Private
MUSEUMS
Raport z badań
Local collections Research report _11
www.muzeaprywatne.blogspot.com
The research project ‘Private museums, local collections. Researching new cultural landscape’ has been conducted within the programme ‘Obserwatorium kultury’, which was financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province.
Authors of Report: Monika Maciejewska, Longin Graczyk Preparation of Research Tools: Monika Maciejewska, Longin Graczyk, Małgorzata Jaszczołt, Anna Kulikowska Conduct of Research: Monika Maciejewska Longin Graczyk Krzysztof Badziusz Malgorzata Czyzewska Malgorzata Jaszczolt Joanna Kozera Anna Kulikowska Monika Samoraj The Objects Anthropology and Museology Scientific Association at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw Ph. D. Katarzyna Waszczynska Ewa Nizinska Agata Rybus Translation: Magdalena Kargol Proofreading: Dominika Harmuszkiewicz Lukasz Sulima Judyta Blaszczyk Diana Lobodzinska Iga Marciniak Anna Goj Design: Edyta Ołdak ̶ Mediaschool.pl
Table of contents PART I 1. Introduction 13 Arranging 14 About usefulness 15 Philosophical historians of things 15 Processes 16 Museum on the borderline? 17
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2. The method Genesis and reason for the research Statistics and anti-statistics Criteria Collection (of research data) What did we avoid? Approach to objects Three museums Photographic documentation Documentation
20 20 21 25 27 28 29 31 32 33
3. Collections’ creators, private museums’ administrators Men’s occupation? Experts uncertain about their education A freak, an outsider, an eccentric or a leader? Public roles, private collections Strangers or locals? Near and distant neighbours Neither local nor strange
35 35 36 38 39 41 41 43
4. Form, status, financing, and role of private museums Founding myth Motivations and ideas: ● First – Patrimony ● Second – Past as the collection’s subject ● Third – World to be (re)created ● Fourth – ‚Do something your own way’ ● Fifth – Loving locality: the present space ● Sixth – Civic virtue and behaviour models (in a community)
45 45 45 45 46 47 48 48 49
● Seventh – Future as the collection’s subject Demographics: age, name, origin This museum is neither beautiful nor rich Not new and not a museum National Register of Museums Problems with the law Problems and museum-related piracy. This museum was not founded for money Costs, expenditures, budget A non-governmental one-person company About the concerns 5. The neighbourhood Collector’s wife Collector’s wife 1) An assistant, a co-founder, and a guard of common sense 2) House opposition 3) Collector’s asylum Summary Children a) ‘Passive’ / ‚Absent’ attitude b) ‘Approving’ attitude c) ‘Involved’ (in the collecting) attitude d) If not children then who? Neighbours are Community of acquaintances: collectors, gatherers, traders, buddies Local cultural institutions (public) Local authorities Financial threat to local self-government Museum per resident Local self-government versus private museum? The farther, the better 6. Exhibits – characteristics In the beginning there was an object Relative numbers, because ‘art is art’ Non-exhibited objects Purchased, obtained or acquired Story as a proper object Derusting. Clearing. Renovation. Conservation Inventory, catalogues, registers
49 50 51 52 53 55 57 58 60 62 64 66 66 66 67 68 69 70 70 70 70 70 71 71 72 72 74 75 75 76 76 80 80 81 83 84 85 86 90 _5
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7. Exposition forms and methods, space and its arrangement Private Public Space Non-available space Travelling museum Areas of senses Collection ingredients: mixture, composition, homogeneity Space-time compilation Heterotopia, hybrid, eclecticism
93 93 95 96 96 97 99 101
8. Education School children Universities Universities of the Third Age Workshops
103 104 104 105 106
9. Promotion I don’t need promotion Extensive promotion Two ends of continuum, but what about the in-between? Summary
107 108 109 109 110
10. The audience Nobody is forced Various people How do visitors get to museums? Viewers or listeners?
112 112 113 114 115
11. On the Internet Functionality Locality. Connection with a place, connection with a subject Virtual museums
116 117 117 118
12. Public/private Museums’ owners. Public person in a private place? Places. Private person in a public place?
119 120 121
PART II 1. Main problems a) Legal status b) Financing of the activity or specific investments c) Preparation of museum collections d) Co-operation with institutions/ (state-owned, owned by a local self-government, cultural, private) entities e) What’s next with private museums/collections? f) Does ‘durability’ define a museum? (Krzysztof Pomian)
123 123 123 123 123 123 123 123
2. Recommendations I Our recommendations II Guests recommendations a) ’Z Siedziba w Warszawie’ Association b) How to get to teachers? Arkadiusz Ciechalski, Group of CKR schools in Kowal c) From the lawyer’s point of view, Pawel Zaniewski, Museum of Arms and Applied Technology in Kobylka d) Justyna Malinowska, Director of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Tourism Organisation’s office
124 124 126 127
3. Photographic appendices. Visual reflections.
133
128 128 130
4. Articles. Reflections from the research. 147 1. Małgorzata Jaszczołt, Private museum as a museum of emotions, that is emotion/ human/object/story/place, czyli wzruszenie/człowiek/rzecz/opowieść/miejsce 148 2. Joanna Kozera, Collecting is a kind of a disease 167 3. Anna Kulikowska, To touch the memory – object specification on the basis of the research in Folk Culture Park in Kuligow 175 5. Review: Prof. Wojciech Jozef Burszta
181
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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The project, research and report
We are presenting you with the report entitled ‘Private museums, local collections. Researching new cultural landscape’ [Pol. Muzea prywatne, kolekcje lokalne. Badanie nowej przestrzeni kulturowej], which came into existence thanks to the funds within the programme ‚Obserwatorium kultury’ of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and subsidies of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province. The research was conducted between March and November 2012 in Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Mazowieckie Provinces, as well as on the Internet, within areas concerning described issues and places. The main goal of the research was to gain knowledge and understanding of contemporary cultural practices related to frequently established private museums in Poland. We were aiming at obtaining possibly complete documentation of this phenomena in three main aspects: ■ diagnosis of the creation process, administration and functioning of private museums, ■ characteristics of private museums and various related aspects, ■ analysis of the reception of private museums in local and supralocal communities, taking into consideration social, economic, political and cultural context. _8
The research refers to persons running their own museums - these are mostly one-person museums facing legal, economic and social difficulties. They create private cultural mini-institutions which are something more than just ‘typical’ museums. The research has been prepared on the basis of the materials and documentation collected in the following stages: vetting the field as well as carrying out a survey (also online); field works and interviews with private museums’ owners, their families, neighbours, visitors, representatives of local administration and institutions, as well as direct phone and e-mail polls aiming at understanding the museum activity. Moreover, we interviewed people not directly related to the researched museums, and made search queries on websites. The materials have been complemented with analytical elaboration of photographic, film and iconographic documentation, as well as researchers’ notes from observations, and the blog created for this particular purpose: Dziennik Badan Muzeow Prywatnych (http://muzeaprywatne.blogspot.com). We are presenting the analysis of the cultural space created by people defined in the description as owners, private museums’ administrators, collectors, gatherers, and sometimes collecting enthusiasts. Similarly,
we present the characteristics of the very phenomenon, representation and forms of the activity, namely: private collecting, museum administration and management, or gathering. We avoided scientific definitions, using descriptions and notions gained from our interlocutors and respondents instead. Gathering and collecting various elements of the surrounding reality had been present since prehistoric times, and as many researchers confirm – for instance cultural anthropologists – it has a universal meaning. In the report we used notions referring to particular cultural practices: gathering, collecting, creating collections, displaying collections. Notions and definitions used in the report also refer to the reference literature, as well as to the current analysis of museums and collections (see: Bibliography: Krzysztof Pomian, Zbieracze i osobliwosci; Martin Sommer, Zbieranie. Proba filozoficznego ujecia; Renata Tanczuk, Ars Colligendi). One of the important results of the conducted research refers to how creators and participants of collection practices define the activity, its scope, and other notions.
process. We believe that further research on private museums should be conducted, in order to expand knowledge on the phenomenon, which is so distant from popular forms of cultural expression.
We wanted to show how complex the aspects, related to gatherers/collectors’ activity and museums run by them in Poland in 2012, can be. From the research results that new, but at the same time not new, cultural landscape cannot be easily interpreted. We attempted to diagnose a very complex and spontaneous phenomenon, pointing out to possible directions of research and interpretation of the observed
We would like to thank all who contributed to the creation of this report – especially the private museums’ owners and visitors, as well as the website collections.pl and its users. We encourage you to read the report, and wait for your remarks and comments.
The report consists of four parts, each provided with an introduction and a description of the research conceptualization. In the consecutive chapters we can find diagnoses and characteristics of various aspects related to the functioning of private museums, both of them based on the analysis of the materials gathered during the field works. We also attached recommendations, which are only suggestions for private museums’ owners, administrations, and participants of cultural practices. The recommendations were formulated with the conviction that researching also means participation in culture, but in a form of a commitment towards recipients. The report was concluded with the reflections from the research, presented in three articles, and also in a form of an analysis, of the visual sphere of the researched cultural practices.
The team of the ‘Private museums, local collections’ project
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Raport z badań
The research report
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PART I
1. INTRODUCTION
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I am 80 years old and I have an agreement with God… because I haven’t got all that junk yet, I still need some which people have, but they don’t want to sell it to me, even though they don’t use it, and I don’t have them (…). I don’t care about age, but I want to preserve them, I want to put them in some proper order. Then I will look at it, it will be nice, I will be happy, but God told me that I won’t do this until I am 150.
This is a story about collecting things, the value of which is measured with emotions. Collections most frequently contain object from the past, but not always. This conviction can be broken, for example by the collection of intangible palindromes (over four thousands of them). It turns out that the essence of collecting is not the very object, but everything what is done to preserve, save, and maintain it. Does it make things immortal? Are there some kind of ‘magical’ operations that set objects free from time? Certainly yes. Mr Marian Pietrzak from Sokolow does have ‘an agreement with God’, doesn’t he? Creating a collection and putting it in a particular order is the most significant thing. Collection and exhibition works have been recently gaining ground in Poland. The attempt to describe a dozen or so chosen private museums showed
how complex and emotional museum activities really are. They are close to these magical operations that were mentioned and full of passion, conviction, determination in getting and looking for, as one of the collectors said, they are driven by curiosity, and as Krzystof Pomian claimed, not only those who collect and present are involved in them, but also participants of these presentations. We observe the phenomenon that portrays a change in the Polish culture. We understand culture as technical and usable tools created by people, as well as sets of codes and beliefs undergoing constant reconstruction. While researching museums, we touched upon the problem of memory and places where memory is enshrined and created. Descriptions of memory processes provided by Aleida and Jan Assamann were particularly inspiring. _13
They distinguished the role of oral and written memory media, and Aleida Assmann defined them as two main sources of cultural memory: ars (art of remembering, mnemonic) and vis (set of operations and artefacts building and strengthening collective identity). She pointed out the existence of opposition between history and memory in the discourse concerning remembering (‘history is situated in ars,
whereas memory is situated in vis processes’). In the research we can see that museums play a role of both storerooms and places of memory. Tadeusz Barankiewicz (Village Musuem in Garwolin): As long as I live, I will be happy that I managed to save it, I will maintain it. I think that it won’t be scrapped. I think it is not in vain. Because I want it to stay here. But will it stay here? It is hard to say.
Arranging It seems impossible to order, arrange and construct a collection from collected objects (artefacts). However, as the owners of those collections say, believing in what they do and in fulfilling their mission plays the most important role. Apart from the reference to God, museum founders also mention ‘strange power’, ‘feeling and enlightenment’, need to do something valuable in life, commitment to the society and the homeland, concerns about future generations, as well as commitments towards the youngest, to ‘make them know’. The will to pursue one’s passions and ideas is very often accompanied by inertia, standstill, and indifference of other people. However, nothing would happen without cultural canons passed on by parents or older generations. And here we talk about canons concerning behaviour models, relationships, and functioning in life, rather than those related directly to collecting. In 2012 we conducted several dozens of conversations about objects, collection and presentation. We quickly realised
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that those conversations were about emotions, acting, memories, searching, doubts and convictions. Some of them were superficial and cautious, whereas others were detailed remarks, reflections and descriptions of consecutive stages of interlocutors’ lives. What is most intriguing in private museums, is that there is no clear-cut boundary between the private and the public space. Collections are between those two spaces, in a cultural buffer – they are not just private anymore, and the space in which they are presented is not entirely public. The main assumption of the research was a diagnosis of the following phenomenon: creation of private museums and spontaneous activity of collectors and gatherers exhibiting their collections. Private museums constitute a place where the private and the public meet. Very often they are separated by liquid and hybrid creation of human relationships. Collected objects, exhibited and presented according to certain rules (which we wanted to understand) provoke these relationships.
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About usefulness Nowadays, collecting objects is a peculiar occupation. Especially when it involves useless things (in the temporary, current and contemporary meaning). Things which are no longer functional (as a commodity or a tool) are transformed into the aesthetic and/or cultural objects with a historical and memory-related meaning. Just as with intangible collections, like palindromes of Tadeusz Morawski, which he not only creates, but also collects. We should assume that gathering, documenting and presenting them in a form of bas-reliefs, books, or on the Internet, is also some kind of exclusion from the current use. We can treat collecting non-material ‘things’ as the escape from time. Especially because exhibited objects are deprived of ‘ordinariness’ and
usefulness. Private museums’ owners and managers of state operations (conservation, reconstruction, recreation) change functions and meanings of exhibited objects. But what about those objects and works that from the very beginning are treated as works of technology, mind, or art? Their value is discussed. The higher they are valued, the more they are alive. They are a storeroom for economic, educational, and cultural supplies, which are not subjected to temporary exclusion, although this process also depends on time and awareness of its participants.
Philosophical historians of things Collecting useless and worthless things/ objects is not the most appealing way of life. Especially at the moment, when the common model of functioning relates to consumption and the magic of a single use – replacing things with new ones. However, it turns out that there is a group of people who choose the other way, against the ‘common sense’. Gatherers, collectors, museum workers certainly did not appear out of thin air. Collectors, people gathering and presenting their collections, establishing museums, have been described for hundreds of years. For example, in 1571 Sigismund II Augustus bequeathed his collection of arrases to the Republic of Poland.
It has been over 200 years since the first Polish museum, the Temple of the Sibyl, was founded (1801) by Izabela Czartoryska, who collected, among others, historical memorabilia. Museum activity (gathering, collecting and exhibiting) has continuingly existed, and even damages of the World War II and massive plundering during and after the war, did not change it. The nationalisation of private collections by the communist authorities after the year 1945, as well as the ban on running private businesses, pushed collectors into going underground. In the ‘70s and ‘80s a sentimental tendency of recalling noble and manor lifestyles facilitated nearly public presenta_15
tions of private collections. These were, often, exhibitions of valuable and historical paintings and objects, and not just ‘hobby-exhibitions’. Regular collectors’ meetings in the late ‘80s enabled them to see how their collections and beliefs are received by the public. The downfall of the People’s Republic of Poland entailed abolishing the ban on private businesses and economic undertakings, also in the fields of art and culture. However, law regulations were still a problem, and even the bill passed in 1998 or other acts did not change that. Only the administration of museums financed by the state and local self-government administration had been regulated, but gatherers and collectors were left without any support. After the year 1998 the number of private museums started to increase and they were very often just one-person projects (formally and factually, next to numerous social museums). What is interesting, they have the same set of ideas, goals and methods as cultural institutions established and
maintained by the state or local self-government administration (cultural institutions are founded to create, store, duplicate and socially spread goods of culture). Museums, galleries and archives had, until the late 1990s, the absolute monopoly on documenting, preserving, selling and buying any objects possessing historical or artistic value. We can say, that in the last couple of years, collections of ‘miscellany’ and their presentations in a form of private exhibitions, galleries or museums, has become more and more common in Poland. Most of these activities are informal in the eyes of the law, and they pose as a strong opposition to public institutions, at the same time revealing that legislation does not keep up with organising and managing culture. The privatisation of the space and practices related to the cultural heritage (defining, creating, operating) is developing, and people reaching for this cultural capital organise themselves independently, becoming more and more self-assured.
Processes We are able to present only a fragment of the private museums’ creation and functioning process, a generalised profile with general tendencies. Certainly, it would be useful to research next three or four years of activity of these places, and also reach to a greater number of private museums and local collections. We observe a dynamic process which is not widely spread in the social awareness. It was important to look at places were collected objects are exhibited. These places are supposed not only to preserve these objects, but they also comprise a system of values, hierarchy and standards. Private museums are an example of a radical shift, _16
with modern collections, subjected to the high canons of art, patriotic and scientific criteria, being replaced with scattered expositions and non-catalogued collections without any scientific descriptions, but still perfectly structured and ordered. We have observed two things. The first is the end of presenting the ‘objective’ history from one point of view (mostly the state point of view). The second one is a new view on cultural heritage canons. Equally important is the shift of attention to the everyday space related to people, in defining ‘history’, art, and culture in general. Today’s choices and selections are subject to the redefinition of the view on cultural constructions and local
contexts. The way of storing and creating memory is changing. The history and memory in the researched places are treated in a different way, from a new perspective. In the same way as ‘a collector will be never satisfied’, studying this space barely keeps up with the cultural changes. Researching means using certain methods of making a choice, namely exclusion and selection.
While making choices we took such issues under consideration as people, places, scope of activity, and subject which could be elaborated within the research. The experience of a researcher, who appears, enters into an unknown space, tries to get to know an interlocutor and a researched space, can be compared to a situation of a foreigner being in a new place.
Museum on the borderline? A museum as a form of culture has been known since the ancient times. Originally, this term (from the Greek Mouseion) referred to a place or a temple dedicated to the Muses, the Greek divinities, patronising the arts. In ‘Report on the culture condition’ from 2009, in the section ‘Report on museums’, the author Dorota Folga-Januszewska mentions the problem with the definition of ‘museum’, pointing out to the process-related nature of creation and understanding this term:
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What is a museum today? What is the situation of museums in Poland? (…) For over two hundred years of museums’ existence and functioning, many definitions have been given. Some of them, still evolving, found their place in dictionaries and encyclopaedias. The contemporary museum studies refer most frequently to the definition proposed by Georges Henri Rivière: A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material [and nonmaterial, according to the act on museums in Poland – ed.]evidence on people and their environment.
(…) The above, commonly accepted, definition is being more and more frequently discussed. Changes in the museum activities in the last decade have provoked thoughts and reflections, which should involve the new reality in which museums exist and function. (www.kongreskultury.pl/title,pid,139.html) Our encounter with the contemporary museum activities was also meant to define this term, which is commonly used today. It turned out, however, that it was not easy to exactly determine the area of the research, and to define it. In some descriptions we put our reflections concerning this problem, because we decided that the question ‘what is a museum?’ can be answered most accurately by people who create this phenomenon: organisers (the main criterion of distinction in the register of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage), participants/audience (still increasing in number), and reviewers (mainly experts in the reference and scientific areas). Our interlocutors’ convictions tended to reflect the definition by Rivière. They understand structuring the reality, putting it in a right order, recreating, arranging the world, in categories such as ‘authen_17
tic’, ‘permanent’, ‘old’, ‘pretty’, ‘historical’, ‘memory’. Every established museum has its own point of reference and a model of ‘a museum’, that reflects the definition of the place and the scope of its activity. These definitions depend on the place of birth, education and/or the fact whether there is another museum in the vicinity.
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It depends on how we classify museums. When we go, for example, to a museum, and we admire exhibitions concerning war tragedies, then these museums are most important. (…) Mainly historical museums, but also ethnographic ones, because we come from here, and we like such subjects. (owner, kp7 [number of the museum on the list of museums in Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province) Almost all owners of private museums have their own hierarchy of museum institutions – at the very top are unequalled ones, for instance: Wawel Royal Castle, National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw Rising Museum, western museums, for example in Antwerp.
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None of the Polish museums impressed me, whereas many museums abroad did. (owner, kp3) Other places which are a direct point of reference for the museum activity are mainly local heritage parks or regional museums. They are not treated as a competition. The heritage park has started to be built. It has already taken four stables and a mill. The mill is also being rebuilt. This will be the first private and real museum here. (office worker, kp2) At the same time various museums and ways of creating them are being criticised and reviewed, among them Warsaw Rising Museum, Chopin Museum, local regional (self-governmental) museums. However,
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private museums and collections are mentioned very rarely (if they are mentioned, it is with a clear market competition reference). The reasons given by our interlocutors: [Museums in Poland - ed.] are poor, there is nothing spectacular to see in them. First of all it’s a lack of money and secondly most museums, including regional ones, focus on the Catholic-national past, and people are simply not interested in such subjects. People do not visit such museums. (owner, m21 [number of the museum on the list of museums in Mazowieckie Province)
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An important category mentioned next to ‘authenticity’ is ‘professionalism’, understood not as a business activity, but most importantly as ‘handling the issue seriously’. One of the Community Office workers said: Most probably it is the first museum here which is so professional. It is not a garden exhibition, but it’s a venue. (office worker, kp 2) [In Normandy - ed.] the museum of beddings for dogs and cats has the whole collection of different kinds of small mattresses and beds for pets. For me it is the most interesting museum, because I believe that finding a dog bedding from the 17th century is extremely difficult. Somebody found it and has it. (…) For me this museum is brilliant. It looks nice. The second one is Shoes Museum in Toronto. (owner, m21) A museum is also a place where not only ‘old’ objects (not necessarily ‘nice and expensive’), are gathered, preserved and exhibited, but also where educational and entertainment activity is carried out: Simply to gather amazing exhibits, and to make everybody interested.
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My idea of gathering exhibits is very noble, valuable, useful and needed. (owner, kp5) Finally, the space called a ‘museum’ has to refer to a collection of artefacts, which have some historical value: ‘everything which was old, some looms’. They can be ‘pretty’ or ‘old, but durable so that you do not recognise they’re old’ but the main criteria are authenticity and age. These days people organising private museums seem to continue the ancient idea of creating
places dedicated to certain areas of art and science. Most of the museum founders, intentionally or intentionally, devote their museums to the Muse Clio (history), but we also encountered places devoted to work and science (Melete), memory (Mneme), or songs and poetry (Aoede). We observed the implementation of ideas concerning collections and various related operations, as well as the process of defining the space called a ‘museum’.
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2. The method Genesis and reason for the research Private museums were ‘found’ by us in the Kujawy region. They were nodal points in the project called ‘Circular letter, theatre from hand to hand. Custom and traditions in the Kujawy region’. That project focused on contemporary rituals, superstitions, customs and traditions cultivated by people in the Wloclawek region. The people did not want to talk, they did not feel comfortable, moreover, it turned out that main beneficiaries of the project were children and teenagers. The researchers had to gain certain knowledge themselves, which hindered the field works. Nevertheless, it was clear that the reality of contemporary villages and small towns is changing. It was manifested, for instance, in inconspicuous places where ‘tradition’, as local people were saying, and ‘changes’, as ethnologists were pointing out, were concentrated. We are speaking about private museums, which along with their owners/ collectors were extremely helpful in achieving animation-related and educational
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goals of the project. At the same time they showed that something has happened and resulted in establishing museums in small villages or towns with an agricultural (rural) landscape. These were not individual projects separated from their surroundings. Wloclawek and this region, for instance, are not famous for many cultural attractions. In various comparisons concerning development, the district ends up at the bottom. Two independent collectors, who founded their own museums there, told us about problems and many aspects related to establishing private cultural institutions. After the conversation with those two people we decided to check how the situation looks like in different regions and throughout the whole country. Because the number of question was increasing along with visiting new places – museum, collections, gatherings, which were managed in different ways – we decided to investigate this issue in a more structured way.
