A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Ethnographica 6. (Szeged, 2008)

Hanneleena Hieta: Ethnographer s and three realities - how agency and institutional tradition intertwine in the museum setting

scholarship to start a collection in 1905, and the national level inspector Vilibald Semayer from Budapest visited Szeged the same year to give advice on restoration and collection. In addition to this, Ferenc Móra, Gyula Szász and Károly Sebestyén took part in a one-month course on ethnographic collection and restoration.

16 In 1908 an ethnographic display was opened in the big hall of Szeged's cultural palace. For further development of the national museum institution, we should look at the post-WWII years. The number of museums and museum professionals grew during the 1950s. The beginning of the 1960s saw an era of conscious state-led institutionalization of Hungarian museums. In particular, the county museum law of 1963, which was in line with the more general trend of decentralization, had a beneficial effect on the institution. The already-existing smaller museums in one county were organized into a larger unit, the county museum. Although central administration retained the final say in matters concerning exhibitions and budgets, the main bulk of decision-making was conducted at the regional level.

18 All indicators spoke in favor of this solution. The numbers of visitors grew significantly. This can be seen either as proof of the increased popularity of the museums for the local population or as a boom in domestic leisure travel.

19 Not only did the numbers of visitors rise, but the number of museum professionals in all museums rose from 96 to 434 between the years 1962 and 1982. This happened mainly through employment in county museums.

20 By the end of the 1980s, there were between 4 and 6 ethnographers in every Hungarian county museum.

21 Ever since the 1960s a new generation of professionals had entered the arena. As these people treated the museum as a work place and based their work on theoretical knowledge, we could naturally call them the Hungarian counterpart of Sjöberg-Pietarinen's third generation the mediators. The period of decentralization and professionalization was reflected in Csongrád County similarly to other counties. Smaller museums of the county united under the leadership of the Móra Ferenc Museum in Szeged. The fact that funding came from the county government instead of a national central agency helped organization of the work on all levels. The new resources were directed towards archaeological excavations and other intensive research and new exhibitions and purchases, which helped work in the museum significantly. The biggest challenge during these years was the planning and building of the Opusztaszer National-Historical Memorial Park which started in the 1970s.

2 The park was a huge undertaking. In the following section, I will only focus on the ethnographical open-air museum which forms one part of the park. 16 Juhász 1989, 294-295;Juhász 1999,19. 17 Juhász 1989, 295; Lengyel 1999, 15. 18 Éri 1977, passim; Ikvai 1983, 227. 19 Ikvai 1983, 227; Éri 1983, 255; Kontler 2002, 442; Romsics 1999, 402. 20 Ikvai 1983,224. 21 Szabadfalvi 1991,27-28. 22 TYKL/spa/148/u:10:l.