A Veszprém Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 23. (Veszprém, 2004)

Mészáros Veronika: Néprajzi negatívok a Balaton mellékéről. A veszprémi Laczkó Dezső Múzeum Negatívtárában található néprajzi fényképek vizsgálata

ETHNOGRAPHY NEGATIVES FROM THE BALATON REGION EXAMINATION OF ETHNOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHS FOUND IN THE NEGATIVE STORE OF THE MUSEUM „LACZKÓ DEZSŐ", VESZPRÉM This present study is linked with the preliminaries to the research project entitled, Lake Balaton at the turn of the millennium. On the track of János Jankó. My aim is to examine the ethnographic photographs found in the Negative Store of the Museum „Laczkó Dezső", Veszprém which are associated with settlements of the Balaton region, either according to subject or the spot where they were taken. A total of 20,942 photographs with an ethnographic theme are preserved in the Negative Store of Dezső Laczkó Museum. The investigation for this study involves around 2,771 photographs, which are associated with settlements of the Balaton region, either according to subject or the place they were taken. The production period of the negatives is from 1935 till 2002, though taking into account the originals of reproductions, the period starts in 1900. The photographs were taken by ethnography co-workers, museologists, restorers, museum employees and museum photographers working in the museum. Of the creators, I should like to stress the activities of Aurél Vajkai, who produced around 81.85 % of all the negatives examined. Recognising the present composition of the collection, it is necessary to survey the 2004 situation of the ethnographic photographs. Due to the 2003 order on keeping records and for other reasons, the independent Ethnography Photograph Store came into being in 2004, in which, in line with the legal stipulations, ethnographic photographs of varying techniques and resource values are registered in an inventory. Previously, only a few positive exposures (63 items) had been registered in the inventory of objects. Starting in 2004, digital picture files, i.e. digital photographs and scanned copies have been kept in the Digital Photograph Store or the Archive Photograph Store. Basically two possibilities present themselves for the expansion of the ethnographic photographic material associated with the Balaton region. On the one hand, old photographs need to be collected, so that deficiencies in the collection can be made good. On the other, photographic exposures must be produced, by means of which the existing material can be secured, thus creating a basis for the investigation of changes. The next step in the research programme will be to examine and systematise the documents and manuscripts kept in the Dezső Laczkó Museum Database, at the same time recording the photographic positives found in this collection. Numerous documents, most valuable from a research point of view, are preserved in the Ethnography Database and the Memorial Database. The slide collection found in the Photograph Store must also be examined. More than 20000 slides are on record here at the present time. Preliminary work to the research project, „On the track of János Jankó at the turn of the millennium" involves systématisation of the accumulated factual materials. This is why it has been necessary to examine the ethnographic photographs depicting the lifestyle and cultural heritage of the Balaton region, which are found in the Dezső Laczkó Museum Negative Store. I have sketched out possible deficiencies, so that conscious steps can be taken to make these good. This also provides an opportunity to develop photographic guidelines for research into the present. 254