Statistics and anti-statistics
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Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. Aaron Levenstein
The research was conducted between March and November 2012 in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Mazowieckie Provinces, including 20 districts and 50 communes.
Number of interviews, conversations, surveys carried out during the research which lasted several months: 138 Open interviews (partially structured by a questionnaire) with owners of museums and collections: 20 (+ 2 indirect interviews) Open interviews and conversations (partially structured by a questionnaire) with families, neighbours and the surrounding: 116 All interviews altogether: 136 Researched museums and collections: 22 places Poll research, surveys, demographics of private and social museums: 54 places
I. Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province 1. Museum of Communication in Paterek (National Register of Museums) 2. Museum of Sat-Okha Native North-American Indians in Wymyslowo near Tuchola 3. Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin (National Register of Museums) 4. Heritage Park L. (on the owner’s request information not provided)
5. Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm (Redecz Krukowy) 6. Collection and exhibition of toys and Christmas decorations in Michelin 7. Gallery of the Kujawy region in Kowal 8. Collection of Scales and Weights of Mr and Mrs Sandecki in Wloclawek 9. Heritage Park ‘Chata pod okiennicami’ of Irena Szymion in Siemionki
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II. Mazowieckie Province 10. Neon Museum in Warsaw 11. Museum of Arms and Applied Technology in Kobylka (National Register of Museums) 12. Museum of Garwolin Village of Tadeusz Barankiewicz 13. Private Museum of the Polish Devil ‘Przedpiekle’ in Warsaw 14. Bread Museum of Marian Pozorek in Warsaw 15. Private Museum T. (on the owner’s
request information not provided) 16. Museum of Kurpie in Wach 17. Museum of the Sokolow Region in Sokolow Podlaski 18. Museum of Palindromes in Nowa Wies, in the Serock commune 19. Heritage Park in Kuligow 20. Jadwiga and Wojciech Siemion Private Museum in Petrykozy (National Register of Museums)
III. Closed 21. Erotic Museum in Warsaw, Mazowieckie Province
22. Home Museum in Swiesz, Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province
IV. Not accesible 23. Museum of Wooden Architecture of the Siedlce Region, Mazowieckie Province
24. Otrebusy Museum of Folk Art, Mazowieckie Province (National Register of Museums)
V. Survey research, phone interview 1. Czeslawa Konopka Museum in Kadzidlo 2. Museum of Kurpie Tradition in Pniewo 3. Regional Museum of Grzegorz Szewczyk in Kozienice – liquidated 4. Work House of Czeslawa Kaczynska in Dylewo – activity suspended 5. Sculpture workhouse of Eugeniusz Wegielek in Peclaw near Gora Kalwaria 6. Workhouse of Stanislaw Grudzien in Kozienice _22
7. Museum of Whistles in Gwizdaly 8. Museum of EKD/WKD Tradition in Grodzisko Mazowieckie 9. PTTK Museum of Tourist Memorabilia 10. Museum of the People’s Republic of Poland in Grodzisko Mazowieckie – activity suspended 11. Museum of J. Szczepkowski’s Sculptures in Milanowek – does not exist
12. Museum of the Milanowek History – does not exist, currently the Gallery ‘Matulka’ 13. Frog Museum in Zabia Wola 14. Slawoj Feliks Skladkowski Social Museum of Gabin County 15. Storyteller Museum in Konstancin-Jeziorna – no contact, the website has not been updated since 2007 16. Mission and Parochial Museum in the Salesian Monastery in Czerwinsk 17. Agriculture Machines Museum in Lucien 18. Museum of Private Collections and National Memorabilia of the St. Barbara’s Church in Warsaw – there is no museum but an antiquarian shop with a similar name at the given address. 19. Parochial Museum in Laskarzew
20. Workhouse of Danuta and Waldemar Styperek in Ruda 21. Missionary-ethnographic Museum Seminary of the Societas Verbi Divini Priests in Laskowice Pomorskie 22. Museum of Sacred Art in Znin 23. Franciscans Monastery in Pakosc – the memory house does not exist 24. Regional PTTK Museum in Golub 25. Jan Zumbach Cultural Heritage Museum in Bobrowo – The Boborowo Commune Development Association 26. Western Town Kansas City – Mega Park in Grudziadz 27. Western Town Silverado City in Bozejewiczki near Znin 28. Museum of the Mogilno Land in Chabsko
VI. Opinion polls and desk research 29. Narrow-gauge Railway Rogow – Biala 30. Museum of the Sochaczew Narrow-gauge Railway 31. Museum of Volunteer Fire Department in Niepokalanow 32. St. Maksymilian Maria Kolbe Museum in Niepokalanow 33. Museum of the Pope in Niepokalanow 34. Museum of Motorisation in Otrebusy 35. Real-live Museum of Gingerbread in Torun 36. Folk Instruments Gallery in Grodzisko Mazowieckie 37. Skierniewice Roundhouse 38. Mszczonow Land Hall of Memory 39. Museum of the Wood and Forest at the Centre for Nature and Forestry Education in Rogow 40. Wladyslaw Stanislaw Raymont Regional Museum in Lipce Reymontowskie 41. Museum of Armed deed in Lipce Reymontowskie
42. Antiquities and Regional Memorabilia Gallery in Lipce Reymontowskie 43. ‘Stara Plebania’ Museum in Karczew 44. ‘Tofry’ Museum – The Ecological Education Centre in Karczew-Anielin 45. Teaching and Museum Centre in Granica 46. Museum of the Childhood Years of the Millennium Primate Stefan Wyszynski in Zuzela 47. General Wladyslaw Sikorski Hall of Memory in Parchanie 48. Pola Negri Hall of Memory in Lipno 49. Adam Grzymala-Siedlecki Hall of Memory in Bydgoszcz 50. Wiecbork City Hall of Memory 51. Machinery and Road Equipment Heritage Park in Ciechocinek 52. Hall of Memory – Fire Fighting Heritage Park in Lasin 53. Hall of Memory in Przemystka _23
The above list shows the scope of the phenomenon, and these are only the examples from the conducted research. More than ten places, to which we did not get, or about which we did not have enough information, could be added to this list. It also shows the process of selecting and making choices for the sake of the research. Piotr Hübner wrote in the article called ‘Wszystko Państwowe’ that before the war there were 175 museums in Poland:
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16 out of them belonged to individuals, 11 to church institutions, 81 to associations and foundations, and 38 to the local self-government. At the beginning of the year 1946, 101 museums were partially active, 6 out of which belonged to church institutions, 17 to associations and foundations, and 37 to the local self-government. Finally, in the year 1948 there were 116 museums in Poland, 6 of them still belonged to church institutions, 18 to associations and foundations, and 70 to the local self-government, which was believed to ‘rescue’ private and social museums after their liquidation. The liquidations by the local self-government cause a situation when in 1950 the majority of museums were state-owned. In 1955 there were 121 museums focused on the promotion of science. They offered 206 temporary exhibitions and 43 travelling exhibitions. The importance of museums, but also the state control, were both increased by the Act on Culture Protection and Museums (1962). Only 48 museums belonging to social organisations and 11 belonging to the church survived untill the year 1983. (forumakad.pl/archiwum/2009/02/58_ wszystko_panstwowe.htlm) The report regarding cultural institutions in Poland in 2011, prepared by the Centre for Cultural Statistics Central Statistical Office [GUS] in Cracow, contains the following information and interpretation of the data collected:
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In 2011 the number of cultural institutions: museums, museum-related institutions, galleries, theatres, establishments, culture centres, clubs, community centres, and public libraries, has decreased in comparison to the year 2010. For the first time within the last several years the number of cinemas has increased. The number of people visiting museums, galleries, museum-related institutions, as well as of cinema-goers has also increased. According to the report as of 31.12.2011, there are: 777 museums, 173 theatres and music institutions, 3708 cultural centres, establishments, clubs and community centres, 352 galleries, 448 cinemas, 8290 public libraries (including branches), and 1962 informative and library institutions (science, specialist, pedagogical, specialist-fictional libraries; scientific, technical and economic information centres; scientific groups centres). In the Polish cultural sphere, public bodies are most common: libraries, theatres, musical institutions, museums, cultural centres and establishments, clubs, community centres. Cultural institutions established by private entities are mostly galleries and cinemas. As a result, the development of cultural institutions depends on expenditure of the state budget, as well as on local self-government units. The following information concerning the year 2012 was published on the website of the National Institute for Museum and Public Collections (NIMOZ); it refers to museums with statute or rules and regulations approved by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, which means that they are entered in the National Register of Museums: The database contains 429 museums (723 if including branches): ■ state museums: 24 ■ local self-government museums: 301
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■ private museums – natural persons: 54 ■ private museums – institutions: 50 When preparing the list, we worked on the basis of enforced legal regulations in the field of museology, taking into account the necessity to define the basic standards of the functioning of museum institutions. The basic criterion for a museum to be entered to the list was a statute or rules and regulations approved by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. (http://www.nimoz.pl/pl/bazy-danych/wykaz-muzeow-w-polsce , 12.12.2012) (http://bip.mkidn.gov.pl/pages/rejestry-ewidencje-archiwa-wykazy/departament-dziedzictwa-kulturowego.php , 19.12.2012)
The analysis of the collected documentation showed that private museums are at different stages of organisation. For the sake of the analysis we introduced a simplified distinction: gathering (gathered artefacts), collection (directed and organised gathering of artefacts), and museum (published gatherings and collections). The way of managing the institutions is a conscious choice of authors of such projects. T_he vast majority of these institutions___ are museums, regardless of the statute and nomenclature. We met several managers who avoided calling their places a ‘museum’, due to the potential reaction of administration. They call it a ‘gallery’, ‘heritage park’, ‘house museum’, or other names instead.
Criteria For this research, we selected specific places from several dozens of sophisticated, wellplanned collections and private museums. We researched private gatherings and
collections published and located in Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Mazowieckie Provinces. When choosing places for the research, we took three criteria into consideration:
1. accessibility, which was not so easy in practice. From ten chosen places in Mazowieckie Province, we managed to research only three of them. The main reasons for refusing interviews were: ■ unwillingness to participate in the research (2), ■ making the interview dependent on a payment or a fee (2), ■ anonymity in the interview, and no publication of the interlocutor’s personal data (2) ■ problems with arranging the meeting (2), ■ indisposition and illness hindering interviewing (3);
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2. representativeness, expressed by conducting preliminary surveys before choosing places for the research, which had to comply with a working definition of the research: a museum, private collection accessible and published in a structured way (formalised or not); ■ we adhered to the number of places planned for each province (profiling the research, contract with grantors); ■ we looked into collections’ organisation; in case of several similar places (exhibits, management) the accessibility and reaction for the research were crucial; ■ the last significant aspect was the phase of the museum’s/collection’s development – from the very foundation to the very important issue for private collectors, namely termination of activity, and its future. We avoided creating new determinants of representativeness. We managed to get to twenty places, however, two more museums were researched, but only on the basis of secondary sources (these are press interviews, websites,
3. distinctness/uniqueness which is a controversial criterion, and difficult to be measured. Motivations of collections’ owners, their ideas, methods of managing the project, and their place in the society are pure emanation of ‘uniqueness’, ‘distinctness’, and ‘originality’. The social prestige appears hence as something desired. The uniqueness or distinctness can be expressed, for instance, through unique exhibits, spectacular shows, or elements of surprise for visitors. We could choose from various locations: palaces, manors, a post-evangelical church building, rural buildings (also from the beginning of the 19th century), a gristmill, an apartment in a tower block, a detached hose, a holiday house. We saw various collections: from large, heavy machines, through buildings and arranged house interiors, historic palace park, pieces of art and craft works, collections referring to Native Americans or the region of Kujawy, documents, trinkets, plants samples, archaeological exhibits, to collections of portraits, descriptions and language expressions. Nevertheless, the most significant factor which makes the place unique, is personality of the collector, the owner. It is the unique character of the creator, which distinguishes the undertaking and its public manifestations. As it results from the research, it gives prestige in more distant regions rather than in the closest surrounding.
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Collection (of research data) The research consisted of the following stages: collecting information about the given place, gathering and analysing secondary sources, Internet and media archives research, field work, and surveys. The results of all these stages enabled us to prepare necessary tools, which were being changed and improved in the course of the research. We prepared six questionnaires profiled according to competences of potential interlocutors in the relation to a museum: family, neighbour, visitor, expert, administration officer. We enclosed two surveys to the questionnaires. The first one enabled us to gain information about the collectors, whereas the second one referred to knowledge about museums, private collections and the relation between people surveyed and researched undertakings.
6. What are the local contexts of private museums’, exposed collections’ and gatherings’ functioning?
We decided to conduct the research basing on certain research questions, according to which conversations and interviews were structured. Moreover, we used these questions to describe our observations. Various aspects, grouped before conducting conversations, were a base for the interviews:
The actual field work, interviews and photographic documentation were conducted by ten people (only women with university education in ethnography, and with research experience) between May and September 2012. They regularly reported on the research on the blog created for this particular purpose. On the blog, one can find reflections from the research, its course, and possible directions of interpretations. The record from the research contains the description of its particular stages, discussions, and current analysis of the research phenomenon. It also became a tool for the analysis of the observed reality, also after the end the research (muzeaprywatne.blogspot.com).
1. Who are collections’ creators and private museums’ managers? What do they do? 2. What are private museums’ form, status and role? 3. What is the connection between a museum and society, visitors, participants? 4. What is exhibited? How are exhibits gathered and collected? 5. What forms of expositions are there? How does the museum space and its arrangement look like?
(We wanted to use the theatre imagery in the interpretations and descriptions, however, we came to conclusion that it is too ‘theatrical’ for the still modest and low-key reality of private museums. We left the descriptions without references to symbolic interactionism. We only pointed out that the questions can be reflected by the dramaturgical metaphor developed by Erving Goffman, which refers to social institutions, and various ‘roles’ in a ritual-ceremonial play between its participants: actors, costumes, stage, audience, props, performance, stage design, wings, stage productions, and decorations).
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What did we avoid? 1) Categorising exclusively on the basis of exhibits: although the phenomenon is focused mainly on gathering and collecting objects (exhibits), we devoted separate sections to them. The research results showed that we should look at both military collections (because their number is the greatest), and museums of toys and Christmas decorations. We were interested in how the idea
of a museum emerges, how museums are founded, organised and managed, as well as how they are perceived by the society, audience and visitors. We wanted to look at this cultural phenomenon, and define rules which govern it, and to capture its uniqueness at the same time.
2) Treating exhibitions as the determinant: all permanent and temporary exhibitions, the open and closed ones, those accessible,
elitist, measured by size, number or its sophistication;
3) Coming up with a geographical catalogue: (neither administrative, historical-ethnographic nor tourist one), focusing on comparing cases from the two provinces – as
well because the private museums are governed by more universal and common rules and influences;
4) Using representations based on social structures: (neither administrative, historical-ethnographic nor tourist one), focusing on comparing cases from the two provinces
– as well because the private museums are governed by more universal and common rules and influences;
5) Choosing museums according to biographic aspects: regardless of the age, sex, descent, education, experience, interpersonal relations, opinions, ideas, perspectives of museums’ and collections’ creators. We wanted to find out who they are and how they define
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themselves, as well as how they and their activity are perceived, directly from the collectors and people working in museums, but also from their friends, families, neighbours, visitors, audience, and observers.
Approach to objects According to the methodology in the field of ethnography, as well as postulates within the interpretative cultural anthropology, we planned and conducted the following: ■ analysis of the documentation and information, referring to the collection and museum activity (obtained directly, and through the Internet research), the number of which is difficult to measure, which indicates how important this form of activity is nowadays; ■ surveys in field, researching the area of two provinces: Mazowieckie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie, also looking at adjacent regions, which resulted in a clear choice to research twenty places; ■ individual deep interviews, partially structured, with an owner/owners of a museum and interviews with the people connected to them: neighbours, local authorities, visitors, representatives of local business, cultural institutions. We obtained almost 140 statements and interviews in a formalised form, complemented by 60 demographics concerning museums and collections (additionally over hundred informal statements and non-recorded interviews); ■ detailed research of the visual side of private museums, in the reality and in the virtual form, which was a subject to the preliminary analysis, and presented in the report, although it needs to be improved (more thorough collection of data; the method consisting in gathering information by more than ten researchers turned out to be ineffective, moreover, the obtained information tells more about
perceiving and receiving the world, rather than creates an image of a visual sphere of private museums, an example: despite instructions, researchers did not photograph either the area surrounding the museum, or hygienic and sanitary areas); ■ attempts to conduct semantic analysis of presentations made by private museums’ creators and owners, people from the outside (wide and broad circle of recipients), as well as presentations and images provided by the researchers. As far as in the middle of 2011, we started to study the field information, published mainly on the Internet. The first Internet research showed several tendencies in the observed reality. We encountered a live dialogue, conversations and activity in the area of museums, and observed irreversible changes. Certainly, museums managed by the state are no longer a standard in the museum organisation and administration, which includes collecting, documenting, maintaining, scientific research, exhibiting, educating, and commercial activities referring to artefacts with artistic and historical value. We gathered several dozen pages of information, focusing on the ‘balance of power’ in the area of museums, and defining the ‘strongest powers’, which are – apart from scientists, cultural managers, visitors, and frequently forgotten tax payers who finance these changes – custodians, collectors, private gatherers, and administration. We were carefully observing the interaction between these communities and the audience, looking for opinions, statements, and expressions. The data _29
was rather scattered, having impact only on a small group of people. Most frequent are records about activities of several museum and museum-related institutions (NIMOZ, NID, MKiDN), about organisations related to the subject (websites such as collections.pl, MyWiMu.com, muzeoblog. org, kolekcjonerstwo.pl), or state-owned, self-governmental, social and private museums. We found some references on several blogs and websites related to historical, cultural and artistic issues (businessandculture, Historia i Media, artbiznes). This information became an excellent research material for handing the subject. We made an initial selection of strategies and organisational patterns in museums. First of all we defined existing distinctions: state-owned museum space, private museums, and museums in between which we called ‘social museums’. From a general perspective, these three organisation forms are separate, and they operate independently in the following aspects: a. foundation of an activity (who is the owner, who takes responsibility); b. law regulations, funds, financing (also inheritance in the near future), c. methods of administration and organisation (described in the report).
a) State-owned and self-governmental museums (administrated by officers, and state or local self-government institutions) are heirs of the nationalism and nationalisation, also in reference to operational patterns, mission, interaction with exhibits (collections) and other subjects (audience, institutions, communities). We observed changes in this area, concerning the increasing number of modernised museums, and the quality of their offers.
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b) Social museums – created by a group of people (formalised or not) administrated and run collectively, with a form of delegated rights and obligations. They are focused on operations related to communities, societies and groups which they represent, co-create, and re-define. Collections are founded in forms of halls and houses of memory, museum institutions, history houses, organisations, associations, clubs, religion and non-governmental institutions. The visible change in the area of social museums concerns the number of established museum-related institutions, modernisation of the existing institutions, presentation of collections, and the scope of activity.
c) Private museums are the third area, within which we conducted our research. We chose a group of subjects excluding representatives of the two groups described above. We stayed, however, in the context of the whole museum area. Briefly about restrictions: The financing institution required defining the time of expending public funds. The research began in March 2012, and it was to be closed at the end of the calendar year. In this period of time we were supposed to conduct the research, draw conclusions and summarise the undertaking. Moreover, we had to be mindful about the number of research places and the research scope, which were dictated by curiosity, wish to research ‘everything’, but also economic factors and clearly estimated financial assets for achieving the goal. This means that our struggle with time and reality was fairly similar to that of gatherers and collectors. While handling difficulties and restrictions, we tried to reach the group of people creating museums that represent the areas of our research: private and local museums and collections.
Three museums We planned to describe ten museums, collections, or private exhibitions functioning in the area of Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Mazowieckie Provinces (five for each). We based our choice on similarities and unique examples of changes in this cultural landscape. We chose private museums from areas which were not highly developed when it comes to demography and economy (especially taking into consideration the number of tourists and tourist attractiveness of the place, paying attention to lessknown regions). However, one discrepancy appeared. Warsaw is a pure contradiction of the above assumptions, especially in the macro scale. This city is a leader in an economic and cultural development, breaking all records when it comes to demographic growth. Nevertheless, we chose three museums belonging to the administrative areas of Warsaw. We also classified private museums researched in Warsaw as ‘weaker’, because they are located on the outskirts rather than in the city centre (neighbourhoods such as Sluzew, Szmulki, or Zabkowska street). Moreover, the offer of those museums is niche and unconventional. We tried to compare not only the two provinces, but also particular regions. In all regions the powers are not balanced. Warsaw is like a volcano cone. None of the adjacent localities operates independent of the
capital city. Mazowieckie Province consists of several subregions, in which cultural activity, including museum activity, reflects the specific character of the ‘administrative’ Mazowsze. More than a half of private museums is situated in Warsaw and adjacent localities. Most of them are concentrated in the north of the province (in the Ostrolecki district), and none in the Plocki district. The situation is similar in Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province – we found groups of museums in Wloclawsko, Torun and Bydgoszcz regions. Maps prepared during the researched clearly showed that private museums exist in pairs or groups rather than individually. Ideas are spread, people see others undertake something and want to follow, what is more - observing one another strengthens motivation. Another thing which we observed is the pattern of locating private museums. Literally in all cases, the groups of private museums are located near a museum with traditions of many years (Mazowieckie province, north-west, Heritage Park of the Kurpie Region in Nowogrod near Lomza, founded by Adam Chetnik, and several private museums in the neighbouring areas; Kujawsko-Pomorskie province, southeast, Museum of Kujawy and Dobrzyn Land in Klobka, made accessible to visitors in 1993, and at least four collections and museums in the neighbourhood).
