Authors

• Finnish Literature Society. Archive

Keywords

car traffic, cars, driving, memories (mental objects), road travel

Abstract

The dataset consists of self-administered written texts on memories related to cars and motoring. The car memories collected range from the 1930s to the present day. The data collection was organised in collaboration between the Finnish Literature Society, the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland and Espoo Car Museum.

The writing guidelines directed participants to write about their memories of driving and what cars and driving mean to them. Participants were asked to write about their most memorable car journeys and their favourite or most infuriating car. In addition, participants were invited to consider how their relationship with cars and driving had changed over the years and how they viewed the future of motoring. Many of the received responses were biographical, often covering such topics as the participants earliest memories of cars, their relationship with cars and the changes that had occurred in that relationship, and experiences related to different car brands.

Background information included the participant's gender, year of birth, occupation, and area of residence. The data were organised into an easy to use HTML version at FSD.

The dataset is available only in Finnish.