Savaria - A Vas Megyei Múzeumok értesítője 30. (2006) (Szombathely, 2007)

Néprajz - Illés Péter: A tárgyak útja a magángyűjteménytől a múzeumi gyűjteményig – egy regionális esettanulmány

SAVARIA AVAS MEGYEI MUZEUMOK ÉRTESÍTŐJE, 30 Szombathely, 2006 A TÁRGYAK ÚTJA A MAGÁNGYŰJTEMÉNYTŐL A MÚZEUMI GYŰJTEMÉNYIG - EGY REGIONÁLIS ESETTANULMÁNY ILLÉS Péter Savaria Múzeum Néprajzi Osztály H-9700 Szombathely, Kisfaludy S. u. 9., Hungary E-mail: neprajz@savariamuseum.hu THE PATH TAKEN BY OBJECTS FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS TO MUSEUM COLLECTIONS. A CASE STUDY The objects in a museum collection are results of specific socio-cultural processes. During the modern period in Europe, institutions arose to acquire artefacts indicative of the past, but such museums exist under specific sets of social conditions. The fate of artefacts is influenced by an attitude based on indication: selecting objects and divorcing them from their context. This change of context appears to secure the safety of objects and their conventional meanings. So absorbing a private collection into a museum collection lends a special status to the objects acquired. Although such a collection has come into being independently from researchers, it becomes involved in museum processes. The coincidence of patterns in materials found in this borderline situation raises many questions and may call for rethinking some ethnographical aspects. The Gonda Bequest of 121 items entered the ethnographical collection of the Savaria Museum in 2005, and investigation of it has been exciting work. György Gonda (1923—2000) was president of Vas County Council from 1957 to 1978. His life in the second half of the 20th century was bound up with the county and its capital, Szombathely. He was atypical as a local politician in maintaining strong links with cultural life. The study seeks to show and interpret some "key objects" in relation to the idea of an "ethnographical object", while comparing this group of artefacts with others in different ethnographical collections and arriving at models for some aspects. Simultaneously, it could be instructive to take a regional approach of placing the objects in the context of other collections in the Vas County museum system. 361