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I saw others and their museums which were visited sporadically. (…) My friend from Nieciecza collects big motorcycles. There is also a man in Lucin who collects old agriculture machines such as chaff-cutters or treadmills. This man was inspired by me. He is 10 years older than me. His brother collected scrap. He deserves a standing ovation for what he managed to collect. Nobody supports him. We go there at the end of motorcycle season. He tells us about his collection and this makes him happy. (owner, m12)
Jozef Kesik has the collection of agricultural machines, which he calls ‘his whim’. He was inspired by the museum of Mr Barankiewicz. (owner, m12)
Just as I saw this museum I fell in love with these old things. (owner, m19)
The museum was an inspiration, and since this time Mr Kesik is a gatherer (some of the machines belonged to his family, some of them he bought). (…) He also visited other museums, for instance in Mietne at the agricultural school, private museum in Malkinia near Radom, and he decided to create a place in which old, used objects would be collected. Agricultural machines were most important for him. (visitor, m12)
Photographic documentation During the research we created a photographic documentation of 20 private museums, which contained several hundreds of photos (which of course in the digital era does not impress). We assumed that along with interviews, photographs would be an important part of gathered materials. We thought that it would be valuable not only because of the analysis of the phenomenon, but also it could help to broaden the context, and be a significant element of communication between researchers – _32
those, who visited a given place, and those who researched it only on the Internet. From the very beginning, we assumed that this documentation will be an individual perspective and interpretation of each researcher. However, to put it into some framework useful from the perspective of the above assump tions, we elaborated on a set of instructions concerning taking photos, including 10 general and specific instructions referring mainly to the
space of a given place. In that way, these instructions took a form of a register. Who, what, where, how arranged, how arranged in relation to other elements such as a building or an exposition. We advised to take photos of guest books, front and back, vertical and horizontal dimensions of an exposition, interior and exterior, street, neighbourhood, empty spaces in expositions, leaflets, posters, information boards, utility rooms, or even toilets, if it is an element of a museum and not owner’s house. We wanted to capture not only the visual and symbolic side of a building, museum or collection, but also the surroundings and neighbourhood, in order to use the gathered material for the research of visual side of a museum, and for the analysis of verbal communication captured in the photographs What about capturing events (workshops, presentations) organised in a given place? If a researcher was present in the event,
he or she was instructed to record the event, however, without additional detailed instructions. As a conclusion… Private museums in the eyes of the researchers. In the analysis of the gathered material, researchers’ perspectives are something that draws the attention. It is interesting whether they adhered to the instructions, what they photographed, what captured their attention and how they presented it – in a background or in the foreground, finally, whether they presented all the pictures (also the blurred and inappropriately framed ones), or only some of them. If so, what was the reason for this. Taking into consideration the fact that researchers were also visitors of the museums and audience of the owners, we can say that an interesting double image of a researcher’s situation appeared, because he or she does not only document the reality, but also processes it, presents and recreates.
Documentation The Internet is an important source of information about ‘new museums’. The Internet research is actually a constant process. We can assume that near the half of information, and a tenth of pictures were gathered online. More than a half of the researched places have websites. The Internet is used in the area of museums as frequently as in other fields. We can even find museums run exclusively online, or entirely digital collections. This method of organising a museum is represented in Poland by a group of people, consisting of more than hundred persons, who were of course surveyed by us. We can also find museums which do not use the Internet at all. We took a closer look at private museums, studying:
■ the form where the website was prominent, a showpiece (9); in several cases the websites are regularly updated, sometimes complemented by social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, an active guest book (Museum of Palindromes); ■ applied iconography and structure enabling interpretation – we encountered developed versions of ‘explanations’ of the run activity, the case of Museum of the Polish Devil; we found also inactive websites, looking like a leaflet corresponding with the design of a given place. _33
■ content published online which enables to define ways of communication – informative versions were dominating (the majority of them); several websites were supposed to be developed by giving more information than just contact and a description how to get to the museum; finally, there are websites-museums with sophisticated content, history of the undertaking, certain problems (Museum of Arms and Applied Technology in Kobylka), or descriptions of exhibits (Neon Museum, Museum of Palindromes); ■ important source of information about the connection to the society – almost all private museums (20 out of 22 researched) are described on the websites of local offices, schools, communities and institutions, as well as on private websites; information about almost all of them can be found in articles, news, radio programmes, reportages and documentaries; there were no museum or collection for which no Internet references could be found; moreover, the Internet research helped to find information about several dozens of places in both provinces, which were verified by
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a survey and phone interview, and - in more than ten cases - by a field work. The other aspect refers to gathered and documented publications, leaflets, informational and promotional materials, magazines, gadgets, all elements containing relevant iconography and presentation of various forms of activity – a museum is not only seen as a place of gathering and exhibiting collections. We were looking for all traces of: ■ workshops, educational events, cultural animation (in 5 places very developed, various forms); ■ meetings, open-air events, occasional bonding events accompanied by the ‘production’ of visual materials, souvenirs and gadgets (15 places); ■ craft works, decorative techniques, pieces of arts, dishes and food products (4 museums), ■ information boards, inscriptions, signposts, occasional and purposeful epigrams (all museums).
3. Collections’ creators, private museums’ administrators Men’s occupation? It seems that running a museum is an occupation for a man, and most of the researched museums are indeed run by men – at least statements, formal records, and museums’ official names indicate it. A separate section was devoted to names of museums and collections, but we wanted to point out the existence of ‘manly’ museums, for instance Mr Pietrzak’s museum or Mr Wojciech Siemion’s museum (run by his daughter Karolina Siemion). Moreover, very often museums have family names: Mr and Mrs Lukasiewicz’s museum (Official Kujawska Gallery), Mr and Mrs Zaniewski’s museum (Museum of Arms and Applied Technology). This also indicates the actual, yet not ‘official’ structure of the researched museums. Almost all of them (except four) are managed by marriages or partners. Gender roles in practice. A man is a founder (but here we found exceptions too, for instance the museum in Kobylka founded together by Iwona and Pawel Zaniewski, or Irena Szymion’s heritage park, which was founded by her in 1983 in Stanislawki, near Wabrzezno). Passion,
gathering and collecting are a base, the beginning of the undertaking. Men are supported by their wives and partners who help, take on duties, co-run, and, finally, operate and manage the museum with them. The research shows that private museums would not be established so often without women. Certainly, they also would be profiled differently. What is the main difference between a man’s and marriage’s museum? The former is focused more on a specialist collections, whereas the latter is more open to educational and animation operations (more frequently invite children and teenagers). Men who decide to take up this type of occupation/operation/calling usually have a lot of experience. The average age of our interlocutors amounted to 56. In the year of the research the half of the private museums’ owners declared to be around the age of 40-50 years, and the other half the age of 64, 72 and even 83. The vast majority were retired people, which means that their business activity is run _35
to some extent in a secured life situation (pension). Of course, private museums are also run by younger people, at the age of 30 (for instance Museum of Forging in Warsaw). Moreover, we can find even younger generations among collectors and crea-
tors of virtual museums. In our research we focused on a specific group of people – gatherers, who exhibit their collections in stationary, territorial places. And what about women? They are wives and partners of collectors, and their age is close to the average age of men running the private museums.
Experts uncertain about their education Every person running a museum has at least university education, which in the societies they live in, is not common. Museums’ creators are better educated than their neighbours and local community. It seems to be a rule – in communities where vocational and primary education dominates (mostly villages and small towns), museums’ owners have secondary education, in societies where the secondary education is common, museums’ owner have higher education, and in the capital city they have professor titles. Also, the latest data concerning communes and localities, provided by GUS, prove this rule. An example: 62% of Wloclawek’s population has primary or secondary education, 37% has secondary education, and 11% has higher education (data from 2007/2010 provided by GUS) – our ‘heroes’ from Wloclawek have secondary and higher education. What is also interesting, in most cases the education of people working in museums is not related to their occupation of colleting. We met only a few persons with museum-related education, and these were: an art historian, a historian (a woman), and a conservator (a man).
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Apart from these people we also encountered economists and engineers, a policeman, a lawyer, a farmer and a baker. However, the lack of museum-related education does not hinder fulfilling passions, but even encourages to broaden knowledge of the given field. Basically there are three types of people when it comes to their competences: ■ scientific expert: knowledge of collecting and highly developed specialisation concerning the subject of a given collection, for instance - Christmas decorations; a collector is a trend-setter in a particular industry; collectors of military equipment have extensive knowledge of history and weapons; owner of a collection concerning Native Americans is an expert in this culture; ■ business advisor: knowledge as well as organisational and management skills; managing an undertaking is often connected to taking the role of an expert who advises other people interested in creating museums (cultural institutions), but also the cultural institutions, various
organisations, state and local self-government administration. ■ social animator: communication skills and public operations useful in various social and integrative undertakings, for example work with the disabled; shows, lectures, various exhibitions. It is not surprising. The base for museum
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activity is knowledge of various areas of human life, which should be constantly expanded. This knowledge is used in all aspects of the museum management. The owners’ competences are high, however, very often they claim that they lack needed knowledge, competences or education. By the latter they mean education strongly related to museum activity and university education. They are experts, although they do not realise it.
I only graduated from an economic technical school. (…) I was driving a taxi for 28 years, which gave me an opportunity to learn the whole Sokolowski district. I visited many cemeteries, palaces, manors. I was truly interested in all of this, whereas other drivers were not. I met people who remembered heirs of properties, and they told me many interesting stories about it. I put it all together and wrote the book ‘Dwory, folwarki, palace zachodniego Podlasia’. (owner, m17)
Only one from all researched persons had ‘professional’ contact with museums – this person co-operated with the national ethnography museum as an expert. None of the people we met worked in an institution of this type, nor had museum-related education before founding their own museums. It should be emphasised that it was ‘before founding their own museums’, because working in a national museum, and running private activity in the same field is forbidden. Professional ethics and employment regulations, with relevant provisions in employment contracts, even forbid (at the official level) collecting objects in which the ‘employer’ specialises.
Private museums’ owners come usually from lower and middle social classes, perceiving the world through their occupation and society. They are/were: an engineer, photographer, economist, graduate of German studies, puppeteer, baker, conservator, agriculture inspector, and tax inspector. However, social stratification does not play an important role in defining the social group represented by museum creators (especially that defining a social group is a process, and not something constant). Exceeding boundaries of groups and societies, and staying outside the common frameworks of societies is more important.
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A freak, an outsider, an eccentric or a leader? The third aspect common to museums’ owners or creators is the fact that they are ‘different’ from the rest of the society. People working in museums are recognizable and outstanding in the society among others for their occupation (which very often they call ‘passion’ or ‘hobby’). They are perceived this way by people ‘from the outside’, which confirms their ‘uniqueness’. However, very often the status of being different and unique is accompanied by scepticism, because after all they do something so useless and unprofitable, which definitely is not normal. Real admiration is mixed with suspicion of living in some other reality. Collecting useless objects and exposing them is definitely not an example of social career, and certainly is not done for their children.
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Our ‘clan’ of people in private museums is perceived as a group of freaks. (owner, m11)
ioned – so their status is not of great value for them. The salary is low, the job is boring, the museums uninteresting and visited only because someone was ‘forced’ to do so during a school trip. Although there are already ‘cool’, modern museum worth visiting (for example Warsaw Rising Museum or Chopin Museum), working in a museum is still not associated with prestige. We can even say that they are perceived as freaks, harmless madmen, who are not adapted to life. However, when private museums’ owners run their museums actively, they become local leaders of the society, locality of a group of activists. I can see that some people treat us as loonies, people who are out of their minds. Why do we collect it, if it is useless? (owner, m12) Several of our interlocutors agreed with the following statement:
People working in museums are perceived as outsiders, a bit of a hermit, and old-fash‘It is unpleasant, but some people see it this way. And to some extent I bear this burden of this dustman or a custodian of useless objects, but I am not ashamed of it. I am even proud that we managed to fix, restore, renovate and show people that such things existed. I talk to other people who are active in this area, and I can say that we are needed, for instance when some exhibition is to be held in a cultural centre.’ (owner, m12) The owners’ spirit of enterprise also is appreciated. Some people see it as a new way of creating the reality, which requires a lot of energy, determination and consistency. Other people point out to profit as
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main motivation, claiming that museums’ creators are entrepreneurs (with different motivations). Making a profit is still perceived as greedy, egocentric and anti-social behaviour. People in museums realise that
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they are perceived in such a way, treating this behaviour as unexplained envy. Most of them said that expanding their collections (understood in material, symbolic, aesthetic, cultural, identity and economic sense) was a manifestation of pro-social, egalitarian and public spirit. They create new
jobs, they create places of commercial and cultural exchange, which makes the locality more attractive for tourists, they influence education, and create new possibilities of development. Museums’ owners know it, but people from the surrounding areas still do not.
‘I think that collecting is a kind of disease which cannot be cured. It is difficult to get rid of what you have, it is like getting rid of a close person or an animal. But you have to grow out of this.’ (owner, m12)
Public roles, private collections Lack of clear-cut boundaries between a public and a private museum were also manifested by the attitudes of museums’ owners, their roles and their visions. Collectors are perceived not only through their convictions, ideas and duties, but they are also seen as people who have prestige and cultural capital reflected in their place in the society. This is how they are perceived and received by people in their close and more distant surrounding. Krzysztof Pomian described the perception of collectors in the 16th and 17th century in his famous publication Zbieracze i osobliwości. He distinguished a magnate, an eccentric and a trader types. He wrote:
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The collector? A harmless eccentric, who spends his days sorting out stamps, impaling butterflies on pins or revelling in erotic engravings. Or, quite the reverse, a wily speculator who buys works of art for next to nothing, only to sell them for incredible sums, all while claiming to be an art lover. Or again, a man of good family who has inherited, along with a stable home and
antique furniture, a collection of pictures, the finest of which he allows to be admired on the glossy pages of chic magazines. Three different sketches, three very different viewpoints, but all anecdotal, for a collector is only taken seriously when he manipulates large sums of money. Only when a collection is created for investment purposes, is locked up in a bank vault and is worth more than its weight in gold does it impress; anything else is perceived merely as a narcissistic and slightly frivolous pastime meaning nothing more than a trifle. Analysing the description of museums’ owners and collectors, as well as taking their own viewpoint on their work into consideration, we decided to group the mentioned ‘strategies’, based on the above distinction. We assumed that the following terms will be easier to understand and closer to the types mentioned above: Magnate, Enthusiast, and Businessman. Of course, the distinction is simplified. The roles and ways of fulfilling them are far more complicated and sophisticated, therefore, we _39
want to point out that they usually co-exist, mix and change their proportions. Passion requires the spirit of enterprise, ability to run a business, self-confidence and the sense of value. Achieving certain position in a society, having influence on other people and the reality is not possible without an idea and consistency (often with all possible means and methods). A ‘Magnate’ is not only an influential manager of the reality and society, but also a person with charisma manifested (among others) in his or her collection, which is often very extensive, significant, usually complete and influencing other collectors. In this case, we can also talk about a ‘total’ collection, because it involves all areas of everyday life. A local ‘Magnate’ creates not only a museum, but also a mythical space in a social and cultural framework. An important aspect of a Magnate’s role is also public power, which he or she wields and strives for – regardless of its character: whether it is directed towards a society, a process of setting values and examples, operating the area, or a cultural dictate. During the research we met a professor who ‘took over’ a part of the collectors’ world. He was acknowledged and respected by many people from the museum environment. He influenced the way of thinking, categorising and defining collections. We also met collectors with great knowledge of law regulations, who advise other collectors, influencing the whole area of museum activity. What is interesting, ‘Magnates’ dominate in two areas, namely private collections, and state-institutional museums. At least several (probably six) out of twenty-two owners of private museums were close reflections of a Magnate-type.
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We describe our stories not only in museums, but also in books. I restore manors, mansions, even parks. People were cutting down trees, because they thought nobody owns them. (owner, kp15)
The Businessman’s approach to his or her activity appears to be more creative. He treats a museum as an enterprise, and a collection as a gift and exchange. As we have already written, a spirit of enterprise is present during the foundation process of every museum. Without basic organisational skills, knowledge of the market, efficiency, and ability to communicate with others, museums would not exist. You can see how they make it happen. And that motivates them. Somebody asked them about something, wanted to see something, and even bought something. That is great. (officer, kp12) Commitment and organisational skills are assets of people running museums. Moreover, they have extensive knowledge of their collections. All interviewed museums’ owners had a spirit of enterprise. They know how to gain funds, and how to manage their institution. They have contact with people throughout the world, which not only allows them to gain knowledge and exhibits, but also to be a recognisable person in the field. The museum of such a person is as well organised as most of public museums. There are, however, collectors who work locally, but they also have necessary knowledge, and know how to gain funds. The biggest group among collectors constitute enthusiasts of collecting, for whom collecting is a sense of life. Regardless of the organisation level and scope of activity, most of collectors are enthusiasts and perfectionists. Emotional aspects, sometimes the spirit of mission, and deep commitment are the main reasons for founding private museums. Passion, understood as cultivating culture, has nothing to do with ‘frivolous pastime meaning nothing more than a trifle’, and the frequent accusation of making a profit. All owners agreed that:
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This place makes you spend money, and not earn it. We have to contribute from our own resources. (owner, kp7)
Strangers or locals? Nowadays, people and even groups of people migrate. This phenomenon affects private museums’ owners. Attachment and embedment in a place should be manifested through the spirit of locality of the museum’s creator. At least our interlocutors, who were convicted of the collector’s descent, pointed out this fact Not every person running a museum was born in the place where he or she operates. Some of them come to those places, live and work there for many years. Others come regularly (this is rare situation, however, during
the research we noted two such examples: ‘they come from Pomorze, studied in Torun, and settled down here’). Also, the very people running museums explained this situation a little. The places where they live and where they have their collections, result from many choices – looking for a job, education, but most frequently marriage. Out of twenty-two researched persons, five from Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province, and six from Mazowieckie Province were ‘locals’ (this gives the exact half).
Near and distant neighbours According to the results from the survey conducted between September 2011 and March 2012, people living closest to the museums are not interested in their activity. The neighbours and residents of the town either did not know about the museum’s existence, or were saying: ‘Probably there is something like this’, ‘I don’t know, I haven’t heard about it’. People from the direct neighbourhood or from the direct surrounding of the museum’s owner were better informed (as a logical consequence). Apart from them, also local leaders of vari-
ous activities knew about museums: a regionalist, an activist from a bicycle club, a teacher, a cultural activist, a journalists and officers. And there were people, who contact the collector when necessary. More frequently museums are visited by people ‘from the outside’: tourists, holiday-makers, people closely related to museums, collecting, and science. There are also visitors from other countries. School trips constitute the second group of visitors. In this case, the division of neighbours and ‘strangers’ is not that clear-cut.
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Neighbours – they come. Especially on Saturdays and Sundays there are a lot of people, but mostly in the restaurants and at other attractions. Usually they visit the museum once only. (owner, m16)
‘There are not many visitors in summer, because people leave the town. The museum is visited most frequently in autumn, because the school year begins, and then in spring, because of various trips and delegations in the community. We had Gorals in the museum, a band from Lithuania, visitors from Germany, Slovakia, and Denmark.’ (owner, m16)
Officers we talked to, play an interesting role in the area. We could define their role as people with ‘switching codes’. Officially they represented the administration, which entails restrictions. They answered the questions in a similar way: ‘as an office we cannot help this private museum’, and to prove it they were naming several arguments: economical (‘because we are a poor office, community, town’), legal (‘because the status or business activity is not regulated’), social (‘we help the poor and needy, and this person doesn’t need help’), and cultural one (‘it is a private collection, and it does not always contains historical and valuable things’). However, in unofficial conversations they were won-
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dering how they can help the museum. They were encouraging others to visit the museum, were answering the questions exhaustively, pointing out direct ways of helping the specific place. It was often the case that the researchers were treated as someone who can take over the responsibility towards the museum’s owner as ‘the person who at least does something’. The very research was perceived similarly. It was seen as a real opportunity to change the situation of the collector and his museum. The researchers were also perceived as envoys of ‘ministry’ or ‘authorities’ (in several cases), with whom you speak carefully, yet with hope.
Neither ours nor strange
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What interesting things can we find there? They collect trash, place it in a garden, and then call it a heritage park! But it doesn’t even look like a heritage park! It is just mess at an inn or a restaurant, to attract customers, and to rip them off!
It is a critical opinion on private museums delivered by one of workers of a museum, belonging to the local self-government (blue-collar worker). In his statement the man provided his own definition of a private museum. He claimed that private museums are established exclusively for economic reasons. It clearly shows that defining private museums and collections can be problematic. Local administrations, whose representatives not always wanted to share their opinion on such places in their region, have similar problems with private museums. Local authorities notice that a private museum exists, but there is no further reaction. Usually they put some information about ‘these places’ on their websites, in tabs such as ‘local attractions’ or ‘local titbits’. The figure of a collector is also presented as an ‘interesting person’, ‘crazy person’, ‘man of the region’. However, it is difficult to define whether people are closer to exclusion of museums and collectors from the society, or rather to acceptance of them. The collectors or museums’ owners (usually the same person/persons) participate in this exclusion. It is a double exclusion, just like in relationships of a group ‘oursstranger’. They are outsiders in their societies, frequently perceived as freaks, not adapted, unpractical neighbours. They are described as ‘crazy’. When we asked people about the particular museums’ owners,
they were smiling. Museums’ owners are perceived positively, but at the same time not seriously, like children in their unreal world. Private museums’ owners are less accepted or even remain unnoticed within the museum-related area. Museums’ workers, collectors and scientists are critical or unfavourable towards private museums’ owners, and have doubts concerning their operations. Their arguments refer to questionable competences concerning maintaining collections, and the very value of private collections. Private collectors also evoke many anxieties among offices and administration workers. We noticed that they have either very good relations with local self-governments, or quite the contrary. For some local administration’s workers such an unusual cultural institution is problematic. In such cases ignoring the private museums seems to be the most common practice of those confused administrators. Those defined as ‘those who collect junk’ or ‘freaks’ have deeply embedded need for gathering and preserving things from the past, and each object they collect is like a treasure for them. They collect them out of sentiment, for memories evoked by these objects, for their beauty, to save them from being thrown away, for their real or alleged value, out of admiration for the matter of an object – their corporeality and insides
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(not physical structure of the matter). They transport them into the future to bring the past back. Their need for collecting results from their passion and the need for possessing. Those who are in the process of making personal collections and want to share them with the world, establish private museums. (Malgorzata Jaszczolt, muzeaprywatne.blogspot.com)
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At the same time, private museums’ and collections’ owners create their own pieces, use selection and choice of objects, subjects, ideas and recipients. You have a collection bug, a hobby. It’s like a hobby, but with stronger motivation connected to culture, history, traditions, and not just, let’s say, fish. Of course, fishing or pigeons farm are interesting, but we cannot compare them with running a real museum, because it is something on a different scale. (owner, kp7)
4. Form, status, financing and role of private museums The stimulus for collecting was curiosity, which was so strongly criticised by St Thomas. Krzysztof Pomian
Founding myth A milestone in the collectors’ narration and the decision to create a museum was always caused by a specific event, experience or reflection. The foundation of a museum is a cautious and tangible act. Moments which pushed museums’ creators to establish their museums: ■ enlightenment (secular) which overtook the speaker,
■ birth of a son, ■ promise given to a father or grandfather, ■ enlightenment during the visit to a regional museum, sensing the value of collecting, ■ admiration for other private museum, ■ indolence of local authorities by establishing the museum, ■ a rapid increase in the interest of the collection.
Motivations and ideas First – Patrimony
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First of all, it is putting the relationship with ancestors in order, tidying up genealogy (‘Grandfather was the very first…’). A private museum usually starts in the childhood, or to be more specific, at the moment of birth. There is a ‘genetic’ reason
which is inheriting the family heritage (‘he was growing up with his father’s collection. He remembers how it was created’). There were no examples which would contradict this theory. The transfer of a cultural pattern has its source in the
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generational transfer. A father or a grandfather, often both of them, are pointed out as persons who showed how to gather and collect things. The owners of the museums we researched used this knowledge and, as opposed to thousands of other collectors and gatherers, transformed it into organised museums. Most of the collections existed long before the decision to exhibit them. It turned out that methods and forms of organising a collection were also handed down from generation to generation. Collecting is strongly connected with inheriting by agnates. It is like an occupation handed down from generation to generation along with certain skills and experience.
