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The paper discusses the content of one of the largest folklore archives in Russia belonging to the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Karelian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Systematic work of collecting folklore, carried out for more than 100 years, contributed to the creation of archives reflecting the historical events of an entire era. In the 1930s a new historical period began, giving life to the new forms of epic art — the so-called “novinas,” held in the Archive. During the Great World War, prisoners of the Finnish concentration camps created the so-called pieces of camp folklore, reviving the genre of lamentation. In the postwar period, researches were urged to deal with “Soviet” folklore, and not with the “frozen” forms of folk art. The archival materials collected among the representatives of deported people — Ingrian Finns — bear witness of the historical time. In the second half of the 20th century ideological pressure in the folkloristic studies continued, as superstitions and prejudices were sought to be eradicated, and the collection of folklore reflecting folk religious beliefs was not welcomed.