Hírközlési Múzeumi Alapítvány, Évkönyv, 2006
Rövid tartalmi összefoglaló angol nyelven
István Kurucz Preface All museums emphasize continuity and warn that when shaping the future in the present, one must rely on the past. Perhaps the dedication in this yearbook tells us the same thing. We can still hear the words of farewell in our previous yearbook from Mrs. Gergely Kovács, our former manager and museum director, in which she reviewed her twenty years on the job and voiced her thanks for the opportunity. We clearly remember what she said about her work and professional family when reminiscing on her many years in the profession. We can still see the images of her farewell ceremony though we are surrounded by the continuity of the matters she believed important and did much to achieve. Now, by way of introduction, our new director, László Egervári is presenting the concepts and targets of the foundation. It is good to read the forward-pointing plans of a leader at the very start of his activity. It is good to know that he relies on achievements to date as building blocks, and feels no need to change them. But, since things always change with the times, nothing is truly exempted from change. Therefore, the process of revisiting achievements, of thrift, of seeking new funding, and applying new methods are sure to lead to new achievement. When reading the finished manuscript for the yearbook, I admit that I always wonder what to stress and recommend to readers, since every article is interesting and important, although for different reasons. Others have already pulled the ones that do not belong -1 think - while the table of contents tells readers about the entire contents. Our readers already know how the book is edited and structured. They know that we include reports on the business, administrative and scientific activity of the year in question, as well as on exhibitions and other programmes we have offered. Even I enjoy this review of the past year. Working plans for the coming years tell us what the museums are planning, what they intend to realize. I know how hard it is to adjust dreams to possibility, but having goals is important. The set of História domus offers brief day-to-day outlines of activity. They are interesting and document who did what and where. They show what happened in the museums, who visited us, and what exhibitions and other programmes we had. The language is less formal than the preceding reports, as though the authors were speaking to family, the way we might talk to one another at home. Events connected to various anniversaries are reviewed at scientific depth. We generally have several of these events each year. Piroska Farkas Krizsák has described the birth of the 125-year-old Hungarian telephone for us who live in an era when there are more handsets than people. Do we ever think about how the telephone has changed our lives? Does anyone remember that as little as 20 years ago, people had to wait for years before getting a landline phone installed? Does anyone remember the heated disputes over whether an application for a telephone line could be inherited? Today’s 20-year-olds who use their mobile phones to surf the Internet or send text messages have no idea what I am talking about. Today, we receive signals from distant planets that we can shape into images, while a century ago we had just begun transmitting experimental signals here on earth, as we 206