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My grandfather, from the village Stara Huta, wanted to do something, wanted to introduce education, he wanted to build a school. He was a councillor. He learned
how to write on his own, and wrote a family book about his ancestors – where they came from, what their occupations were, from whom they bought land. His wish was that someone would continue that (there is a note about it in the book). He had it in a chest. (owner, m12)
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If the collection is not directly inherited, the love of collecting certainly is. It is important that the collectors we met wanted to continue with the curiosity and interests of their ancestors. Loyalty to parents or grandparents is an important factor in establishing and running a museum. One of the interviewed persons said: ‘I am the third generation that runs this museum. I think this answer is enough.’ The first private museum registered in Poland is Museum of Forging in Warsaw, which is currently run by the founder’s son.
Second – Past as the collection’s subject The past is the main subject of collections, a formulated aim, an idea declared by all private museums’ owners: ‘We have to remember, preserve the old, because people forget it so easily’. Creating a museum means building a relation with values and patterns from the past. Conviction of positive and important values of the past is as frequent reason for establishing a museum as the inherited patrimony. The past is important, and objects, as well as maintaining and exhibiting them, serve to preserve it and hand down to next generations. Cultivating the past appears to be more important than just commemorating. Collections’ owners are not aware of creation of this category, or making identity references. They treat it rather as something given from the outside, something mythical: _46
‘as it was, to make people know, how it was’. The history of these presentations remains unchanged and unquestionable: We wanted to hand over as much knowledge as possible, and save many interesting objects and this old history from disappearance. (owner, kp7) The past is some kind of a reality, and the only process to which it is subjected is forgetting. Collecting and presenting the past seems to be the essence of these museums, where the main subject and created spectacle is the past, treated by the collections’ owners as timeless, universal or something mythical. At the same time, the past is understood as history, with objects as its testimony. All private museums’
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creators were aware of propagating the past as historical knowledge. They remembered those objects from their childhood,
they know them: ‘they are drawn to this, because this is the history. It just has to be old’.
Third – World to be (re)created Every visitor is surprised that the history is being created here, that the objects do not get damaged. We create the history. (owner, kp5)
It is not about pride but about the awareness of participating or evoking the process of creation. Preservation and re-creation of the past world, which is real because it had been experienced, proved, and safe in frameworks defined by God and history. Collectors are sentimental, very emotional towards objects and the idea of the museum. There is also an unconscious (usually) aspect of organising the collected objects, re-creating the order, recalling the mythical world. As the research shows, each museum has its own structure, which the owners are not aware of. Spectacular examples: ■ Private Museum of the Polish Devil ‘Przedpiekle’, organized in an apartment on the upper floor and in the cellar of a typical tower block from the communist era in Poland, with a division into the better (upper floor) and worse (cellar) images of the devils’ world; ■ Collection and exhibition of toys and Christmas decorations in Michelin belonging to Pawel Struppek who every year before Christmas presents a complex
composition of the world in which he mixes Christian mythologies, figures of Christ, Saint Mary, manger, angels with Slavic references and idols of pop culture, spaceships, cowboys, planes, animals, and everything connected together with a story, which starts with the description of the beginning of the world and history. Less spectacular examples: ■ Home Museum in Swiesz, situated in a palace (manor), founded by the deceased professor Janusz Migdalski. It is an example of a house as a structure and reflection of the world, with a division into vertical spheres: upper and lower, light and dark, open and closed, pure and dirty, home and public, noble and peasant; ■ Museum of Palindromes in Nowa Wies near Serock, these are several hundreds of boards with burned out palindromes whose author is professor Tadeusz Morawski, the owner and the founder of the museum. The palindromes are presented in various rooms with different meanings – in the cellar – existence, in the kitchen – nutrition, in the bedroom –
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frivolous texts. All these is accompanied by a story about palindromes describing the world. The world and reality not only are re-constructed, but also saved, admittedly only partially, but with awareness:
There was such a breakthrough when I noticed how the culture is devastated, thrown away, burned out or scrapped. I am glad that I managed to fix those things. That I managed to restore them, renovate, and show people that something like that existed. (owner, m12)
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Fourth – ‘Do something your own way’
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I would do everything for my idea. I can fight for it. Even if I will be defeated. (owner, kp5) Museums’ owners have strong motivation to operate independently and fulfil the convictions, values and patterns we mentioned above. It is easy to notice that the foundation of a museum means entrepreneurship and determination to achieve a certain goal, which can be measured in time and space. When it comes to a museum, I run it according to my own style. When it comes to history, I hold a grudge against myself that in primary and high schools I did not pay more attention to history, but maybe that was teachers’ fault, that they weren’t able to interest me. There were dates you had to learn by heart. Now I make up for it through reading. (owner, m5) Money is not the most important motivation, but perceived as the means and tool
for achieving the goal: ‘all money is used for this’. Also, existential fears and dilemmas are dispelled by a strong motivation to leave something behind for the next generations – something long-lasting, visible and spectacular. A man dreams about something, than he or she makes it happen and it comes true. While creating, making the existing world better: When I went to see the exhibits in Korczew, I thought that I could prepare a better exposition, so I did. (owner, m17) First – there are not many museums like that in Poland. Second – there is no encouragement or help from local self-governments to promote it. Third – people in Poland do not like visiting museums. (owner, kp7)
Fifth – Loving locality: the present space ‘Such a museum makes the place better-known’. Apart from making the space more familiar, and creating a safe place, the persons we talked to pointed out creating a bond to and the identity of local collec_48
tions. In most cases a private museum became a place connecting or building a society of collectors, museums’ workers, artists and generations.
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We love this small homeland very much, and I wanted to preserve as much knowledge about ethnography and folklore as possible. Thirty-two years ago my son was born, and at that time I started to gather the exhibits. I was also an agriculture inspector of the district. I have lived in the village in Kujawy since I was born, but I had contact with people from other regions. I managed contracts for berries, for cold stores, so I experienced many things and I admired the old culture. I was writing done my own notes, and I collected the exhibits, so now I have quite a lot of them. (owner, kp7)
This manor is a local attraction. Locals know about it, and when somebody visits them, they go for a walk and end up in our park. (owner, m20)
Sixth – Civic virtue and behaviour models (in a community) Running a private museum is a ‘type of creative activity, successfully promoting the heritage’. It also means education. Most of operations, if not all of them, are directed to change the awareness, to evoke reflections on knowledge and certain skills. Every year the Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin offers printing, history, and maintenance training for young people not only from Poland, but from all around the world. People in museum appear to be guards of traditions, order, and values, which they bring out with objects and stories.
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[The museum – ed.] it is better quality in my opinion, it shows values and teaches the young generation, the young society not only patriotism, but also how to change the attitude to patriotism and the relation to it. (owner, kp7)
They are also untiring educators encouraging to visit the world they create, reconstruct and structure it. The museum was created because we believe that neons have historical value, and people should know about them. It is our history. (owner, m10) He created the Petrykoska Union, connecting schools from Wysoczyzna Rawska (…). My grandfather was asking painters for their paintings, and then was placing the paintings in schools (…). He decided to establish art galleries in schools. Today there are about 10 paintings in these galleries. (owner, m20) For me, these were permanently damaged objects, which could be presented, and which could serve the society, to show that such things existed and were used. (owner, m12)
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Seventh – Future as the collection’s subject
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Concerns for next generations were mentioned less often than concerns for the history and the past. More often the future of the collection after the owner’s death causes fear and concerns. Most of the collectors wish that someone from their family will take over their collections, or that it will be integrated with a ‘state museum’. They try to secure the collection’s future, and it seems to be more significant than treating the future as an important motivation. ‘Here’ and ‘now’ are more important: - (…) wish to maintain it for future generations (…). - For me, the present is more important. - I don’t know. I like objects with some history. I can find out what the past of the object was. - I like it, too, but I don’t think about whether someone will admire it or not after my death. I want to share it with people
who live with me, and not think about great-great-grandchildren who would say ‘grandmother had this’. - Do you have it in the back of your head? - Yes. (owner, m11) Passing down the memory and objects of the past has a great value. I went to one decaying house and saw all those barrels with straw, and I wanted to preserve one for posterity. (owner, m12) The museum has to be alive. Restorers should postulate and carry out works – it’s a live history, live archaeology. It doesn’t make any sense to have a museum that nobody wants to visit. (owner, m12)
Demographics: age, name, origin Most of the private museums in Poland were established after the year 1989. This refers to the 14 out of 22 directly researched museums, and 40 out of 50 surveyed museums (approximately, because our interlocutors were not always able to give the exact date of the museum’s foundation. Some owners gave the date when the collection started, and some when it was officially opened). Giving a name can be a difficult task. For most of the researched persons the name was obvious, but they did not always decide _50
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to go for a straightforward name. Museums’ owners tried to find a good reflection of their plans and ideas, and at the same time they tried to steer clear of ‘the three heads of the dragon’ (MKiDN, tax office, and museum workers). To achieve this they use synonyms such as ‘gallery’ or ‘heritage park’ (4 cases), or introduce their own categories such as ‘home museum’ or ‘small museum’. Most of the places are ‘museums’ with the extended identification in the name which: ■ points out to the founder: Jadwiga and Wojciech Siemion’s Private Museum;
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■ indicates the subject of the collection/ exposition: Neon Museum, Collection of Scales and Weights, Museum of Palindromes; ■ points out the location - Museum of Kurpie, Kujawska Gallery, Museum of the Sokolow Region, Museum of Arms and Applied Technology, Museum of Com-
munication, Museum of Literature and Printing, Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm, Erotic Museum. The combination of all mentioned points is also possible: Marian Pozorek’s Bread Museum, Irena Szymion’s Heritage Park ‘Chata pod okiennicami’.
Year of museum’s foundation
This museum is neither beautiful nor rich According to our research, private collections mean at least two forms of operating which are gathering and collecting, as well as exposing. These forms are independent and separate. For the sake of the analysis, but also as the common use suggests, collecting either remains the home activity, or becomes a spectacle for a broader audience (spectator, participant).
A private activity may remain private when collectors do not step into the public space. These are mostly enthusiasts, hobbyists, gatherers, and collectors who do not organise an institution or structures, but focus on the very collecting. The scale of such a museum is endless, and it spans from personal trinkets, ‘the smallest museum in the world’, a drawer in a house, to _51
collection-fortunes. The way of managing the collections is the same as managing other entities and institutions operating in a the same ‘industry’. The process of obtaining (chargeable and free of charge) objects, gathering , storing, arranging, and exchanging them is characteristic of all other collection-related undertakings. Some collections are presented not to the masses but to a small group of people, a private, homogeneous and elitist circle. Other collections, however, become a cyclical, public, egalitarian event. These forms of operating were the subject of our research.
In the first stages of the research, consisting of verifying the places and activities run in them, we looked at extreme reasons for presenting the collections. One of them is described in the psychological literature as compulsive hoarding, which means uncontrolled and pathological hoarding of things; it is a personality disorder, occurring in people who do not feel safe and secure. Obsessive collecting of things which seem to be of no value, compensates and creates apparent sense of life security for the afflicted person. Reports from ‘the field’ regarding collections excluded such possibility.
Not new and not a museum Usually, private museums, with some exceptions, are not integrated in the ranks of cultural institutions. In relation to cultural centres, local self-government museums and schools, they play the role of ‘local’ and ‘folk-related’ creators, representatives of ‘disappearing professions’ or ‘enthusiasts with strange passion’. It is also problematic for scientists and experts of different sciences, from the work of whom (at least according to declarations and records in regulations) museum workers and people administrating the area of institutional cultural activity derive. ‘New’ museum creators do not easily subject themselves to categories, common opinions, sociological ‘diagnoses of the condition of the culture in the commune or province’, much less registers (especially the Register of Museums provided by MKiDN). We can ask then what private museums’ owners actually do. Do they run some kind of a financial undertaking, or maybe something more like a non-governmental organisation or a cultural centre? How should we name _52
and classify it? What tools should we use or create to provide a reasonable definition for the private museums activity? We found many stereotypical opinions and unprofessional diagnosis on the offices’ and cultural institutions’ websites. It looks ridiculous, especially in a situation when most of the people we talked to described the number of operations devoted to presenting their activity and museum-related ideas. They send various applications, requests, presentations, invitations, articles, even speeches during relevant regional and state conferences and meetings to the administration, regional and state museums, scientists or schools (one of the collectors sent several hundreds of invitations, and received only several responses). The analysis of the recently held congresses and meetings devoted to museums, shows that private museums’ owners are perceived as new ‘strangers’. They are described as ‘daredevils’ who exceed firm and inviolable boundaries. In our case these were boundaries of ownership
and administration of things/objects with historical and artistic value, which were only reserved for the state and nation for a long time. All problems related to this
new cultural space indicate that whatever comes into existence is created through exclusion and selection. Selection is the base for gathering, collecting and exhibiting.
National Register of Museums After the time of a standstill in the area of cultural institutions in the 1990s (and the ‘specific’ situation of domination of one form of museum organisation, which lasted several dozens of years before), changes in the act on museums from 1998, as well as changes and development of the museums in Poland have started. The changes regard everything from statues and statuses, through forms of financing, organising and administrating, and training the personnel, to the whole philosophy of the activity. This process is ongoing, however, it is slow, with times of regress and attempts to regulate and specify provisions in the act. Nevertheless, the de-monopolisation is a fact and frequently established private museums are the evidence of it. Another evidence are new structures established by the state administration, such as: National Institute for Museum and Public Collections [NIMOZ] and National Heritage Board of Poland [NID], whose role is to modernise museums, introducing new standards and new legislative standardisation. It turned out to be highly problematic for private museums’ owners to fulfil the merit-based criteria, that is the status of a museum registered in the National Register of Museums. Only museums gathering collections of a great value for the national culture, employing qualified personnel, having appropriate infrastructure, and steady source of financial resources can
apply for the registration. For the sake of administrating and managing museums in Poland, three categories of museums are proposed (according to guidelines of the national register run by MKiND): I. Museums established by legal persons, II. Museums established by natural persons, III. Museums belonging to churches. Museums that we researched fall in the first category (4 museums, including 2 firms and 2 foundations), and the second category (18 private collections). It is truly difficult to fulfil the registration-related requirements. Rules are supposed to protect and define organisational standards, and at the same time secure the activity and everything which is subjected to it. Good infrastructure, financing, and experts should guarantee ‘appropriate’ care of the collection, and ‘appropriate’ scientific-educational activity. These rules are understandable for many private museums’ owners. However, these are details which are the cause of a negative attitude of museums’ owners towards the registration’s rules. The main problem are financial issues. Four out of all the researched museums belong to the exclusive group of the registered museums. Their representatives share the critical opinions of other owners. The registration is problematic, ‘it doesn’t give much’, ‘it is time-consuming’, and fulfilling the main _53
criterion – source of financing – brings the activity of public institutions into question.
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If I had at least a part of the museum’s budget (the regional one, run by the local self-government – ed.] it would be easier. (owner, m12) The overview of the foundation documentation prepared by Pawel Zaniewski, the owner of the registered private Museum of Arms and Applied Technology in Kobylka: 1. Museum’s rules and regulations, 2. General list of exhibits, 3. Report on buildings (rooms). Having agreed on the rules and regulations, one should elaborate and implement other regulations and internal rules provided for by the law. Executive provisions of the Minister of Culture’s ordinance: 1) Record of exhibits, 2) Maintenance of exhibits, 3) Protection of exhibits, 4) Transportation of exhibits. This means that the museum’s owner is supposed to provide: 1. Museum’s stock book, 2. Book of deposits, 3. Cards of exhibits, 4. Instructions regarding fire safety measurements, 5. Fire regulations, 6. Plan of the museum’s security, 7. Rules for exhibits’ evacuation in case of fire, natural disaster, or other danger, 8. Exhibits’ security rules, 9. Exhibits’ security rules in case of transportation or open-air exhibitions,
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10. Rules regarding safety in case of a fire, 11. A book of internal control. Fulfilling registration-related requirements is connected to costs; running a registered activity means even more costs, but it does not guarantee equal access to public funds. For example, the programme ‘Kolekcje muzealne’ [Museum Collections] prepared by MKiDN is directed exclusively at stateowned and self-governmental museums. Applying for most of the other MKiDN projects requires the status of a non-governmental organisation (if not state- or self-governmental one). Already before the research we heard critical opinions of museums’ owners regarding limitations on the activity forms imposed by the administration. The status of a natural person (business activity) excludes the chance for the status of a cultural institution, interpreted as an activity which is not established to make profit. Establishing a non-governmental organisation means more costs and interference into the management system, which in private museums is usually handled by one or two persons. On the one hand, private museums’ owners have to provide the base for the activity, but on the other hand, their access to resources and ways of financing are limited. The greatest concern, however, refers to the protection of the exhibits. Why did he report the museum? Due to regulations. He had the reason for creating the museum anyway – there were vehicles, the place, and visitors. But it was all about the law, about the insurance – it is easier to do it this way, registering makes it easier. (owner, kp1) Lack of trust, and doubts can be noticed among both parties – the private and the public ones. Regulations concerning responsibility for the condition, maintenance, conservation, and preservation
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of collections are source of conflicts that nobody is able to settle. The research shows that private museums’ owners and state local self-government’s administration do not necessarily co-operate. It is an inconvenient situation – contradictions in
practice and legislation: on the one hand, there is the necessity of obeying the law, but on the other hand, there is searching for ways to fulfil the passion for collecting (the mission).
A museum doesn’t have to be registered. The problem exists in Poland because private museums are not incorporated in the act. All legal documents refer to state-owned museums, so a private museum is not even considered. The act requires fulfilling many requirements from a scientific committee, etc., and none of the private museums can manage that. As far as I know, the government wanted to reserve the name ‘museum’ only for state-owned museums. So far they haven’t done it, and everybody who has an idea can found a museum without any permit. (owner, m21)
Problems with the law No good solutions exist. The existing regulations restrict private museums’ owners and hinder the development of the museum market – affecting both private and state-owned museums. It is hugely problematic to distinguish what is public and what is private in the activity of private museums. Also, the inconsistency in law regulations poses a problem. The situation is difficult and similar to the one from the times of the People’s Republic of Poland’s
hypocrisy and inability, when private collectors and private museums could not exist officially. Nowadays private museums are established officially, starting with defining their subject of activity, without any major restrictions concerning private activity, but with serious barriers in the area of running a public activity. An example of the discussed right to use the term ‘museum’ indicates the struggles with the functioning of this specific cultural activity. There are
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two opposing viewpoints and definitions of a museum activity. Attempts to regulate this issue are usually accompanied by treating museum activity as something elitist. Some people who operate within the museum activity, mostly ‘public’, postulate reserving the name ‘museum’ for institutions meeting certain legal and organisational standards. Most of the private museums’
owners reject this standpoint. It is interesting that such newly created initiatives are carefully observed. They certainly mean the growth of the importance of the museum activity – after the years of monopoly and standstill, it is the indication of change. It may turn out to be the crucial change. Practitioners from the museum ‘industry’:
[State-owned museums – ed.]An old bureaucratic machine. (owner, kp3)
I know several museums which co-operate with private museums, and I think it is good. (officer, m)
Private museums? They are museums in the light of the act on museums, but at the same time they are not, because in principle a museum cannot be established for profit. (owner, kp3)
Illegal trade of archaeological antiques is a big problem. Something has be done about it, because people will dig and gather these pots anyway. (owner, kp5)
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Private museums won’t be a competition for public ones for a long time.(historian, kp7)
There is a problem with military equipment – securing them, right to exhibit them. There were many misuses and law evasions in private collections, and we have to take it into consideration. (officer, m)
Problems and museum-related piracy Private museums’ owners point out many problems which are difficult to solve, however, many of them are could be just prejudices, ‘Polish’ tendency to complain, magical operations and ‘spells’. However, some of them are certainly derived from experience. Actually, problems occur in every aspect of the activity. Uncertainty is inherent in running every kind of independent activity which is self-financed and subjected to the public (market-related) verification. ‘The main pitfall for museums is imitation!’ which means copying ideas and solutions, unfair competition. Such practices, spreading of patterns, ideas, and work of hand and intellect are still a serious problem. For people we talked to, the loss of market and image they worked so hard for is the main concern, especially when the ‘thief’ is a big state-owned institution. We noted several cases like that, for instance, copying an idea
for workshops – for a private museum’s owner it is an important source of income, for a ‘budget’ museum – operation within the market of cultural services. Competing (often in a form of confrontation) has its negative consequences, and for private museums’ owners it is a real threat for their activity. Economic mechanisms are ruthless, especially for those who are not protected by special market instruments. The state’s protectionism in the museum market is of great importance, as it influences the market’s shape. All private museums’ owners emphasise this issue. However, there are also arguments of the second party. That party claims that acting for the public is also beneficial for private museums. They take the role of the guard of museum standards, organisation, personnel and legislation. The discussion concerning this issue is becoming more and more intense. _57
This museum was not founded for money The problem of money had to be touched upon sooner or later. Everything which relates to running a museum costs a lot and takes all owners’ money.
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I am not saying that I have unique things. I have such things that I could afford. You can buy an interesting sabre for 500 zloty, slightly better for 2 000 zloty, and on a sabre for a collection you have to spend 7 000 – 8 000 zloty, so I can’t always afford it… (owner, m12) As it was frequently mentioned, all owners invest all ‘possible’ money. Raising and spending them belong to the main problems pointed out by each asked person. They said: ■ money is necessary, but only as a means to an end (‘If I wanted to make a fortune, I would work somewhere else’), and this is a problem, because we have to raise it; ■ we spend all of it, mainly for extending the collection, maintaining the infrastructure, conserving, and promoting it; ■ they come mainly from private resources, ‘from my own pocket’.
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We don’t get money from presentations, we even contribute to it because we provide our own fuel. (owner, kp1) All museums’ owners try to gain money and financial resources (mostly working ones). Proportions of the named resources reflect the above mentioned barriers and restrictions in running their activity: ■ subsidies are only a small part of the needed money, moreover, they are offered only to registered museums (one of them obtained several grants) and
three museums directly associated with a non-governmental organisation. It is again the problem of the law regulations, status of private museums whose owners cannot apply for subsidies: The highest amount of subsidy that we obtained accounted for 20 000 zloty for promotion during the fair. There were also subsidies accounting for 5 000 or 8 000. These amounts are ridiculous compared to the needs. We spent it on the purchase of materials for an arbour. It’s just a drop in the ocean, but I am happy to obtain any amount of money.
