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

N. Szabó Magdolna: Adatok a hazai háziipar reprezentációjához az országos és a világkiállításokon (1872-1900)

Data on the Representation of Hungarian Domestic Industry at National and World Exhibitions (1872-1900) by MAGDOLNA N. SZABÓ Regarding the history of Hungarian domestic industry, present study introduces important exhibitions organized in the last third of the 19

Ih century, as well as participations at world exhibitions. In the period between 1872 when the National Exhibition of Applied Art was organized in Kecskemét and the Paris Expo of 1900, the most significant opportunities of presentation are surveyed, focusing on different representations of Hungarian domestic industries and the territorial distribution of their branches, together with the articles on display. In the studied period state social measures and industrialization endeavours - also with the help of organizing exhibitions - increased the publicity of this remarkable kind of production both in Hungary and abroad. In the period before 1870, domestic industry was not so well known as after the success of Hungarian domestic industry at the Vienna Expo of 1873. After this, industrial displays were organized introducing the activity of craftsmen from all over the country. Besides the Vienna (1873) and the Paris Expo (1900) we also discuss exhibitions held within Hungary: Kecskemét (1872), Szeged (1876, 1899) and Székesfehérvár (1879). In a separate chapter we present the national exhibitions employing ethnographical elements to display the life style of the agrarian population of the country. Such an exhibition was organised in Budapest in 1885 entitled the National General Exhibition, as well as a decade later the millennium exhibition in 1896. We discuss the "publicity" of domestic industry, together with its changing presentations and influences with the help of official reports, printed catalogues, newspaper articles and archival data on the process of organization. Based on this a list of household articles have been chosen representing Hungarian domestic industry, at the same time giving insight into the material culture and craftsmanship of each region. Documentation of the exhibitions may serve as excellent data for scholars studying the history of industry and handicraft trade. They give information on the handicraft trade providing a living for thousands of families, also on the distinction between everyday and representative objects and on the significance of domestic industry in economic history.