Földessy Edina, Szűcs Alexandra, Wilhelm Gábor: Tabula 3/1 (Néprajzi Közlemények; Budapest, 2000)

FEJŐS ZOLTÁN: A néprajzi gyűjtemények tudományos perspektívái

STOCKING, GEORGE W.. JR., ED. 1985 Objects and Others. Essays on Museums and Material Culture. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. SZEMKEŐ ENDRE 1997 Törekvések az önálló Néprajzi Múzeum megteremtésére. Néprajzi Értesítő 79:57-83. VOIGT VILMOS 1984 Tárgyak és folklór, avagy mit is kell nézni a múzeumi tárgyakban, amikor az egyik olyan, mint a mások. In Folklór, életmód, tudománytörténet. Tanulmányok Dömötör Tekla 70. születésnapjára. 267-272. Budapest: MTA Néprajzi Kutató Csoport. 1987 Modern magyar folklorisztikai tanulmányok. Debrecen: KLTE Néprajzi Tanszék. 1990 A folklorizmusról. Debrecen: KLTE Néprajzi Tanszék. ZOLTAI LAJOS 1914 Magyar néprajzi gyűjtés 75 év előtt. Néprajzi Értesítő I 5:285-289. ZOLTÁN FEJŐS Scientific perspectives of ethnographic collections It is possible to evaluate and to analyse the role scientific principles have played in ethnographic collecting activities and museum's work in generál. In this respect the paper focuses on the case of the Museum of Ethnography of Budapest as the largest and most important collection in Hungary. Its establishment at the end of the I9th Century showed not only the increasing presence of a new collector but also the forming of ethnography and of its field of study. The meaning of the concept 'ethnographic artefact' had been for the founders of the new discipline relatively clear-cut and through theoretical arguments and practical experiences reinforced, although scholars did perceive some inconsistencies with regard to it. At the beginning of the 20th Century the collections' conceptual and geographica! definitions became Consolidated and they have influenced until now the basic line of investigations. At present there are four aspects to be discussed in case of the relationship between ethnographic collections and scientific principles. The first is the necessity of an analysis from the point of view of a history of science. The second is the problem of methodology, the third concerns with the theoretical relations between collections and scientific analysis, and the fourth is about the present and future situations. This essay deals particularly with the last question. Two examples from the Museum of Ethnography and two cases from abroad will be introduced and discussed.