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■ income from the tickets is also a small part of the income. Tickets were only introduced in four places (there were discounts in two of them), including one ‘whatever-you-want’ fee. Prices: 5-10 zloty, 3-10 zloty, 10-15 zloty; ■ selling exhibits is problematic for collectors, because most of them do not deal with trading the objects they collect. They would rather buy and gain objects, mostly for money. Money from the sold objects is a marginal part of an income, and it is allocated for expanding the museum. Collectors brought the objects not only from their region, but also from more distant areas. Some only wanted a bottle of vodka for an object, some wanted money. They finance it from their own money and awards from competitions. (research notes, m16) At first I collected so many of them that I had fifty, sixty, seventy of them. And then
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I was selling, for example twenty motorcycles, so I could exchange the equivalence for one motorcycle, which I have now. It shows the scale of it. (son of the owner, kp5) Rising money is a subject which is eagerly taken up. ■ donations and intangible help:
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Does it happen that someone brings something? Yes, it does. Many people brought these things and wanted to sell them. There were plenty of them, and they were convinced that they will get lots of money for it. This is one thing. However, it happened twice that someone brought small things as a gifts. (owner, m21) Support in a form other than money is an important aspect of running a museum. Private museums’ owners get help from private sponsors, family, neighbours, friends, various people, for instance a teacher who helps to prepare leaflets and texts for the website or the town hall that financed the cobbling of the area in front of the museum’s building. Also a cousin brought several things, some lady brought memorabilia of her husband, and ethnography students helped by cataloguing and arranging the exhibits. All of the researched museums’ owners get this kind of help. Many people gave us something, just in exchange for this little piece of paper with their name. People give various things. About 5% of exhibits were given by others. The rest we got ourselves. (owner, kp3) ■ sponsors:
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- Is the museum financed by anybody? - No. There isn’t anybody like that. We don’t apply for such things, because nobody wants to give it to an individual. - Are there any donations or sponsors? - I haven’t seen them yet. (owner, kp1) ■ More money appears when there are some additional activities run by owners: various services, from technical and repair services, to lending out exhibits and space, and to organising workshops. Special services are treated separately; these are original products of a given museum, found in 5 places. Examples: paper workshops, specialist/topical lectures, amber presentations, lending out a bus for weddings, events, exhibitions for various occasions (mostly local and communal), agritourism services, music and vocal performances; ■ Personal incomes, spent on museums (all possible amounts) – from regular job, business activity (3 persons), or odd jobs (5 persons). Financial problems are balanced by the complete commitment to the activity, with most of the duties related to organising and running the museum are accomplished by the owners and their families. The last example of the money problem: only one museum is an independent, self-sufficient entity. However, achieving it is not the goal of all museums’ owners. Not even a half, but only 8 persons said that they want to transform their museums into financially independent structures.
I wrote this book ‘Legendy, gawedy i gadki kujawskie, and it was published a month ago. I found sponsors in Wroclaw, but I had to make a lot of effort in order to receive help. (owner, kp7) _59
[Erotic Museum] we tried to participate in two programmes, but, most of the cultural programmes and programmes for museums in Poland in general refer to patriotism, religion, various spirit and religion-related values. Our museum is far from these subjects and we didn’t even meet the main requirements. We were disqualified at the very beginning, at least from these Polish programmes run by regional councils (…). We don’t get EU subsidies either. The very process costs a lot of money, and it lasts very long (…). It would be easier, if it was another museum of the pope, but it’s the museum which does not fit in the frameworks of these programmes, so it is just a waste of time.
Method of financing: regular / occasional
Permanently
Occasionally 1
Tickets
3
Reduced tickets (optional)
2
Fees for additional events organised in the museum, such as vernissages, weddings,
3
Owners’ own resources,
20
Local self-government, state, EU subsidies,
4
4
Donations from individuals and companies,
9
9
Sale of souvenirs (including books) or services (such as transport, expert’s opinion)
5
10
4
Costs, expenditures, budget How much does it cost to run a private museum? How much does it cost to create a collection? Eighteen out of all interviewed owners answered: everything. It costs everything, and it takes all resources and incomes. It is difficult to evaluate both costs and incomes precisely. Why? We can see a certain rule: money is just a means to an end, and museums’ owners treat it in this respect. It does not matter whether it is a small museum where the only expenditures are electricity bills, cleaners, and Internet subscription (it amounts to _60
approximately 200 zloty per mouth), or whether it is an institution which employs several people, and which is repaying debts for its renovation (20 000 zloty). The whole income, surplus and additional money are all invested in the museum. The monthly budged of private museums spans from 200/300 zloty to over 20 000 zloty. The average budget in the 22 researched museums accounts for 4 000 – 5 000 zloty, however, it is an approximate amount, because the owners’ answers were not precise. Nevertheless, this amount changes, and it
reflects the owners’ personal feelings on the day of the research. Collections? Their prices depend on the market, collector’s experience, and contact networks (higher discounts, ‘better’ and more valuable objects). It is impossible to estimate an average amount for all expendi-
tures per year. The lowest amount mentioned was several thousand zloty, whereas the highest one, of one object only – 50 000 zloty. The objects’ prices are not important for museums’ owners. In this respect private museums are similar to public cultural institutions or non-governmental organisation, which fulfil their non-profit mission.
There are no defined prices, only estimated ones (…). I wanted to buy a bicycle trumpet horn, and it would cost 50 zloty. (owner, m16)
Travelling to get them costs you a lot – car transporter costs 4,55 zloty per km + your own car. (owner, kp1)
A French clock ROYAL costs the whole salary (4 000 zloty). (owner, m12)
It is a very expensive passion to go to Warsaw fair, to look at sabres and their prices (…). Then you can pay lower price, of course if you can afford it. (owner, m12)
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The collections cost me probably about 50 000 zloty. One horse chaise costs 4 000 zloty, the other half of that. (owner, m17)
The biggest cost – renovation and adaptation of the venue, revitalisation, social and administration rooms, there is a conservation room upstairs, now workshops for small groups will be held there. All this costs a huge amount of money. (…) Moreover, there are costs of employment – insurances, etc. It is a small firm, but lots of things take lots of money. (owner, kp3)
2 000 for organisation of an event, when only a stage costs 2 000, but there also needed to be a display, an international referee, professional obstacles. We had to rent all that and pay for it. (owner, kp2)
A non-governmental one-person company The legal status is one problem, but managing and organising work in a museum is another thing. Regardless of the method of registration found in various administration books, the museum has to be run somehow. Financial, infrastructural, logistic, promotional, and subject-related needs have to be provided for. Repairs, transport of objects, preparation of exhibitions, communication with people, collection-related activities – they all require com_62
plete commitment, but it is impossible for one person to fulfil all necessary duties. How do museums’ owners handle this problem? They do not run the museum alone. As it has been already mentioned, the first circle of the private museum management structure is a wife, co-manager and co-administrator (women). Moreover, family members, parents, children, close and
distant relatives help as well (more than the half of the researched places). The second circle consists of at least one person who helps to run the business. The form is flexible, and it depends on the abilities and needs of a given museum: ■ three private museums (2012) employed people with an employment agreements (on average two persons in one museum);
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■ seventeen museums co-operated with hired expert, neighbours and friends who helped with smaller and bigger works (sometimes there were paid for it, or recompensed in some other way); [The neighbour – ed.] He gave several things, and helped with repairing. (owner, m17) The website was prepared by people who drive Trabants, enthusiasts of motorization – colleagues. They made the website for a small fee. (owner, kp1) ■ in 10 museums there were from one/two volunteers helping to run the museum (a teacher, priest, neighbours, expert, culture animator, association’s members), to groups of more than a dozen people (neighbours, friends, ethnography students)
■ observed in 5 cases. People come and help to organise various events and other things. Even the heritage park’s members are not registered on any list or a register, they just come, and we run it (…). We can say - over a dozen of them. I don’t want to count them, but certainly something between ten and twenty. (owner, m17) I helped a little with expanding the collection. I gave several things for the collection, I help to contact folk craftsmen and people who own interesting objects. I also helped to explain the rules of establishing a museum and running stock books. (museum worker, m13)
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There is also the third circle of private museum’s structure, namely people and institutions that provide support. These are consultants, experts, and often friends of collections’ owners. That way of helping can be observed in all the researched places. The representatives of institutions favouring given activities appear not only in the closest surrounding but also in distant establishments. What is more, there are more distant institutions co-operating with private museums than local institutions, offices or regional museums.
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About the concerns Public museums perceive us as a competition, but it is not true. Very often private museums, or at least collections from private museums, end up in public museums. This is my initiative, and as you saw, my sons got involved too and will take care of it. But will the third or fourth generation respect it? They will say: ‘Look, the grandfather, or great-grandfather brought so much scrap, and there are so many rooms here, we could use it somehow. Let’s throw it away or sell it to somebody for nothing. (owner, kp5)
The biggest concern for private museums’ owners is not the status or problems with objects, maintenance, conservation or sustaining the museum’s activity. Their biggest concern is the inheritance and future of the collection. What solutions to this problem do they have? They pointed out: ■ the family – to bequeath the collection the family, children, relatives, to ensure cohesion of the collection. Owners also hope for continuation and development, because as they claim, ‘what remains in the family is safe’; ■ patronage – integrating collections into public museums. Owners hope that maybe the office get interested and finds a place to expose their collection; ■ social support – non-governmental organisations, with numerous examples of regional museums established thanks to the collector co-operating with groups of enthusiasts, people with passions, animators creating associations, clubs, centres. Transferring collections to such groups is the third solution. The future of collections is a private issue of their owners, however, when it appears _64
in the public space, it is a kind of security or maybe public security. In one of the researched cases the collection was taken care of after the owner’s death by the association he co-operated with. The third solutions has just started to become popular. Nearly the half of the interviewed persons know examples of collections which were transferred to associations, foundations, cultural institutions - it is a form of protection for the collection’s future. Others would probably hand it out, close it. Family would come, everybody would take something and place it on a shelf, and there would be no more trace of it. (owner, kp5) In fact, histories of collections and private museums confirm owners’ concerns. We looked at the museum of ‘magnates’, whose owner died. The son of the owner was not interested in continuing his father’s passion, local self-government did not want to co-operate and did nothing to take over the collection. Also, cultural institutions, which the owner contacted, were not interested in the collection. It turned out that there are many more examples like that. At best, collections end up in museums’ cellars or cultural centres. Fortunately, other possibilities are equally frequent. Two
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from the researched places are run by next generations, one by the owner’s friends. Most of the museums were established by living owners/organisers, so this is the first generation that makes significant changes in the cultural landscape. Museums administrated by local self-governments, which were located in the vicinity of the ‘orphaned’ collections, where not interested in integrating them. The main reason is the lack of solid co-operation between public and private museums (except 5 cases out of 22 researched). Another reason are discrepancies in expectations and possibilities of private and public museums. The main mission – collecting meaning securing ‘cultural heritage’ is a temporary situation. Both private museums’ owners and managers of public institutions are limited by regulations, resources, and competition. On the one hand institutions governed by separate regulations ‘fight’ each other for objects, assets
for objects and maintenance, as well as the audience On the other hand, gathering and selling those objects are subjected to the law restrictions (archaeologically valuable objects are seen as the public property, monuments entered in the Register of Historic Monuments - due to their historic value, military equipment and weapons - due to health and life dangers). There is a paradox which is frequently overseen, namely that most of the state-owned and self-governmental museums were created on the basis of private collections nationalised before war. In the times of the People’s Republic of Poland, establishment and organisation of a museum meant effort of certain people, individuals and leaders of, then contemporary, cultural and scientific societies (for instance Stanislaw Lorenz, Royal Castle in Warsaw, or Maria Znamierowska-Prüferrowa and Ethnography Museum in Torun). Contemporary private museums did not start their ‘free’ and ‘adult’ until the year 1989.
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5. The neighbourhood
Types of events organised in 20 private museums (in brackets we give the number of museums which organise a given event): Festivals (8), workshops (8), tournaments (5), meetings related to the museum’s subject (4), lectures (4), concerts (4), guest exhibitions (3), conferences (3), theatre performances (2). Events held in 2011: Festivals (8), workshops (7), tournaments (4), meetings related to the museum’s subject (4), lectures (4), concerts (4), guest exhibitions (3), conferences (2), theatre performances (1). Three out of twenty museums have not organised any additional events so far, only museum lessons.
Collector’s wife The image of private museums would not be that complete, if we did not mention the role of the collector’s wife. Why wife, and not for example a husband or a partner? Most of the places we visited, at least officially, are run by married men (15 out of 20). What is the role of a wife in the museum? Is it a passive role, or active, or maybe a wife does not have any role at all? In the following subchapter we will only describe places which are officially run by men. However, it is not always the case. Sometimes the issue of running the museum jointly (or not) is
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clearly defined by the married couple, but sometimes not, so it is difficult to classify. In three researched places both wife and husband are active collectors and leaders of the museum. However, also in this model we can distinguish the roles and duties of both parties, and also the party which initiated the museum. You can ask about a collector’s husband, and although we did not research such places directly, we observed them. We believe that the described strategies (maybe modified) can refer also to a husband of a woman running a museum.
1) An assistant, a co-founder and a guard of common sense My mom gave me order and power. Tadeusz Morawski, Museum of Palindromes Wives fulfil a lot of duties. They guide visitors, vacuum and clean up the museum, serve tea, help to collect stories and objects, to administrate the website, to write, promote and sell books. They control collectors in their expensive passion. They control the resources. They are first persons who collectors consult when they have a new idea. They participate in execution of these ideas. We can say that they take care of an administrative order, either directly, or ‘backstage’. The owner of one museum said:
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She [wife – ed.] didn’t want to oppose. Will we do that? We will. She was going withme for the research, she helped me with writing books. I had to visit each cemetery several times (…), and read from the gravestones. She was helping me with everything. We visited a lot of manors, talked to workers from demesnes (carters, housemaids), they told us a lot of interesting things. Some other collector (Mazowieckie Province) when asked whether somebody helped him to organise the museum said:
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Only my wife. If it hadn’t been for her, this collection wouldn’t have come into existence. She could have said ‘I won’t spend any money on this’. Antoni Łukaszewicz (Kujawska Gallery) says openly that the museum is run by him and his wife. When we asked his wife, Halina
Łukaszewicz, about her role in creating the collection she said: ‘I only help him. This is his undertaking’. She adds: ‘When it comes to the creation [of the collection – ed.], it is his thing’. It is not individual case. Although formally or ‘officially’ a museum is run by a husband, a wife appears in various statements (from declarations of the very husbands, to press, or even in a statement of the commune’s head: ‘They decided to create such a museum, and it turned out to be successful’) as a co-owner and co-manager. It is the case in the Bread Museum in Warsaw, on the website of which we can read: The museum was established because of the Marian Pozorek’s spirit need, who decided to safe forgotten objects which show, how difficult the occupation of a baker was in the past.
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In the following paragraph we read: Together with my wife Grażyna we have collected many objects, various photographs, machines and bakery tools. They get to us [ed. emphasis] in various ways.
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Sometimes both the husband and the wife share the same passion. However, it is often the case that although the wife helps and is involved in the museum’s activity she is sceptical, especially when it is connected with additional duties and expenditures. One private museum’s _67
owner said about the initial ‘rage’ of his wife:
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Because we had to spend money, and women are more greedy when it comes to money. You know how it is to make ends meet. There are various strategies of finance management. They will be described in a separate section. Here we should mention that not always funds come from the husband’s savings. Very often the wife contributes to the museum from her salary or pension. Sometimes these are gifts – Wiktoryn Grąbczewski (Museum of the Polish Devil) said: ‘My wife bought me a beautiful devil’ - and sometimes this is a regular money contribution resulting from the joint ‘family’ expenditures involving maintenance of the museum. What do wives think about their role? Halina, already mentioned, revealed a part of their discourse. They take the role of
assistants, but they emphasise that it is ‘the husband’s passion’ that they took on. From the interviews in which women represent this viewpoint results that there are certain roles: husband as a creator and wife as administrator and evaluator of the undertaking. It is my husband who dreams, but I bring him back to reality. One of the women observed that thanks to the museum she and her husband have become ‘mini public figures’. People started to invite them to their houses and parties. On the one hand, they have new friends, they are acknowledged and respected, but on the other hand it might be tiring: Living faster influences our health because we are more nervous. (owner’s wife, kp7)
2) House opposition Not every wife wants to be ‘a public person’ by her husband’s side, especially when the public sphere enters the private space. Everything may be irritating then: from spending lots of money on exhibits, through husband’s involvement in the collection which means less involvement in the family life, to unknown persons in the house for whom a wife has to serve tea, clean up, or change into some more official clothes. Those types of wives believe that the outside world enters the home space, which ruins the family life. The clear manifestation of it is for them the annexation of a place which is traditionally claimed to be common, for instance a living-room. When frustration and tiredness remain, husband _68
is not going to give up collecting, and wife is not going to give up opposing (but not her husband), there are three strategies for surviving and opposing: a) ‘disturbing’ in visiting. They try to distract the husband when guiding visitors (for example asking to leave under the pretext of cleaning up), organising in exposition rooms meetings for friends on important days, finding reasons for not receiving visitors; b) ‘complaining’ to the husband, family, neighbours, visitors and even a priest about her ‘difficult’ situation. What is interesting, in traditional environments a clergyman
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was in the past and still is a mediator of family conflicts, used as an element of pressure; c) evading answering questions concerning her husband’s activities.
One solution to this problem proposed by neighbours is building an additional room near the house for presenting the collection. However, they say, that would be an expensive undertaking.
3) Collector’s asylum What the father has is power. Tadeusz Morawski, Museum of Palindromes
Wives who do not want to give either ‘supporting’ or ‘disturbing’ information are just invisible. They do not appear in neighbours’ stories, or on websites or press, and husbands openly say:
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I will show you the rooms where the museum started, but there is mess now. But maybe you will understand it. My wife washes only the floor there, but she is not allowed to touch the exhibits, because I am the boss there, not her. (owner, m12) The space in a house is divided into two separate parts, which are also managed separately, these are: the collector’s space, and the wife’s space. This division helps to situate the museum – it is a separate building near the house, which was once a farm building.
One collector when asked whether his wife helps him said: My wife does not disturb me, which is good. She doesn’t know exactly what I have. Sometimes we joke that she will have to sell all these things someday, and I ask her if the red falcon too, and she answers ‘This one too’, but I do not have such a falcon. That shows that she does not know exactly what I have. (owner, m12)
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The autonomous space in the house becomes a symbolic and geographical asylum for the collector. He fulfils his passions available to the public there.
Summary We do not want to create an impression that each situation, especially those connected with the private life, can be easily classified. The aim of this section was rather to take a look at strategies used by wives and towards wives. Was
the case described in the section ‘Collector’s asylum’ ‘peaceful’ retreat of the wife from the museum space, or maybe another opposing strategy? Maybe both of them. When we visited one museum in Mazowieckie province we were surprised _69
by the total absence of the wife. For most of the time she did not participate in the interview, she was reading a newspaper in another room. When the husband could not recall the name of one village,
it was she who was alert and immediately answered the question. What is more, at the end of the meeting she took care of documentation. She was a secret assistant.
Children In this section we will take a look at strategies used by children and towards children in relation to private museums. As it was the case with collectors’ wives, we can distinguish three main attitudes that children represent: a) ‘Absent’ attitude
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X: You said that your wife helps you, but what is the attitude of your children to the museum? Y: They have their own families. X: But are they interested in the collection? Y: They think it is good that I do something, they say: ‘Don’t give up, dad. You will live longer.’ X: So they don’t share your passion as much as your wife does? Y: I cannot say that. They do not help, whereas my wife does. (owner, m13) The above fragment of the interview presents not only the children’s attitude but also the neighbourhood’s attitude ‘Don’t give up, dad. You will live longer’ From this perspective a museum is only a way for spending free time by an older man, similar to activities such as University of the Third Age, or even crocheting or gardening. b) ‘Disapproving’ attitude
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We saw only one open conflict between a collector and his children. The son did not want to take over the museum situated in a village and left for a city. The father reacted so roundly that they currently do not have contact with each other. That was probably some deeper problem relating not only to the museum. It can be interesting to look at analogous situations, such as issues of taking over a profession/workshop/job/ companies from parents. c. ‘Involved’ (in the collecting) attitude The son of one private museum’s owner was in his childhood so proud of his father’s interests that he began to create his own small collections, for example of stamps. In the interview he emphasised that ‘the family has got infected with the passion’, and having a new exhibit was always an exciting experience. Currently, as an adult man he does not collect anything, but he says: ‘My father did not infect me completely with the passion for collecting but the passion for life’. Another example, though similar – the son created his own collection, independent of his father’s collection (also in terms of the subject). However, with time he decided to incorporate it in the exposition of his father. Now he helps with running the museum. The initial ‘competition’ transformed into co-operation.
It happens also that despite lack of interest in collecting at the beginning, the necessity (for instance, the intention to help with running the museum, or wish to inherit it) is an impulse to find a new passion.
d. If not children then who? In the interviews people frequently pointed out to grandchildren as those who could continue the passion for collecting.
Neighbours are friendly, envious, indifferent – there are different proportions of those reactions and emotions. One of our respondents has never taken his friends to Bziukiewicz family, although he is their close neighbour. The museum does not bother the society (especially the persons we talked to), but it does not influence the society in a positive way either. The man was in the museum, but long time ago, when it was starting to operate. However, he has not been in the Kurpie Museum in Wach yet, and he is not going to visit it. He claims that there are objects relating only to Kurpie. He says: ‘He has what I have. He bought some things from me’. In the neighbourhood everybody knows what such objects were used for, people were keeping them for long time. We asked him about the sense of a private museum and he answered: ‘it makes sense, because otherwise people would not be visiting it’. He points out to the fact that the museum is most frequently visited in summer, before holidays, when school trips come. He does not know, whether the museum is visited also by adults. Chil-
dren come not only from the area, but also from more distant regions. People do not want to help voluntarily, but they brought or sold to him something they did not need anymore. Especially people from the outside are interested in the museum, because locals already know it. One woman takes her friends there, also from abroad. People from here think that they know everything, but when they go there it turns out that it is not true. I saw there many things which were new for me. (neighbour, m16) The museum is visited mostly by tourists and school trips, very seldom by locals. When there is television it usually comes also with some trip. When some people visit friends here, they are not taken to the museum, there is always something else to do. (neighbour, m16)
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Community of acquaintances: collectors, gatherers, traders, buddies
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Because sometimes such a trader knows more than an ethnographer. (owner, m16) The closest surrounding means also the net of business/interest-related contacts. These are acquainted collectors and gatherers who are an important background for museum’s owners. Every interviewed person has his or her own contacts net, usually up to several dozens of people in Poland and abroad. This group is a second instance (after the wife) or first instance supporting the collector (several examples). The main functions of a group of acquaintances are: ■ consultation – subject-related support, exchange of information, knowledge and observations, critical and supporting reviews, sometimes competitive one;
■ help – help with all aspects related to the museum and the owner – finance and exhibits donations, help with formal and legal issues; ■ organisation – co-operation in acting in various aspects of the museum activity, help with transportation, organising exhibitions, presentations, lectures, finding exhibits for the collection like in case of good contacts with sellers and traders. In several cases the circle of acquaintances has a more formal structure: association (6), club (2), trade association (Bakers’ Guild). The tendency to create groups or associations seems to be maintained and spread by interested persons.
Local cultural institutions (public) I lent a part of my collection to the cultural centre, and they wrote to me to thank me – several thousands of people saw it. It means we are needed. (owner, m12)
Usually, local cultural institutions (cultural centres, libraries, museums) live in unity with private museums. Both parties benefit from the others’ activity, although to different extent. People in charge of certain institutions as well as the balance of power/ influences are determinant.
