Major Trends in the Conception of Ethnographic Museum Materials in the Works of Czech Ethnologists and Museologists before 1989

• Authors: Kirsch Otakar

Title variants

CS

Hlavní tendence pojetí etnografického muzejního materiálu v dílech českých etnologů a muzeologů do roku 1989

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

Ethnographic material, as a research topic, appeared in Czech museums as early as at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as a direct result of the Czechoslavic Ethnographic Exhibition (Prague 1895). However, it was more intensively reflected only after 1918, especially in connection with the support to regional research into folk culture (e.g. D. Stránská, A. Václavík) and with the promotion of general museological principles (L. Lábek, J. F. Svoboda). The phenomenon was, however, grasped in a more comprehensive way only with the onset of Communist rule. The specific environment of that time created suitable conditions for unique concepts which sought to closely interconnect theory and practice and which were thematically focussed on collectioncreating, presentation and educational activities of museums. The research interest was divided into two main lines. The first one featured efforts to analyse authentic movable material (L. Kunz, H. Johnová, R. Suk); the second stream worked with a broader concept of the ethnographic collection object in which it included building and natural elements, while it strongly emphasised intangible cultural heritage (J. Langer, J. Štika). The work of Josef Beneš, who attempted to create a coherent system, called ethnographic museology, based on existing knowledge had a special position.

Keywords

EN

Ethnographic museology; development of ethnography and museology; museum collection objects; history of museological thinking in the Czech lands; ethnographic material in museums

• Publisher: The National Institute of Folk Culture
• Journal: Národopisná revue (Journal of Ethnology)
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 188 - 203

Contributors

author

Kirsch Otakar