A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 24-25. (Békéscsaba, 2003)

Nagyné Martyin Emília: People and their histories in the archive photos on Romanians living in Hungary

Emberek és sorsok a magyarországi románok archív fényképein People and their histories in the archive photos on Romanians living in Hungary - Nagyné Emília Martyin Resume The archive photos record the most important elements, events of the personal and family life. Completed with personal autobiographical interviews, comments they make us adopt a new approach to more areas of people's life, bear important information on the life-style and its changes time to time, document the culture of a certain social group, people, nationality, and the important moments of a personal life also. I carried out a survey of the Romanians in Hungary based on more hundred photos recording families, family events, persons and retained in the Erkel Ferenc Museum. The family pictures are characteristic objects of a personal environment and organic parts of a community's culture as well. The first Hungarian photograph depicting an ethnographic topic, a Transylvanian folk dress, dates back to 1843. It was at the end of 1880s when the first photos were taken on the Romanians living in Hungary, however, the custom of taking photos became widespread as late as the period between the two world wars. The archive photos mirror the individual determined by the given social environment, therefore through family photographs a picture can be drawn on the society. The series of photos give clues to the whole life of a person, relative or relation system, property status of a family. We can bring the photos under more categories: wedding photos, family group photos, incomplete family photos, soldier photos, catafalque photos, photographs taken on funerals, pictures connecting to the events of the calendar year, photos showing the community's life in the settlement. The patterns of the photos did not change for a long time, since the novelty and unknown feature of this art form created a certain culture of manner around photography. Positioning of the actors and the often romantic studio background reflected the general fancy of the age. In case of the Romanians at the outset mainly studio photos and open-air family and event photos were taken. The general effect of the pictures was certainly influenced by the photographers' taste and habits. There are typical elements on the photos, but the main point was to make not their individual but common features recognised. All pictures have got its own history and the relating biographical interviews are useful supplements of the researches in life-style, studies of changes in the form of living. Nagyné Martyin Emilia Erkel Ferenc Múzeum 5700 Gyula, Kossuth и. 17. erkelmuzeum@bhn.hu 129