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1. The rarest is a harmonised relationship, which is also the most beneficial. In several cases the relationships were perfect – these were partnerships in which private museums and local public cultural institutions co-operated not only effectively, but also
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systematically, promoting each other. This model regards mostly museums which are open to activity exceeding the nearest region. Three out of the researched museums run broad activity in their region. They function as a local cultural centre, library, and educational entity at the same time. We can say they are cultural institutions, important in the region, and also known abroad.
a conglomerate of events which are organised in summer, and within for example two weeks from fifty to seventy events are held. (officer, kp2)
Very often he lent paintings from the museum for various expositions in Radom or Plock. (owner, m20)
3. There is also the third model of relationship – no co-operation (4), in one case a private museum was negated.
I think that small museums can be envious of our collections. (owner, m20) 2. The most frequent model of the relationship is occasional co-operation, in which private museums usually provide ‘a museum product’ and services for a ‘stronger’ cultural institution (mostly cultural centres and establishments). Representatives of the museums are invited for presentations during various events organised by communes, districts or localities. Exhibitions or collections make the institution’s programmes more attractive (usually subject to ‘their’ self-governmental administration). The private museum appears as a ‘local attraction’ (6), or an ennobling element as ‘local cultural undertaking’ (6), sometimes also as special exhibitions or presentation of a private collection, or various performances. However, the private museums use the space and infrastructure of a given cultural institution to present their collection or its part (8 places). Sometimes they organise presentations or run their activity through these institutions – also from an event to an event, very rarely, twice a year in the same place (10 cases).
We don’t control the creators, but sometimes we have to remind them some things. It makes them feel that somebody takes care of them and gives them chance to develop their activity. (officer, kp2)
I sent questionnaires to 12 communes and to the district office. The commune office is not in favour of us, so it didn’t surprise me that they did not reply, but what about others? In 2009 I sent the offer of co-operation to all communes. [So far – ed.] Only one has co-operated with us during one exhibition and one lecture. (owner, m11) When he suggested the cultural centre that an open-air event could be organised at his museum he got derided. (neighbour, kp1) The main institution in the village – fire department – to make money, not to educate. (owner, kp1) We were going to Szczytno because they have this one in their exposition. We asked them: ‘What is it’ and the lady replied: ‘Read the description’ - because there is no guide in the museum. However, there was neither description, nor the person who would know anything about it, because she was on leave. We sent them several emails, but so far they haven’t replied. Probably they didn’t know what they had. (owner, m16)
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We organised together some events for the day of Bory Tucholskie (…). It is a kind of _73
Local authorities Mr Hubert could send information about expositions to the promotion department, but he doesn’t do it. The District Office is unable to finance it. (officer, m13)
- The commune, the district, or even higher, know that the museum exists, is that correct? - Yes, they know. However, every time they prepare folders we are not included. I don’t understand it. (owner, m11)
In fifteen conducted interviews with representatives of local authorities (mayor, commune heads, managers and workers of culture, promotion and education departments) the majority followed the following statement: ‘We have no opportunity to finance it, but with pleasure we will include (or are including) the information about the museum on our websites’. We have checked it. Seventeen out of twenty museums are mentioned on websites of communes, districts and cities. We should ask, though, whether the local authorities are aware of the museum tourist potential? Very often they are, but not always. The problem exists not only in the communication among officers, but also in information about museums, published in the promotional materials other than websites. A good example of it is the following situation: The worker of the department of the city promotion was asked about the co-operation between the city office and the pri_74
vate museum. She answered that she had never heard about such co-operation. What is more, she had not even heard about the museum. It should be mentioned that the museum’s owner is the freeman of the city, and his museum is frequently visited by school trips. It is an extreme situation. Local authorities usually support such activities, admire the passion, but at the same time, do not have funds to help them. He knows museums in Germany. A commune there provides the venue in which collectors keep their vehicles. Here it is impossible. (owner, kp1) We also encountered problems to do with running the business activity. Four out of twenty-two researched museum owners pointed out to the negative influence of the fiscal authorities’ operations, which also have influence on their activities. The difficult situation of local companies affects
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the situation of private museums, which hampers the access to sponsors’ support.
functioned as agritourism farm. They took his VAT. (officer, kp2)
There are no institutions supporting the activity (…). There is no industry – because of the tax offices. The last one treated everybody as criminals. (owner, kp2)
- What is the attitude of the commune’s authorities? Do they perceive it as a positive initiative? Do they promote the museum? Do they support it? - The authorities are indifferent. They don’t promote the museum. (owner, m11)
For 8 years he was struggling with the Tax Office which emptied their accounts. He
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Financial threat to local self-government Three museums’ owners attempted to ‘obtain’ from the city the ‘appropriate’ premises for their collections, such as a deteriorating or undeveloped buildings. In exchange, they offered to give the whole collection to the new city institution. In all cases the attempts brought to no results. After some time cities sold commercial rooms/buildings to shops or service companies. They also pointed out to the lack
of funds for maintaining an institution such as a museum. One of the collectors (Mazovia Province) commented on the co-operation with the local authorities: We are needed when we organise an event, without any gratuity.
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Museum per resident The issue which could be called ‘number of museums per number of residents’ has appeared in three conversations. Respondents declared, for instance, that they are a small town and one private museum is
enough, or that there is already one big self-governmental museum, and a similar one in the region, thus there is no need for establishing more
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Local self-government versus private museum? In some researched private museums the co-operation with local self-governments is occasional. The museum is present during events organised by the local authorities; exhibitions in offices (for instance, on 11th November); events for self-governmental institutions, such as schools, libraries, or cultural centres, and it appears on the town’s/ commune’s websites in exchange. In several cases the local self-government financed small investments, such as a board/direction board, a driveway, or an award in the competition organised by the museum. One of the local self-government officials said:
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We [commune – ed.] help them, but they have to manage some things on their own, too. (officer, kp7)
An interesting example is the co-operation of the Museum in Grebocin with the commune which head declares: ‘We help each other as much as possible’. At the same time there is a plan to create an educational institution using the commune and museum’s potential. It would be an interesting example of public-private partnership, the aim of which would be providing service to the public. Jozef Pilsudski Museum and Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw have been established thanks to the agreement between public and private entities (however, not without controversies and accusations of spending public funds on private undertaking).
The farther, the better In the case of about twenty per cent of the researched museums there is no permanent co-operation with an institution of any kind. What about the remaining eighty per cent? The results surprise because the majority of private museums co-operates with institutions outside the region more often than with local entities. The relationship between private museums and other institutions are subject to the rule from the title: the farther the institution is situated, the better co-operation there _76
is. Perhaps the reason lays in weak local structures where each activity is ‘a danger’ (the research indicates such situation in many communes). Also the tendency of Poles to avoid co-operation and creation of local community may have the influence on this. Rivalry, inappropriately perceived competition, particularism, and atomisation show little trust among people, between administration and residents, institutions and citizens. Neighbours are not particularly interested in museums;
public institutions have their ‘own plan’ to execute, and offices ‘so many other things to do’. And indirectly they influence decisions of private museums’ owners. There is also a lot of struggle to gain prestige, and give meaning to their own activities.
The fulfilment of passion and interests plays the biggest role, though. They are acknowledged and noticed quicker outside the closest surroundings, and therefore private museums co-operate with outside institutions.
In Poland he is known for buses – there were programmes on TV (…). Every year he operates the bus line during the Night of Museums in Warsaw! (…) They are hired for films. Recently, for instance Wyprawa na księżyc was shot in Swinoujscie (…). He has contact with the school in Naklo, the Museum of Krajenski Land, and the Navigation School. (owner, kp1)
They could be important in Germany or Spain. They have contact in Lower Saxony – they would take them with everything. They would be a great attraction there. They were shocked, because nobody undertakes such things there. They would get help there. (art historian, kp3)
They co-operate with foundations, currently from Spain, for instance– they made a copy of Gutenberg for them. They concentrate on new contacts. (art historian, kp3)
He had contact with the custodian in the Karl May Museum in Dresden, who promised substantial payment for borrowing the collection for several years, but he couldn’t agree, because he promised that the collection would stay with him. It could be exported for not longer than a month. (research notes, kp2)
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For the third time they were invited to Denmark for the club’s Christmas Eve dinner, in November. In Denmark they met Norwegians and Hungarians. (research notes, kp1)
Such things are not so strongly promoted in Poland, but for instance in Czech Republic or in Germany there are special formulas which race in this historical class, and this car belongs to such historical class. (owner, kp5)
He made an exhibition in the Devil’s Museum in Kaunas. (research notes, m13)
Tourists come so often because of cheap Ryan Air flights. Very often they come only for a weekend to Warsaw, and they always come to us. (owner, m10)
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Institutions and organisations which co-operated with private museums in 2011/2012
Number of declarations
Self-governmental entities
6
Religion associations
6
Self-governmental and state-owned museums
8
Other private museums
9
Other (among others universities, libraries, embassies, foreign organisations)
10
Non-governmental organisations
11
Schools
11
Media
14
Institutions and organisations which co-operated with private museums in 2011/2012
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6. Exhibits – characteristic
The collection is most important. The most important thing is to show it to people. We do not have the influence on anything else. (owner, m21)
In the beginning there was the object The pretext for creating cultural space, collection or private museum is an object. Its meaning is crucial for establishing and developing a museum (gallery, exhibition, entity). Museums come into existence due to gathering and collecting:
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[husband – ed.] He used to collect, he had a collection of machines. The collection was the start of the museum. Purchasing the building enabled to expose the collection and to create this place. (owner, kp7) We did not observe the opposite direction of the process, apart from two cases in which the passion for collecting was rapid-
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ly developing after the decision to create the museum had been made. We try to expand our collection and to maintain the exhibits in a good condition. We participate in many promotional events (…). (owner, kp1) Collections of people we talk to are a rarity for ‘enthusiasts of diversity’. What is collected? Almost everything which is defined, planned and categorised as: ‘old’, ‘from the past’, ‘authentic’, ‘real’, ‘historical’, ‘unique’, ‘saved’, ‘wonderful’ and ‘beautiful’. It is even more difficult to define what the collections do not include. The museums’ owners definitely should not keep unreg-
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istered weapon, archaeological objects, materials in concession. What is collected, then? Various tangible and intangible things which are not accidentally chosen. The collectors categorise objects and decide whether something is worth collecting or not. These objects do not function in the material, symbolic and aesthetic sense any more (Krzysztof Pomian wrote that ‘the object is not used any more’).
The most important, however, is that objects have their own history – story, very often not complete, unknown, yet being the core of a given object. The story is a tool to control time. An object and its story ‘stop’ the time. The museums’ owners create the cultural space through objects and their stories. Objects and stories are aimed at participants – audience, listeners and participants of the visit (ceremony).
It’s difficult to start because when we start with one clock or gramophone, you mean nothing compared to other collectors, and private collections or collections in museums. You think that you will never achieve the same, because there are so many exhibits, with so high value. But when you get into it and you reach some level, you start looking from a different perspective and you get involved. I can compare it to alcohol addiction, there’s something similar in it. (owner, m17)
Relative numbers, because ‘item is item’ Jeśli chodzi o sztuki, bo tak samo sztuką są i łyżwy, i warsztat tkacki, i wrzeciono, mam kilka sztuk takich, to zatrzymałem się na 2 tysiącach z kawałkiem. (…) Próbowałem to pisać, ale zaprzestałem, bo wydaje mi się, że powinno to być opisane, bo ja tak nawet mam to wszystko w głowie... (właściciel, m12)
The collectors count their exhibits up to a certain moment. It is impossible to count them all because the number is huge and it is rising with time. Also the number of duties concerning running the museum rises, and it is more difficult to focus only on the
collection. Objects are remembered when they can be seen, and when they were obtained with strong emotional experience. The memory of emotions connected with obtaining objects and their stories are a kind of a catalogue. Counting the items is _81
postponed and seems to be useless because the objects’ story is the most important. The pattern of establishing and running a museum is similar in several places. When the collector decides to exhibit his collection, he ‘knows that he has something to show, and there is a lot of it’. How many? It is difficult to count because each item should be considered. There is only one direction when it comes
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It is an amazing exhibit, (…) there are only three other like this one in Poland, and one of them is yours. (owner, kp5)
So many wonderful things! THIS is a museum. You’ll find many valuable things here. (owner, kp5)
Look, this is number 913. This was a free spot, so I put it here, and it got number 913. (owner, kp6) Collections involve from several dozen (of buses) to at least five/six thousands objects. In the majority of the researched
places the number accounts for one up to two thousands.
Glass balls and tractors mean totally different things and costs, don’t they? (owner, kp6)
In fact, in more than a half of the private museums there is no record or catalogue. In four registered museums a catalogue is obligatory. However, running such a catalogue is time-consuming and expensive – when the owner wants to use a computer programme for cataloguing, they have to spend over one thousand zlotys. In the rest of the museums objects are noted down (4), partially, ‘till there is time for it’ or ‘in winter, when there is more time’ (5), or are stored only in the owner’s memory. Trying
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to the number of exhibits – it increases. Collection develops. Individual objects very quickly change into gatherings, collections and exhibitions of most important, valuable and beautiful objects. However, each item is important. There is a tendency in Poland to think that numbers kill emotions, so the collectors do not count the objects in their collections, but look at their value and uniqueness.
to estimate the number of the collected objects, the museums’ owners touch upon two spheres – visible and invisible one (implicit and explicit), which show that collecting is an attempt to structure the reality. What if it is impossible to count the collected objects? The best way to ‘catalogue’ is to tell stories and ‘remember’. The museums’ owners place their collections closer to emotions and impressions, rather than numbers and catalogues.
Not exhibited objects There are objects which are collected, but not exhibited. Objects only for special occasions. We distinguished four categories of invisible – uncountable objects: 1. Valuable objects – most valuable and precious objects.
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I don’t expose the oldest glass balls. The brocade rubbed off, there is no point in showing them. (owner, kp6) 2. Personal objects – intimate, private, important for the owner. These are very often family relic, associated with personal experiences. They are not exposed because the owners want to protect their privacy. They are exposed only for a small group of people. For special occasions. 3. Dangerous objects – objects which according to the law and safety considerations are considered dangerous for the person who uses it, and for others. These are mostly sharp objects, firearms and cold steel, substances potentially dangerous for health and life (one collection contained pre-war containers with hydrochloric acid).
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At home I have a collection of cold steel, but I can’t expose it here. That would be dangerous, because some objects are expensive and valuable. (owner, m12) 4. ‘Illegal’ objects - the collectors find various objects and artefacts, and sometimes they are aware of the fact that they do not come from a legal source. These objects are confusing, both for the collector and visitors. These are individual cases, but they happen. One example is a collector
who ransacks local scrap yards, he has even an ‘agreement’ with people managing the local scrap yard that if something interesting appears, they inform him. He told us that he found elements of manor house fences, crosses from cemeteries, fragments of adornment or machines, but he does not know if they had not been stolen and then sold in the scrap yard. He collects all that from the scrap yard, and if there is no ‘clear’ evidence of their origin he incorporates it to his collection. Another example of ‘llegal’ objects are potsherds. This issue is regulated by the law which provides for that all ‘ancient’ objects should be placed in the nearest registered museum (state-owned or self-governmental one). It is rare but it happens that the time of providing the findings was a little bit long. The issue of archaeological findings showed one of the problems connected with the protection and gathering of material heritage in Poland. Many archaeological findings are excavated illegally, and are not located in indicated places. We observed that the scale of this phenomenon is extensive, however, the very archaeologists and museums’ owners claim that the very regulations and law enforcement should be changed, because they are ineffective and do not protect the archaeological heritage. According to the rules regarding ‘old monuments maintenance’, ‘all objects of archaeological value, which were discovered, accidentally found or acquired in the course of archaeological research, belong to the State Treasury’. In order to prospect them legally the permit of the monument conservator from the given province is needed. However, specialists taking care _83
of excavations and monuments (archaeologist, museum workers, ‘treasure hunters’) estimate that in Poland even several
thousands of people may conduct their own prospecting.
Purchased, obtained or acquired Where do exhibits come from?
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1. Most of the exhibits are bought: ‘They pay for most of exhibits.’ The collections’ owners talked about money relatively often, however, not in the context of buying exhibits. Certainly, exhibits are expensive and they take most of the budget (in at least ten places), in other places most of the money is spent on the infrastructure. How much do exhibits cost? It depends on the ‘market’. There are no rigid prices. The prices are agreed, which means that exhibits cost as much as somebody pays. It was bought from a farmer who believed that it was a royal bed. I suppose he had got it from an heir. (owner, m12) Apart from buying we also promote collecting. We can’t afford to buy everything. (owner, kp5) These are mostly, so called, flea markets, for example in Warsaw. (owner, m12) Most of the objects were bought from other people. Only a small part of them came from his farm (farm of his parents and grandparents). (research notes, m16) How much do exhibits cost? It is difficult to get an answer; the prices usually appear to be only estimations. It is one of the profession secrets, something which is invisible. It can be associated with immolation, or
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paying the ransom for the quality and value. No doubt, running a museum is an expensive activity. As the research shows, the owners’ financial resources are invested in collections. 2. In each researched place exhibits appear as a gift or donation. Objects acquired in this way are usually the ‘beginning of a collection’, ‘a small part of it’, ‘five per cent’, 1/10 at most of all exhibits.’ When I bought the loom my cousin came to me and said that he had a loom after our grandfather. Maybe these two looms are useless, but I had to expose the one made by my grandfather. He was a farmer and talented carpenter. I took it from my cousin, and now I’m proud that it’s the loom made by my grandfather, used by my grandmother and mother. (owner, m12) People willingly bring these objects. They say: ‘We don’t need it any more. We used it as a swede chopper’, for instance. (owner, kp5) Only few of them are donated. For example, this cloth was a gift from a teacher from Kolno. (owner, m16) 3. Exchanged objects constitute the smallest part of the collections. It is difficult to estimate their value. Even non-material exhibits, such as palindromes, are subject
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to these ‘principles’. The main mechanism, which governs obtaining objects in this way is the net of contacts, usually with collectors, gatherers, specialists, like mechanics or art historians. The second group includes neighbours and residents of a given locality.
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I have this soap from an old house (…). I suppose it might have been lying there since the war times.(owner, m12) I don’t want to take out old notebooks, or documents. Some of them are very old. You can find them in villages and towns. They don’t even know what they have. (owner, kp5) I have contact to a man from Germany who has the Pomot 2, which I don’t have. I have 1 and 3, but not the middle one. As far as I know, he wants to exchange it for my Estonia. (owner’s son, kp5) I stay in touch with people with who I discuss exhibits which I managed to buy somewhere. I know some collectors throughout Poland. (owner’s son, kp5) 4. Reconstructions, renovations, recreations, copies, adaptations, imitations, inspirations, arrangements are creative ways of obtaining exhibits. This aspect of the museum
activity, which is connected with work of reconstruction groups, relates to exhibits intended for expositions and installations, which are completion of collections. ‘Artefacts’ are created in, at least, several private museums, usually by the collectors and the owners. It involves reconstructed machines, vehicles, utilities, and small objects, but also buildings, spaces, such as a cottage, mansion from the nineteenth century, road shrines, or graves. A faithful recreation is extremely important. The owner created his own museum in which he collects household appliances from the past. There is also a gallery of paintings where temporary exhibitions are held. The collection from the museum relates to the times of Napoleon, the Duchy of Warsaw, and Polish landed gentry. The collection of books contains the first translation of Homer’s ‘Iliad’, and many other rare books. (research notes, kp22)
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5. Emotions evoked by a certain object remain to be the most important ‘currency’. If you go somewhere and there’s something that you don’t have – you’re simply jealous. I want it, and I’ll get it, maybe from you, or maybe in other way. When you get it, you feel satisfied. (owner, m12)
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Story as a proper object It’s usually Mr Jan who is guiding visitors. To watch only isn’t enough. (owner, kp2)
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The main difference between a private and a public museum is the ‘story’. Telling a story is a main point, the proper experience and impression in private museums. All exhibits and other aspects lead to the meeting with the owner, the creator who tells the story. Andreas Huyssen states that ‘the past needs articulation to become the memory.’ If it had not been for this need, private museums would not have existed. We can refer to Jan Assmann and say that ‘cultural memory’ appears when ‘communicative memory’ disappears; when some reality disappears and it is not experienced so intensely, the way it is remembered changes. The past becomes a ritual and a material experience. Assmann emphasises that it is important who and how creates the message. The story has to be comprehensible for the audience, thus some kind
of an ‘artistic’ (sensuous) form is vital. In the private museums the history is a story, a verbal message which is a recurrent act of commemorating the ‘history’ and participating in it. Showing the collection is a complex story. Many visitors relate in their opinions to this phenomenon. They distinguish between an entire immersion in the museum and dissatisfaction when there was no story to be told. First they look at the crib, he tells about it, next they sit, there’s a break, they can eat some cake and drink a cup of tea, then he shows the toys. You don’t just come and go. My husband can talk about it for hours. People start to be nervous, but he wants to tell more and more. (owner, kp6)
De-rusting. Clearing. Renovation. Conservation One of the main responsibilities of a ‘real’ museum run ‘professionally and duly’ is gathering, storing and maintaining the collections. It is done in all private museums. Exhibit maintenance can be divided into two types: ■ clearing and protecting against deterioration, ■ conservation and renovation carried out according to the current conservation rules.
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The first type is more frequent as it is necessary, easier and more accessible. Usually, the owners carry this out himself or herself or with the help of ‘self-taught’ and educated specialists. Clearing and maintaining means full integration of an exhibit with the collection and the process of commemorating.
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- Do you sometimes conserve them? - No, it just stays here. It’s an old iron so it doesn’t corrode that fast. They’ve been cleared, but these wooden objects should be conserved. However, it’s expensive, we can’t afford it, but they have souls, they’re as natural as in the past. Some of them are useless, like the collection of pots. Pots don’t have to be conserved - a pot is a pot. Other pottery neither, but those chests or the old furniture need some kind of conservation. (owner, kp7)
I try not to buy wooden objects because one has to take care of it and keep it inside. I don’t have enough place for it. (owner, kp1)
Apart from the three of us also Mr Leszek takes care of the buses. He’s a mechanic, retired PKS worker. He sometimes drops in to help with the mending and conservation of the vehicles. (owner, kp1)
- You take care of the technical side of it, is that correct? - Yes. Most of the Polish information boards are tied with a wire. You can hear the jingle of the boards all the time. In this confectionery everything was tied with a wire. If it hadn’t been for silicon and wire, everything would fall apart. I had disassembled and cut for scrap many interesting boards way before it was a museum, it was in the nineties. I remember the information board of Skala, one of the first such boards in Warsaw, this was in the thirties or forties. It was created with use of different technology. (worker, m10)
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It’s really all expensive and it requires certain skills, because one has to know how to fix a metal plate or how to bend glass. When we get a neon, we don’t know where to begin from. The average cost amounts from fifteen to twenty thousand zlotys. It’s a job for a professional, but I can do painting on my own. We have, for example, a Hermes neon which came from Zielona Gora, and I painted it in the summer, but I can’t handle other things. (worker, m10)
[The neighbour – ed.] helps with reparation. (owner, kp7)
I’m lucky because when the glass ball isn’t entirely broken, my daughter is able to fix it. I managed to encourage her, and she keeps doing it. (owner, kp6)
The second type involves restoring an object to the condition similar to the original one, with the best possible protection. Collections in three museums are entirely
renovated according to the current renovation rules. Such specialists as paper, stone, wood or metal conservators are invited to help with conservation works.
