [[ballad]]s; with ''Danske Ridderviser'' (1898&ndash;1919) he continued the publication of ''[[Danmarks gamle Folkeviser]]'', which was in turn continued after his own death by his pupil [[Hakon Grüner-Nielsen]].<ref name=DBL/><ref name=Salmonsen>V. D., [https://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/18/0505.html "Olrik, Axel"], ''Salmonsens konversationsleksikon'', 2nd ed. Volume XVIII, p. 473, online at [[Project Runeberg]] {{in lang|da}}</ref> Olrik was able to draw more than Grundtvig on collected oral material; in 1888&ndash;89 he himself did some fieldwork collecting folksongs.<ref name=DBL/>

Grundtvig had amalgamated what he considered useful features from various versions of a folksong or ballad to produce a long, complex whole; Olrik, in contrast, sought to trace the history of the oral texts back to simple originals. He published several sample studies in ''[[Danske Studier]]'', the journal he co-founded with [[Marius Kristensen]] in 1904, and in 1899&ndash;1909, with [[Ida Falbe-Hansen]], he published a collection of reconstructed texts, ''Danske Folkeviser i Udvalg'' (Selection of Danish Folk Songs); in 1899&ndash;1904, an edition with melodic arrangements by Thomas Laub was published. These were very popular and were translated into German and English.<ref name=DBL/>

In addition to ''Danske Studier'', Olrik together with [[Henning Frederik Feilberg]] and [[H. O. Lange]] founded the Danish folklore archive (''Dansk Folkemindesamling''),<ref>Krohn, p. 8.</ref> and served as its first president. He was also the first president of Danmarks Folkeminder, an association founded in 1908, and set up its committees for the study of folklore material and of placenames, both of which are now research institutes at the University of Copenhagen. In addition, with [[Kaarle Krohn]] and [[Carl Wilhelm von Sydow|C. W. von Sydow]], he co-founded the international organisation of [[Folklore Fellows]] in 1907,<ref>Krohn, p. 7.</ref><ref>Dundes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jQ6bGz4qmWsC&q=FF+organization&pg=PA83 p. 83].</ref><ref>Pekka Hakamies, "The Centenary of Folklore Fellows' Communications", [http://www.folklorefellows.fi/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/FFN_39_low.pdf ''Folklore Fellows' Network'' 39, December 2010] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419025508/http://www.folklorefellows.fi/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/FFN_39_low.pdf |date=April 19, 2012 }}, p. 3 (pdf)</ref> and the first issue of ''[[Folklore Fellows' Communications]]'', of which he was co-editor from its inception in 1910,<ref name=Salmonsen/> consists of an account by him of the Danish folklore archive.<ref name=DBL/><ref>Krohn, p. 11.</ref><ref>Dundes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jQ6bGz4qmWsC&q=Olrik+authored+FF+Communications+No.+1&pg=PA83 p. 84].</ref> Upon his death, his professorship and with it folklore studies at the University of Copenhagen came to an end; the field was only revived in 1961.