DOCUMENTARY COLLECTION
The Ethnographic Museum is one of the rare museums that shortly after its foundation in 1919 established the first documentary collections. The Museum’s documentation includes professional and scientific material related to object collections and field work, as well as archival material related to the establishment of the Museum and its development. Vladimir Tkalčić, the first Curator of the Museum, combined the museological, historiographic and ethnographic approach and introduced the first records of the museum objects and field research into the museum documentation. Through their work, in addition to caring for objects, museum employees also create new cultural values. The Documentation Department collects and stores the results of this work. Apart from exhibition activity, the documentation follows the museum actions, events and educational activities.
When the Museum was founded, several ethnographic collections, which included national and non-European objects, entered the museum’s holdings. Today, the museum collections contain over 85,000 objects. The collection of records related to the museum holdings is the basic professional and scientific documentation material. The material that also helps in the interpretation of the museum objects is a collection of image and sound recordings (photographs, negatives, slides, film and sound recordings) created in the early 1920s thanks to field research. Due to their value, these records have become a cultural asset. Thanks to modern technology, multimedia records that have imposed themselves with their quality and communication capabilities are also used in museum activities and are preserved as a source of data.
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LIBRARY
The Ethnographic Museum Library has been operating for over 100 years as an information center for all experts in the field of ethnology and cultural anthropology, as well as other social and human sciences. It was founded in 1920 as a separate department of the Museum, and the first books in the library were a gift from the then director of the Museum, Salomon Berger, and the later director, Vladimir Tkalčić.
The Ethnographic Museum Library is a special library with restricted access. Its users are all museum employees, but also numerous other experts from related institutions, as well as students of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, or students of the Faculty of Textile Technology. The acquisition policy is primarily shaped by the needs of the employees of the Ethnographic Museum. In addition to professional literature in the field of ethnology and cultural anthropology, materials of a museological nature and culturally relevant materials that match the profile of the Museum are also acquired. In addition to acquisition, the library’s holdings are also increased by donations and exchanges supported by long-standing cooperation and exchange of materials with 50 institutions in Croatia and 150 abroad.
The library holdings include significant works such as Alberto Fortis’s Viaggio in Dalmazia (Venice, 1774), Carrara’s La Dalmazia descrita (Zara, 1846), Krauss’s Anthropophyteia (Leipzig, 1904-), and other rare and valuable publications. The library owns almost all relevant periodicals published in our region in the last hundred years, as well as numerous foreign ethnographic journals.
Currently, the library holdings contain about 25,000 volumes of books and journals.
Since 1993, the library materials have been integrated into the Crolist system, their content is processed according to UDC and keywords, and since 2013, records have been entered into the Zaki library system.
Work with users takes place daily – provision of information, thematic searches, borrowing, inspection of materials, etc., whereby internal users (Museum employees) can borrow materials, while external users (experts in the field of ethnology and cultural anthropology, colleagues from other museums and libraries, students, etc.) have the opportunity to use library materials within the library premises. Membership fees and late fees are not charged, which contributes to the openness and inclusiveness of the Library.
The Library also carries out educational activities and, with prior agreement with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, students in the 3rd year of the undergraduate study of information sciences and the 2nd year of the graduate study of library science can do an internship in the Library of the Ethnographic Museum. The library is available for professional and scientific work with advance notice.
Opening hours for external users: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm or by appointment.
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RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION WORKSHOPS
Since its founding, the Museum employees have taken care for the museum’s holdings, but it was not until the 1960s that departments were formed, with the conservation and preparation workshops becoming part of the Joint Technical Services of the Museum. With the adoption of a new rulebook in 1977, the Conservation and Preparatory Service became part of the Professional and Scientific Department.
Conservation and Restoration Workshop for Textiles
The Conservation and Restoration Workshop for Textiles of the Ethnographic Museum is responsible for the protection of textiles, as well as other sensitive museum materials, which includes checking the condition of the objects, the implementation of preventive conservation measures and complex conservation-restoration procedures.
Preventive conservation works include activities that prevent or slow down the deterioration of the museum holdings by using pH-neutral agents and materials when processing the material and by ensuring optimal storage conditions. The interventions are planned with the Curator in charge of the particular collection.
When it is necessary to carry out conservation and restoration work, ethical guidelines applied include minimal interventions, the use of reversible methods, and documentation of all phases of work. Each object is approached individually, and in addition to the procedure, great attention is also paid to research that contribute to a better understanding of the objects and the collection.
Conservation and Restoration Workshop for Wood, Ceramics, Stone and Metal
The scope of work in the Workshop includes preventive conservation and complex conservation and restoration interventions on objects made of wood, ceramics, stone and metal. In order to protect the material as best as possible, interventions are planned with the responsible Curator – the head of a particular collection – depending on the type of material, the condition of the object, or the categorization of damage. To preserve the original form, the Workshop also makes molds and plaster casts of museum objects that tend to deteriorate quickly (e.g. ritual pastries).
In addition to primary tasks, the Workshop’s work includes the production of various decorative and auxiliary technical elements, as well as general technical support for the needs of occasional and visiting exhibitions.
Kontakt
Adrijana Gašparić
Head of the Department of Restoration and Conservation
T +385 1 4826 220
CORE ACTIVITIES
The Ethnographic Museum has overseen the implementation of the first level of core activity for ethnographic museums, collections and materials since 2004.
Core activity is an organized form of professional activity carried out by the main museums through the Museum System of the Republic of Croatia with the aim of improving the quality of museum activities by establishing uniform standards and norms (Art. 4 of the Rulebook on the Method and Criteria for Connection to the Museum System of the Republic of Croatia) through professional supervision and professional assistance in improving professional work and coordinating work within the Museum System.
Purpose and goals
- a unified professional approach to performing museum activities (Art. 2 of the Rulebook on the Method and Criteria for Connection to the Museum System of the Republic of Croatia)/developing standards of activities,
- promoting the dissemination of museum projects and events,
- encouraging and supporting the better functioning of museums in terms of preservation, protection, scientific research, and promotion of museum heritage, as well as the museum’s social role,
- supporting work standards in all aspects of museum activities and work,
- strengthening inter-museum cooperation as well as cooperation between experts inside and outside museums through joint projects and mutual exchange of activities, services and advice,
- strengthening links and supporting partnerships between museums and other local, regional and national heritage and cultural institutions with the aim of joint and/or complementary projects.
The Museum Documentation Center is the central body of the Museum System of the Republic of Croatia. All museums founded by the Republic of Croatia or units of local and regional self-government, are connected to the Museum System of the Republic of Croatia in order to apply a unified professional approach to performing museum activities.
Kontakt
Danijela Križanec-Beganović
First-level registrar for ethnographic museums and collections
T +385 1 4826 220