I carry out conservation works, besides the worker graduated from Archaeology and Art Secondary School with the major in ‘sculpture conservation’, and she’s a conservator, too. (owner, kp3)
They took over a part of the museum of English books, but these books need conservation. There is no money for it so they just store it. Sometimes they are incomplete and need completion.(research notes, kp3)
Several hundreds of papers with watermarks, (…) waste paper from the nineteenth century, which also needs conservation. (owner, kp3) _88
When he bought the building, he was rather thinking about the conservation workshop. He didn’t expect starting a museum. (owner, kp3)
Probationers from various countries come to the museum – to the conservation workshop, but not to the very museum. These were the students of conservation works. (owner, kp3)
Money goes for conservation. They have their people who do that – Mr and Mrs Lipecki from Torun, who run the Huu-Ska Luta group related to Native Americans, and belong to the Native American Indian Lovers Association. They help. (…) They create handicrafts and send it to America. The very Native Americans buy it, maybe they don’t want to make it any more. They have the group performing Native American-related dance and songs. (owner, kp2)
One boy who is an electrician comes now. He uses these days to fix something. The poor boy does it all day, every day. (owner, kp6)
I employ a person who renovates these motorcycles. (…) We have one workshop here for motorcycles (…), cars are repaired in the company. (owner, kp5)
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Inventory, catalogues, registers We could make a long list of exhibits, but it would not probably include all the items from the collections, anyway. The distinction between visible and invisible objects works better for uncountable exhibits. It is similar in the case of material and non-material legacy, which is collected, gathered and exposed by the private museums’ owners. Catalogues of types, forms, museum organisations, and distinction of exhibits are prepared in all museums (it is the way of organising exhibits). The Wikipedia website has the following catalogues: archaeological, biographical, ethnographic, heritage parks, historical, halls of memory, places of martyrdom, nature-related, geological
and geographical, sacred, arts, technical and specialist, army-related, ships, boats, castles, palaces, mansions, and other museums. Another example: [x] Museums and Jurassic Parks in Poland (1 website) [x] Museums of mansion interiors in Poland (4 websites) [x] Museums of Jews in Poland (7 websites) [x] Living museums in Poland (3 websites) All collections can be placed within the frameworks of the categories mentioned above. While defining the subject and the field of collections, they could be placed in each system. Entry to the inventory:
(…) uniforms, old costumes, certificates, paintings, coins, jewellery, unique copies of magazines from the second World War, coursebooks, ink pots, and other. The real rarities are decorations and statuettes made from flint, objects from households and farms, such as washboards, pottery, baskets, chests, old irons, rodent traps, spinning wheels, machines for mincing seed or manufacturing butter, (…) carved and painted carriages and sleighs, fragments of pottery, old coins, (…) music heard from an old but still working gramophone. There was also an old vinyl in it. (research notes, m17)
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We have: pottery (the nineteenth century), first personal computers, several of them, one is still working, photography equipment, audio equipment - some machines are still working, soldier moulding, applied technology, numismatics, banknotes. (owner, kp5)
Crib, statuettes, small houses, miniatures from Bethlehem, thousands of miniatures. Approximately, a hundred of topics (angels, mountains, vehicles, ancient times and much more). Various glass balls – a mobile phone, Mickey Mouse, Dr Watsan and Sherlock Holmes, Big Ben, lots of Santa Clauses, (…) this is unique – plush, moving ones, or singing. I have about a hundred of them (…). I collect everything, also musical boxes, but I don’t exhibit them. I have about a hundred of them. (owner, kp6)
Only agricultural ones related rather to horses, also tractors. I had a Polish plough which was a kind of a showcase. Now there is the C45 tractor, but also different ones, however, we have mostly agricultural and horse-related objects. (…) potato diggers, mowers (…). Basic stationary engines – we had S60, S320, two of Slavia, a Polish engine, the International Harvester Company engine, and an American one. (owner, kp1)
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Carriages, vehicles, smith, saddler, carriage-builder. (owner, m17)
We have here flavours from the Bug Region. Regional products. (owner, m19)
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7. Exposition forms and methods, space and its arrangement It is impossible to explore the space in isolation from time, because these two elements determine each other. Mihály Sükösd Exhibits are the beginning of a collection; gathering them is the essence, and presentation of them completes the two above. Forms and methods of presentations have already been mentioned in this report. However, the problem of space arrangement and expositions seem to be significant, therefore, some notes and observations have to be made.
Private Public Space An appropriate place and arrangement are necessary to make a successful museum. The museum space is usually a closed area (house, apartment, room, household buildings, or buildings designed for collections and exhibitions), and its surroundings. The choice of a proper place for a museum is not easy. If it is impossible to get an ‘appropriate’ place, collectors use available, cheap and adaptable places situated near their homes. None of the researched museums was located on a rented or hired property. There
was only one case of a formal operation when children were the owners of the property and made it accessible to their parents. The rest of the places where private properties, and it seems that it is the main aspect of the new cultural area. The most important operation – exposing the collection – takes place there. It enables to cultivate culture in the form of a museum. A part of a private space has to be temporarily or permanently made available to the public: ■ temporarily: visiting hours, date of a particular event, various presentations and expositions outside the museum; _93
■ permanently: the museum’s space is entirely excluded from the private space. Opening hours are not important because personal arrangements are made more willingly. The two aforementioned forms depend on the way of organising the museum, and as it has already been mentioned, the places and forms of expositions are thoroughly thought over. One of the researched museums, which breaks stereotypes regarding the image of the museum space, is arranged in the following way: the museum space is a visiting route arranged in a holiday cabin, marked with information boards, and is accompanied mainly by the story told by the guide. The museum exists also in the virtual reality. The phenomenon of virtual museums (which we elaborate on in different research) shows that museum office and its activity do not have to directly relate to each other. The research shows that: ■ in four out of twenty-two researched museums the exposition is arranged in a private ‘home’ space; in all these cases it was intended; ■ in twelve cases the museum is situated in some part of the owner’s house (apartment, household buildings, and other), usually, this option is satisfactory for the owners;
■ in six cases the museum is located in separate rooms or buildings, adapted for the museum office, with intention to develop the infrastructure. It can be observed that the model of the museum space organisation has changed. It differs from the most common image of a typical (usually public) museum. The main difference between the private and the public space is that the former smoothly transforms from a private into public entity and vice versa. The organisational need and flexible management of the activity are crucial. Moreover, the museum activity is closely related to the owner’s private life. The interviewed people often described the private museums and the owners’ enthusiasm as “authentic”. Both, the museum owners and collectors were described in this way. The creation of museum is a dynamic phenomenon, influenced by the nature of the collection, number of exhibits, vision of the exposition, and financial opportunities (regarding development and improvement of the museum space). Private museums’ owners are driven mostly by visions which they fulfil and implement. These visions entail plans for development of the museum space, enlarging it, acquiring new equipment, and arranging in a better way.
Initially, I thought that the water tower next to the saltworks will be the museum (…). Maybe it’ll be possible, in future, to buy a property and build a building similar to the water tower. However, my priority now is to buy premises, where it would be possible to run the museum. (owner, kp5)
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The construction of the museum began about thirty years ago. While I was building my house I started to think about the room, in which I could expose such things as a family book, my grandfather’s chest, or a gramophone, but it soon turned out that the room was too small for it. I removed the wall to connect the two rooms in one bigger room. However, after several years this room was also full, so I had to look for some other place. (…) The attic was intended for the museum… I wondered whether it would have been possible to arrange it in a better way. (…) My dream is to twofold enlarge the current place. This would enable me to expose all my exhibits, and also to create clubhouse for children, (…) with visualisation of the historical vision (…). The building is intended for the museum. (owner, m12)
Not available space There is a hidden layer concerning storing objects, which could not be exposed due to the lack of space, also the working one. This layer is invisible but significant for the museum activity to be complete. This space usually includes households buildings and rooms, cellars, or garages. In all of the researched museums there is a space arranged for storing exhibits.
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We don’t have enough room to expose them, but there are thirty. However, we expose them during exhibitions. We put
it on the map. It looks very nice in Vilnius. (owner, m13) The arrangement of the exhibits is adjusted not to visitors, but to Mr Artur, so that he can drive the vehicles freely (…). There are two areas of the museum – one next to the house, and the other behind it. The area behind the house is intended for visiting, and the one next to it for repairing the vehicles. (owner, kp1)
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Travelling museum One more frequently chosen form of exposing collections should be mentioned. Open-air expositions, travelling exhibitions, presentations during various events and meetings – these forms are very common among, at least, a half of the interviewed museums’ owners. It means an entirely public activity in the public space. Diverse expositions forms are related to the main aspects of the museum activity and
passions of their owners. Performances with a barrel organ, stories about bread, about Kujawy and presentation of weaponry – these are expositions ‘in motion’, in time and space, but, they are also a kind of a successful promotion. One of the buses, a ‘cucumber’, is taken sometimes for festivals, films, etc. (owner, kp1)
Areas of senses Public space, partially private space, and private space which is ‘slightly public’ – they all exist simultaneously in one place. Localisation of the museum and various ‘manifestations’ perceived through senses influence the museum’s surroundings. Also expositions are organised in such a way as to activate different ways of perception. Visual sphere: ■ a sign, a symbol, a ‘logo’, an iconographic sign, and artistic forms (they can be vivid, have a promotional form, or be sometimes lit), describing of the place; ■ an interesting, unique object or element of a decoration on a gate, windows, buildings or in a garden; exhibits placed next to the museum, in front of or behind it, which not only indicate the existence of the place, but also are part of an exposition itself; _96
■ a travelling museum, which is a step farther, ‘out of view’, which can be found in nearly a half of the researched places; their organisers participate in presentations, events, and celebrations few times a year, they hold meetings to promote the museum. Audiosphere: ■ verbal designations or messages: ‘there is such a museum’, ‘if you turn left, you will get to the museum’, ‘Neons are in SOHO, on the Zabkowska Street’, ‘I know where the museum is, but it is difficult to get there, you need to call there and arrange a meeting’; ■ sound effects of a given place, noises. They refer to the clutter caused by a great number of meetings and events’ visitors and participants, including the sound system during annual meeting or
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convention, when the sound is of a great importance. Characteristic sounds such as humming motorcycles, tractors, or machines presented in certain collections; unusual but typical sounds making the place unique – the Wawel Dragon belching fire, patter of printing machines, or music from a barrel box. Sphere of smell: ■ indicates the space of the museum during various events and meetings held in the museum, for example, the bonfire smoke or intensive smell of certain dishes. There is also another kind of smell, namely, irritating smell (or only described as such), which in one place is the cause (or a pretext) of cold relationship between
the museum and its neighbours who complain about the exhaust fumes of the museum machines. Sphere of touch: ■ activated mostly during visits in private museums. It is one of the most important aspects which differ private museum from public (state-owned) ones, or at least is only described as such by the interviewed persons, owners and visitors. Here you can touch everything. (owner, kp7) Children tend to touch everything, rearrange it, but this is how it’s supposed to be. (owner, kp7)
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Collection ingredients: mixture, composition, homogeneity
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It’s difficult to collect and promote the collection at the same time – the lack of time hinders the development of the exposition. Also, the lack of money, especially for the corral, is responsible for it. The main issue is to make the exposition functional, and to arrange the space in a best possible way. (owner, m16)
Expositions and presentations in the researched private museums are similar to the modern expositions of public museums. Very often the private museums’ owners try to imitate what they have seen in public museums. Expositions represent modern tendencies and current exposition trends as well as beliefs and attitudes of their owners. They try to show their visions not only
to visitors, but also to people arranging the expositions. We avoid the word ‘curator’ intentionally, although the private museums’ owners fulfil this role, too. The heritage park in Nowogrod is inspiring, also the one in Ciechanowiec due to the machines there. (owner, m16)
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The main point of reference is the taste of the museums’ owners, who follow expositions they find interesting. They treat it as a source of ideas for the presentation of their own collections. Inspiration comes from the methods of exposing, which are then used in displays. The most common exposition model is the modernistic, rationalised and “scientific” one:
3. related to particular cultural practices:
1. chronologically organised (estimated or presumed dates):
4. Anti-expositions – form which distinguishes the researched private museums from public museums (comparative survey):
■ described as ‘old’, ‘from the past’, ‘ancient’, which refers to the historical value of objects, which is one of the main reasons for the museum founding. Experts estimated it for the seventeenth or eighteenth century, but I don’t know. (owner, m13) This devil was made from dough in nineteen thirty-six. (owner, m13) 2. grouped in collections, or according to the kind and/or subject: ■ related to cataloguing according to first, functional or aesthetic features of objects (tractors next to the motorcycle collection; palindromes on life in the staircase, and those on eating manners in the kitchen; furniture from the sixties, seventies and eighties of the twentieth century; handguns and long arms, a soldier equipment; angel-shaped Christmas balls, Christmas balls in the shape of pop culture figures).
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I wanted to interest you in Kaszuby-related cut-out. We have got about one thousand eight hundred and thirty of them. (owner, m13)
*’touchable expositions’, in the majority of cases _98
■ presenting various occupations, for instance: presentation about amber extraction, hall of traditional rural professions, ‘handmade paper’ workshop, palindrome creation, performance of Native American-related dance, carriage or bus drives, story-telling, yarns or parables.
■ ‘spoken exhibition’, presentation of collections in a private museum has usually a form of a story-telling; ■ exhibits in private museums can be touched*. The owner does not like traditional museums where expositions remain unchanged and cannot be touched. (research notes, m16)
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■ collector’s knowledge versus private museum’s knowledge; one of the interviewed persons said that expositions are a conscious operation to create the narration, where beliefs and knowledge of people, who use the objects and narration to present the world, meet. They tell [in the local heritage park – ed.] about the village there and show it, but how can they know it, if they haven’t lived in a village for a single day? (owner, m16) ■ man-exposition:
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It is the collector and his collection, who creates this space. The exposition is silent without him (we do not mean descriptions of exhibits, which can be found in some museums). They are one unique body. It shows that a private museum can only be truly understood with the help of the collector. (research notes, http://muzeaprywatne.blogspot.comhttp://muzeaprywatne.blogspot.com )
[it is being considered – ed.] To box off the part of the park for market place and festivals, and also to integrate some of the rooms in the mansion and park for various artistic events. Our dream is to make the mansion a place in which celebrations of honouring people from the Radziejowski District with medals and other distinctions, would take place. We also consider organisation of various exhibitions, for instance, exhibition of artistic blacksmithing. We also think about carriage drives around the lake. (research notes, http://muzeaprywatne.blogspot.comhttp://muzeaprywatne.blogspot.com )
A storeroom or an attic, but some visitors call it a ‘lumber room’. This generalisation does not work in case of private museums, and the impression is deceptive. The researched museums are organised according to a specific conception and a thought over exposition. The examples are Marian Pozorek’s Bread Museum, Wiktoryn Grabczewski’s Private Museum of the Polish Devil, who arranged an exposition relating to the regional division by Oskar Kolberg! (research notes, http://muzeaprywatne.blogspot.comhttp://muzeaprywatne.blogspot.com )
Space-time compilation We distinguished various exposition forms, but the typology should refer to time entangled in space. Exposition certainly means the arrangement of space. Creation of the imagined world is expressed through presentations, which can be classified according to three exposition ideas (types, models): 1. ‘just as it is’, which means a ‘realistic’ presentation where the collector recreates the world. They present the excess, difficult to count numbers. At the same time, they organise the world, recreate and imitate the reality in the way it is
perceived. It is nearly 1:1 scale, however, still ‘one step behind’. The examples can be heritage parks or reconstructions of rooms from the past. There is, for instance, a reconstructed room in the house from the nineteen-eighties, in which there were dummies at the table (a woman and a man), dressed in costumes from the period (‘Turkish sweater’, denim jacket). Another example is the reflection of the world in the Christmas balls, decorations and toys collection, containing at least three thousands items. _99
2. ‘Just as it should be’, which means an idealistic approach, exposing objects which present a perfect model of the reality. It is usually the complete collection, filled with and closed by its ideality and completeness. The office of a landowner from the beginning of the twentieth century, a printing workshop, a storeroom with all agricultural tools, which existed in a certain time, a collection of medals and orders from a given period. The ideal space in which the ideal image is presented. The ideal space where time has been stopped. 3. ‘Everything is important’, meaning ‘full’ exposition, which can be found in nearly half of the researched private museums. The number of collected objects, the variety of artefacts, an exposition saturated with meaning – all this is impressive. The ‘full’ exposition idea means a creation of a compressed story in, usually, insufficient
space. The collector presents the past and the present, along with a great number of references and variety of objects. This approach is similar to the ‘freak show’ or ‘panoptikum’, which enables to present several mixed chronologies (according to a historian), styles and epochs (according to a cultural expert), presentation methods (according to qualified artists), and subject syncretism (according to a museum owner). How much can be exposed? The owners of several museums told us that they exposed from thirty to forty per cent of their collections (in estimation). The problem lies in the lack of space, the lack of several objects necessary for the creation of a dream collection, controversial or ‘rejected’ subjects, narration which do not appeal to the audience. The theme compositions are sometimes a problem, too:
Each element has to match to the others. The Nazi whip can’t be placed next to the palace tiles. (owner, kp7)
Now we go downstairs where I’ll tell you about the area, which I took up several years ago – carriages and coaches. It took me a lot of time, but I was also gathering machines which weren’t used any more. It’s sad, but cows and horses has disappeared from villages in such a short time – within the last ten to fifteen years this landscape has changed so drastically. (owner, m17)
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The space we’ve got at our disposal is very limited, so we can’t speak about categorisation. The most important thing is to place as much objects as possible in this space. It isn’t a public museum, where one can place several showcases, or ten curators, who will arrange it. It’s a private museum which has to finance itself. (owner, m21)
Somebody stood behind these controls. These weren’t normal controls. It takes place when a cultural centre decides not to expose anything related to eroticism. In Poland they organise exhibitions concerning lives of the saints, the pope or partisans. However, every other theme is problematic. (owner, m21)
Heterotopia, hybrid, eclecticism First case: row of matzevas and hundredyear-old millstones. Second case: A dragon blenching fire, made from washing-machines and car parts, among historical, agricultural machines. Third case: an agricultural machine next to a Native American totem. It took us a lot of time to find a proper word for this specific syncretism in objects from different realities (social, historical, or geographical ones). We like the term ‘Arabella’s effect’, which was described in detail in the ‘Wehrmacht nie macha. Rekonstrukcyjna codziennosc jako sposob zanurzenia w kulturze’ report on reconstruction groups.
An unintended syncretism flourishes in the constructors groups due to the fact that various epochs coexist there: ‘sunglasses and fox furs.’ Many reconstruction events present a combination of epochs and worlds. The mixture of worlds is usually accidental or unintended. Recipients witness an unintended reconstruction syncretism, the ‘Arabella’s effect’ itself. Elder people remember, of course, the famous Czech TV series with the same title, where main characters are moved to socialist Prague from the twentieth century. Such events as Odyseja Historyczna in Kutno make an impression of an unrealistic world. During reconstruction events Adidas shoes are placed next to footwraps, knights stand next to Napoleonic soldiers. Such unique combinations can be found also in private _101
museums. Thus, one question arises: why is it surprising that a totem is placed next to an agricultural machine, whereas an ‘ancient’ room next to the room with an ancient collection in a self-governmental, or state-owned museum, is not? It is not only about the belief that in public institutions everything has to make sense. Everything which is perceived as typical and classic (sometimes, also scientific) has to be organised according to a certain pattern, which we accept as a valuable whole. This means that an exhibition organised chronologically would symbolically present the consecutive epochs, whereas an exhibition organised according to a certain theme would have great educational value. However, what interesting can a recipient (or even a creator of an exhibition) find in arranging and classifying? Mary Douglas gives an answer to this question in her book Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. She describes the struggle for purity maintenance as the crucial issue in the life of society. She believes that only through an appropriate categorization, the order within communities can be kept, whereas ignoring the commonly agreed rules causes indignation, disgust, or abomination. As an example she gives Jewish rules concerning Kashrut. Douglas states that everything which evokes disgust should lead to reflection, because it is relat-
Another interesting key word, apart from the Arabella’s effect, is heterotopia (but also heterochronia) described by Michel Foucault. Heterotopia is a real place, in which other places are represented, but also rejected or reversed. Similarly, heterochronia is a point, in which various periods, epochs and moments meet and create a quasi-reality. Entering and exiting the wonderful/having special atmosphere/weird/disgusting heterotopia can be characterised by delimitation signals, which create a kind of, for instance, buying a ticket-visiting-collecting the jacket from the cloakroom ritual. If museums, understood as institutions, can be described as heterotopia, private museums can also be described in such a way. From this perspective, a difference between a dragon among historical, agricultural machines, and an Egyptian sculpture in a public museum is the criterion of a subjective ‘adequacy’.
city
countryside
detached house extension, garage, cellar in a block of flats, industrial premises (former factory, detached house (household rooms), area around the house, historical mill.
small palace, holiday lodge, mansion, detached house, cellar, private house, household rooms, area around the house, former factory of agricultural machines, car port, former church, barn, cowshed, corral.
entered on the list of monuments: post-industrial premises (former factory)
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ed to culturally embedded mechanisms of a social control. We could say that disgust is a mechanism keeping the order in the society. If we replace the word ‘disgusting’ with the word ‘inappropriate’ or ‘strange’, we get closer to the answer to the question, why a matzeva standing next to a millstone can be confusing.
entered on the list of monuments: church, mansion, small palace, corral.
8. Education School trips to museums are usually described as ‘active history lessons’. What are these lessons? These are the tools which help schools to encourage students to learn history with the use of activating methods. The idea of such lessons is embodied in the Confucius’ thought:
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Tell me, and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand. Schools invite groups organising historical reconstruction (for instance of knights’ lives), or organise educational trips to interesting places within the framework of active lessons. One of the collector says:
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I try to activate children when they come, involve them in the conversation. In my museum there are no descriptions of exhibits. I believe that if I show an object and tell its story, it will be better remembered than the description which says that it is a spinning wheel for spinning threads from wool or linen. In my opinion, presenting objects to children, but also elder people who are not familiar with it, will make them remember it better. It may be intellectually demanding, but children have many ideas, some of them make correct associations. (owner, m12) Some museums offer plates with descriptions, some do not, but in all the researched cases, the educational process is based on involvement and attempt to create a relationship, which is not present in museums without guides. This kind of interaction is supposed to replace multimedia and interactive presentations.
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School children
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The record in preparing museum lessons belong to Museum of Kurpie in Wach which prepared more than 25 such subjects (including creating flowers from the coloured blotting paper, folk herbalism, amber extraction, hygiene in a village in the Kurpie region, preparing regional yeast dumplings). An example of the lesson description from the museum’s website (Mazowieckie Province):
Why are such lessons recommended? What is the teachers’ opinion?
Linen’. In autumn there is harvesting and processing linen in the museum. Lesson participants learn the whole process of growing linen, process it on their own (breaking and hackling) and weave a straw mat on a loom. Cost: 50 zloty for a group + 3 zloty/ person. Duration: about 1 hour.
Yes, yes, yes. We started from visiting, but teachers already have a plan to invite Mr Dominik next year. He collected various stories written in the local dialect and published them in a form of a book. He is a flexible person and we will be inviting him to our school.
I am a history teacher and I believe that we should cultivate the memory of our ‘little homeland’. It remains our identity, no matter how long and where we live.
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The primary school principal said about the co-operation with the private museum:
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Uniwersities How does the education of university students in the private museums look like? It can have the form of museum lessons which follows the university curriculum, as
it is the case of students from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun. On the website of its Department of Paper and Leather Conservation one can read:
In October 2011 students of the second year of the Department of Paper and Leather Conservation visited the Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin and had the opportunity not only to learn the history of paper manufacture, but also to manufacture paper, print leaflets and write with a quill pen. The visit to the museum was possible thanks to its founder and director – Mr Dariusz Subocz, and we want to thank him. The museum has the departments of printing, bookbinding, and paper. Numerous exhibits constitute an active history lesson.
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Another form (though similar) is student trainings during which students scientifically process the museum’s collections. The examples may be the co-operation of the Objects Anthropology and Museology Scientific Association at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw (run by PhD Katarzyna
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Waszczynska) and the Museum of Kurpie in Kadzidlo. Within the framework of this co-operation various academic classes were organised, for example ‘Ethnographic miniatures. Museum of Kurpie in Wach’, consisting of two parts: theoretical and practical one. This is how the owners describe the initiative:
During the first part students will have the opportunity to get to know the culture of the Kurpie region (especially its material aspects) and understand some issues related to the very museum (such as establishing a regional museum, collecting and displaying exhibits). The second part is a seven-day-long trip to the Museum of Kurpie in Wach where the theory will be used in practice. Students will arrange the collection, create photographic catalogues, and objects’ cards.
I believe that the co-operation between our Museum of Kurpie and the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology University of Warsaw will last many years and will raise interest of current students and future ethnology staff in our region, which will result in numerous scientific publications. I hope they will fall in love with our culture!
Universities of the Third Age The private museum owners not only give lectures in universities of the third age (the case of Mr Tadeusz Morawski and his museum of palindromes), but also organise museum lessons for senior students – an example is the visit of senior students from a university of the third age in the Pawel Struppek’s Museum of Toys and Christmas Decoration. The visit was documented with 79 photographs on the university website and a video on YouTube. It was also described in the local media and newspaper.
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None of the researched museum owners is a student or a steady employee of a university of the third age. However, sometimes it happens. An example is PhD Halina Duczmal-Pacowska who worked for many years in the Land Museum belonging to the Polish Academy of Sciences. Having retired she became an administrator of an art room in one university of the third age, and in 1988 she founded the Smallest Museum in the World (the exposition area accounts for 20 m2).
Workshops Some of the classes for senior students are organised outside the university and in co-operation with other institutions. The Neon Museum in Warsaw together with the Museum of Modern Art organised workshops for seniors devoted to neons in the capital city. During the workshops seniors were gathering information about neons that had once functioned in the city. The Museum of Literature
and Printing during various festivals and events also holds open-air workshops (duration: about 1 hour). Moreover, the museum offers numerous museum workshops which in 2011 were awarded with the Tourist Product Certificate in Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province (duration: 1.5 – 2 h, cost: 12-15 zloty/person). 45% of the researched museums organise workshops of different kinds.
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9. Promoction
We observed a vast variety of promotion forms in the researched places. We encountered institutions which claim that they do not run any kind of promotion (which was intended), and institutions whose promotional activity is extensive, systematic and well-planned. The decision to present the collection is a step forward and a response to the requirements of people potentially interested in visiting the place. Each next promotional activity has a goal of reaching as many people as possible. While preparing materials gathered during the interviews with collection owners and local communities, as well as while studying photographs and researching the Internet in order to prepare this section of the report, we decided to find out whether the researched museum activities fit to the definitions of promotion provided in business articles and coursebooks. It becomes more and more popular to look at cultural institutions in categories of rationalisation and business. The table presented below shows that Polish museums use the whole array of promotion possibilities. Does it concern each private museum? As we have already mentioned – it does not. Why? We will try to answer this question in the following subchapters.
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Form of promotion
Example of definition
Selected examples from the researched places
Advertisement
Impersonal and chargeable form of providing market information, aimed at mass audience.
Posters, leaflets, advertisement in press, information in places frequently visited by a great number of people, visiting cards.
Personal selling
Consists in presenting the company’s offer and increasing sales through direct contact between sellers and buyers.
Meetings with an author in libraries (when the owner is a writer), giving speeches in which the owner informs about the museum.
Additional promotion
All means aim at improving the attractiveness of a product and at increasing the chance of a purchase, for instance, samples, tasting, presentations.
Open days (in case of museums charging for entry), presenting the offer during trips, for instance, open-air events, and festivals.
Other private museums
All operations aiming at winning understanding and trust of the public, as well as creating an attractive image of the company.
Appearing in local radio and television broadcasts in a role of experts.
Public relations
All operations aiming at winning understanding and trust of the public, as well as creating an attractive image of the company.
Appearing in the local radio and television broadcasts in a role of experts.
Sponsoring
Financing institutions, persons or sport-related, cultural and social events, as well as using this fact for the promotion of a sponsoring company.
Support of local social assistance centres, making the area available for church and communal events.
I don’t need promotion X: How many people visit the museum? Y: About 7-8 persons per week. I don’t promote the museum, but if someone comes, I cannot refuse showing around. X: How do they know about the museum? Y: From television, press, radio. I don’t promote it due to health problems, but if someone wants to visit the museum I cannot ignore it.
This is the fragment of a conversation with a 83-year-old collector who has been running the museum for 33 years. As he says, he does not promote his museum, because he would not be able to take more visitors due to health problems. However, information about the museum appears in media, which attracts new visitors. _108
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If I write an article I take it seriously, but I also play with it. That is why our museum is different. If I promoted my museum, the number of visitors would be difficult to manage. I am not doing anything at the moment. I refuse interviews, I don’t go to television. It is too tiring for me. I am 83. These are only a couple of reasons for the lack of promotion: age and health condition. Another reason is, for example, a need to reduce the number of visitors to have more time for arranging the space and new rooms for the exposition – like in the case of another collector (at the age of 41).
In both cases lack of promotion is intended and is aimed at controlling the number of visitors. Is there indeed no promotion? In the first case, the long-lasting, regular and full of involvement activity led to the situation in which the promotion occurs spontaneously. The museum has its own quality and is known among journalists. In the second case the ‘lack of promotion’ actually means ‘less promotion’. Such tools as the website, visiting cards, so called whisper marketing, network of contacts are still used.
Broad promotion Five out of the researched museums use probably all forms of promotion (including logo, leaflets, posters, events, website, participation in industry-related events, offers for schools, co-operation with other organisations and the local self-govern-
ment, social networks, participation in festivals). This group of museums includes owners at the age of 40-50 and over 70, museums charging for entry and those with free-of-charge entries, registered and not registered museums.
Two ends of continuum, and what is in-between? In-between there is a number of museums using relatively small part of information transfer methods. It can be interpreted as the lack of knowledge and skills concerning promotion and PR, or it can be related to the target audience, which are, for instance,
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school children, and not other residents of a given locality. In this case, the whisper marketing or direct contact with schools appears to be more effective than information on a tourist portal.
TV stations which produced materials on the researched private museums or materials in which the owners appeared (for instance in a role of experts): Supralocal: TVP Info, TV Trwam, TVP1, TVP Kultura, TVP2, Local: TVP Warszawa, TVP Bydgoszcz, TVN Warszawa, UW3D (student station), TV Kujawy.
Summary Promotion activities cost money. All respondents agreed on it. If it does not cost money, it costs time and effort. Private museums are usually small undertakings (sometimes even one-person entities) in which each ‘employee’ has to fulfil many museum-related duties (clearing, conservation, guiding, collecting objects), but also his or her job-related duties or responsibilities such as social or scientific activities. Sometimes there is not enough time for promotion of their museums. A solution could be employment of a company or a person responsible for the promotion. One museum in Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province decided to do the following:
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There is a person responsible for the promotion – media, events organization. So far the promotion has been put aside, because there were more important issues, but now we have a man managing it. We already see the results, for example, during the last event, when many people came.
Not each museum can afford employing a person responsible for promotion. Very often the budged is allocated to maintenance of the collection or other important issues. Some museums get help from their neighbours working in press or from acquainted journalists. However, ‘less promotion’ does not mean ‘a lack of promotion’. Such a situation gives an opportunity to show creativity and entrepreneurial skills of the museums’ owners. The lowbudget promotional activities include: ■ websites, ■ presentations during local events, ■ help of family and friends (or even visitors) with starting the grapevine.
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Selected tools of promotion used in the researched private museums: 55% has a logo, 40 % uses posters and leaflets (visiting cards, postcards and materials related to the museum as a promotion of the owners’ and their children’s other occupations were not included), 50 % publishes own brochures and publications, 50 % has signs indicating directions, 73 % has a website.
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10. The audience
There are more and more visitors coming from the neighbourhood and schools. More and more people are interested. (…) The majority comes from Warsaw. But there are many people from Legionowo and Wolomin, too. Visitors sign the book that I always bring when somebody comes. (owner, m19)
Nobody is forced We have already mentioned neighbours who are interested in the museum’s activity but not necessarily approve it. The museums are more often visited by people from outside of the locality.
them come with children. They are interested mainly in organised groups. Not only classes, but also travel agencies. They are the majority of visitors. Individual tourists come less often. (owner, kp3)
The major group are school trips, where the division into neighbours and people from the outside is not that clear. ‘The most busy moment is the end of the school year.’
There are visitors from abroad too, also as random tourists.
The second group are tourists, holiday-makers, and people from the museum, collection, and scientific circles.
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Teachers are the target group – you have to approach them in a certain way to make
There are not many visitors in summer because people go on holidays. The museum is visited most frequently in autumn when the school year begins and then in spring by organised groups. Delegations from the commune. We had Gorals in the museum, a band from Lithuania, visitors from Germany, Slovakia, Denmark.(owner, m16)
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Various people
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The museums’ owners do not prepare detailed statistics regarding the number of visitors, so the provided data remain only estimation. In all places the main register is a guest book: ‘We possess a guest book and we ask everyone to sign it.’
Whole families come, neighbours bring their families. (owner, m20)
The majority of guests are of school age. However, the number of ‘weekend visitors’ is increasing rapidly. People coming to the museums are from all walks of life and represent the whole society.
Both the number and the characteristic of the participants of an outside museums’ activity, in a form of a travelling museum, are difficult to determine. We managed to distinguish two groups:
Even pre-schoolers come to participate in the classes the museum organises or to watch the exposition.
■ participants of open events, festivals, occasional presentations (uncountable);
The whole cross-section of the society – the old, the young, groups of pensioners. Recently we have even had a group of motorcyclists. School tours come as well. It all depends on the season and the weather.
■ participants from ‘fixed’ environments, for instance -and mainly- school students, participants of classes in the cultural centres, students of the University of the Third Age (groups of 15-30 people).
We receive letters, acknowledgements from visitors and institutions – from the marshal, the mayor. (owner, kp1)
It would often happen that somebody was on a walk, came and asked for visiting. But we were cooking dinner then or having guests and it was problematic. We decided to organise it somehow. If somebody comes from afar we let them visit the museum, even if it is closed on this day. (owner, m20)
There is a space for festivals: it is prepared for 500 people, but this year over 1000 came for one free-of-charge festival. (owner, kp5)
Various people come, also school students, ethnographers, sculptors, many people. (owner, m13) _113
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Some people come back after visiting the museum in an organized group, to experience it again, leisurely. There are tours from abroad as well, we had visitors from Spain, however, it was difficult to work with them because they do not value tradition that much. They treated our exhibits just as you would treat Eskimo tools. Apart from Spaniards, there were also people from France, England, and even a boy from New Zealand. (owner, m16)
Groups come nearly every day. These are usually school excursions, sometimes adults. It is difficult to show them around because usually only individuals are interested in the exposition. It is easier with the families, because they are usually interested in the museum and these are only several persons. Sometimes also enthusiasts of the subject come – in July we had one person from Canada who was writing a publication about apiculture and special clothing. (owner, m16)
How do visitors get to the museums?
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Some guests deliberately look for information, ask friends and people who are interested in the subject. Moreover, they receive information from tourism fairs where the museums are promoted. They visit the museum on their way, if they have enough time. (owner, kp5) They find information on the website or from friends. They want to see it. (owner, kp2)
it. His grandfather was a blacksmith, and he finally could see a real forge because he only had heard of it from his grandmother. (owner, m19) Now more people are coming, but it was different in the beginning. Thanks to the social network more people are interested in the place. (…) The participation in the tourism fair in Poznan had a significant impact. (owner, kp3)
Others come to the museums by chance, without prior intention to visit a given place.
- You haven’t advertized too much, have you? - It was just word of mouth at first, then we created the website. (owner, m13)
They got here by accident when they were looking for a place to swim. But they liked
They like when television comes if the journalists come well prepared. (owner, m16)
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Viewers or listeners?
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There are more viewers because the owner is not able to present the story to more than several dozens of people per day. A visit to the museum may take half an hour or a whole day. It depends on how much you tell. (owner’s son, kp5)
As it has been already mentioned, objects and their story are crucial issues in the museums. The museums’ owners could constantly talk about it.
Province/no.
Number of visitors
Approximated number of visitors per year
City/countryside
Number of residents
kujawsko-pomorskie/1
40-50 visitors per month
540
Countryside
2300
mazowieckie/1
6-8 visitors per week
336
Big city
2 miliony
kujawsko-pomorskie/2
9 thousand visitors per year
9000
Countryside
1700
kujawsko-pomorskie/3
300 osób rocznie
300
Medium-sized city
112 tysięcy
kujawsko-pomorskie/4
300 visitors per year
203
Medium-sized city
112 tysięcy
kujawsko-pomorskie/5
3000 osób rocznie
3000
Small city
1400
mazowieckie/2
104 people and 33 families in the season 2011/2012 (November-March)
1200
Medium-sized city
1400
11. On the Internet I’ve noticed that until there was no website, children would come, for instance when they got a homework about the war. They would come to talk. What is interesting, even veterans sent them to me, because I had more information. However, it stopped at some point. Since we published information on our website, they’ve stopped coming. They take information from the website. Only the members of the history club come. There is a primary school and a junior high school here. (owner, m12)
Once we had electrification, now we have internetisation, or even digitalisation of the cultural heritage. This issue arouses much controversy and many people, not only in private museums but also in self-governmental and state-owned museums or other institutions gathering information, remain reluctant. How do the private museums’ websites look like? What information do they contain? What can be read from graphic elements such as colours, symbols, banners? In this chapter we will answer these questions. Between May and December 2012 we analyzed websites of museums in whole Poland. However, only visited museums will be discussed, mainly because of the additional context in a form of interviews. In particular cases materials from other places will be used to illustrate certain processes. 14 out of 19 visited private museums have a website (73%). Are these websites only sort of the museum’s representation or do they maybe have other functions? Which elements are important? How is the collection presented? What does the website tell about the museum? And, finally, are they user friendly? Materials have been divided according to information about the museums on the websites of villages, cities, communes and districts, and presented in the chapter about the relationship with local authorities. _116
Functionality The research regarding the private museums’ websites provides a good opportunity to notice how the approach to creating websites has changed in the recent years. In 3 researched cases the websites were created in the time (late 1990s, beginning
of 2000s) when the HTML code was used to create a website, and they resemble personal websites rather than a representation of an institution. They do not contain contact information what is a standard nowadays.
Locality. Connection to a place, connection to a domein
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Locality means to occur in a given area, be typical to a given place. [Polish Dictionary] Several years ago it was common to believe that the Internet would lead to a situation when a locality would be no longer associated with a geographical region, and that it would strengthen relationships between interest groups. According to this perspective, it would be easier to contact a person from Seoul who has similar hobbies than to contact a person living three streets away.
The discussion of localism and globalisation is still on and we do not want to refer to it, instead we would like to point out an important problem regarding cultural institutions in general. This chapter provides information on websites concerning the relationship between the museums and certain places or interest groups. A short analysis of the data looks as follows:
Reference to locality
Number (researched places:14)
Name of the place (or region) in a page’s URL.
57 % Examples: www.grebocin.pl, www.zaniewscy.mazowsze.pl, www.warszawskie-muzeum-chleba.pl
Name of the place (or the region), crest or characteristic object related to the place (not to the museum) in the banner of the homepage.
Name: 64 % Crest: 7 % Object: 14 %
Examples: an old map of the museum’s neighbourhood in a banner, view at Puszcza Zielona (Museum of Kurpie in Wach) Articles about the locality on the museum’s website, for instance about the history.
14%
Links to the websites of local organisations, offices, institutions.
28%
Links to websites of “interest groups” such as other museums (subralocal) or specialists of certain subject.
28%
In four cases there are no references, apart from the address, neither to the locality, nor to the region. These are museums that possess transregional collections. However, such museums may present references to local context on their websites (for exam-
ple the Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin). Moreover, often the museums that should present local collections display exhibits that are not related to a given region.
Virtual museums A virtual museum is a museum which uses the Internet to present its collection. It may have its representation only on the Internet, or it may be only a virtual part of a conventional museum. There are many examples of such websites throughout the world. When it comes to Polish websites, we have for instance MyViMu.pl or Virtual Museums in Podkarpackie Province [Wirtualne Muzea Podkarpacia]. While preparing the research we were thinking whether we should include in the project virtual
museums that are private creations. We decided to research only those museums, which we can visit and which have ‘touchable’ collections. However, while choosing museums for the research we decided to include the Museum of Palindromes that has an ‘in-between’ character. The museum functions mainly online. Gathering, documenting, storing (‘conserving’) and exposing objects barely takes place outside the virtual reality.
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12. Public/private One of the aspects that we found interesting in the researched subject is the lack of a clear-cut boundary between the private and the public. Both the private and the public define in our research the relationship between an institution and a society. When it comes to Polish museums, the distinction ‘private/public’ usually describes the administrative and financial aspects of a given institution, and the word ‘public’ can be replaced with the word ‘state-owned’ (and also ‘self-governmental’). Public and private health care, public and private school, private museums and… Here is a problem. A private museum but not a public museum. We get to another definition of the word ‘public’ which refers to the situation when someone or something is supposed to serve the society and its development, and at the same time is available to it. One of the main ideas of the museums’ activity is that they are open _119
to people. We can instinctively think that the phrase ‘a public museum’ is an absurd. We could also ask what the opposite of ‘a public museum’ is. We could describe it as ‘a mysterious museum’. The definition scope of the word ‘private’ reflects the perception of a private museum and the attitude to it. It refers not only to people from the museum’s neighbourhood, but also to a potential audience, administration representatives and the whole museum environment. There are many industries in Poland, within which something which is ‘public’ is perceived as better than something that is ‘private’. It reveals a broader problem of the actual attitude to the socio-economic changes in Poland. In the carried out interviews the museums’ owners often refered to how they perceived their role and the role of their museums. All of them gave the same
set of ideas: protect, show and serve people. Antoni Benedykt Lukaszewicz (Gallery
of the Kujawy region) said:
It is amazing how many tragedies the Polish society has experienced. It’s shocking but now everything is going back to normality, to competition. Competition is a good thing. Democracy is wonderful, however, we have to give everyone the same rights, we have to make it fair because now public entities get everything and nobody wants to help private museums, just because they are private. But private museums’ owners may give it to the state sooner or later. Maybe he or she will nationalise it, or give to some relative, but it is all for people, for the society. (owner, kp7) As we have already mentioned, ‘the private’ and ‘the public’ mix when it comes to people and places.
Museums’ owners. Public person in a private place? ‘I am the nation’ – this principle functions also in private museums because the museums’ owners who expose their collections become a public person to a certain extent. It can be observed not only in their museum-related activities but also in their social life. Especially in smaller localities (but it is not a principle) a collector becomes a recognisable person who is often invited to
various social meetings. Does it look similar in case of people who had known the owner before the museum’s foundation? Not necessarily. One of the respondents said: I wasn’t in the museum as a visitor but of course I saw everything. I was there as a private person because the owner is my neighbour. (neighbour, m16)
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Places. Private person in a public place? Most of the researched museums are located in a house or its surroundings: apartment, detached house, garage, cellar, shed, house extension, barrack on the yard. We agree that the house is a private space. What about the garage? We believe that in every house there are different levels of ‘privacy’ – living room is a different place from a bedroom or a threshold. The collection presented in a living room evokes different emotions that the collection presented in a barn. Taking into consideration the fact that the house (and its surroundings) is a private
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space, we assume that it is a radical change when there is a public institution inside. It influences both for the habitants of the house and the audience that is used to behaviour appropriate for places commonly referred to as ‘public’ (e.g. street, library, bus station) but which is in a private space. Probably some part of a private space becomes a public space only for the time of the presentation. What are signals for this change? The occupants disappear, loud music is turned down, owners change clothes for more appropriate ones (shirt, folk clothes, jacket), speak in a dialect, and others.
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PART II 1. Main problems a) Legal status ■ unregulated legal status of private museums; ■ unclear registration regulations (especially when it comes to the statutes); ■ restrictions on the museum’s activity and its development (lack of regulations regarding private cultural institution); ■ unequal status of private and public museums; ■ registration equals additional costs only (no profits/benefits); ■ foundation of a non-governmental organisation is the most frequently suggested solution to private museums’ owners what is followed by many restrictions and does not secure the owner’s rights to collection/museum: I do not want to give my collection to the foundation, because it is too valuable to give it to the state in case of any foundation’s problems. b) Financing of the activity or specific investments ■ unsteady cash flow; ■ problems with gaining funds for the museum; ■ limited possibilities of subsidies and grants; ■ difficulties in the commercial trade of objects and works registered in the register of monuments; ■ weak market of cultural services; _123
c) Preparation of museums’ collections ■ lack of catalogues and lists of exhibits in private museums; catalogues are ‘stored’ in the owner’s memory; ■ rare usage of computer systems and programs; ■ limited funds, limited conservation possibilities; d) Co-operation with institutions/(stateowned, self-governmental, cultural, private) entities ■ lack of a reliable, regular co-operation; ■ lack of programmes integrating various entities for local and regional operations; ■ problems in co-operation between private and public entities; ■ competition, regardless of the legal and organisational disparity; e) What is a possible future of private museums/collections? ■ transfer to the family? ■ institutional protection: state-owned institutions or self-governmental institutions? ■ non-governmental protection? f) Does ‘durability’ define a museum? ■ public financing of the museum and its short life; ■ case of a hypothetical participation in the purchase of the collection.
2. Recommendations Our recommendations A short introduction. We have been thinking for a long time how to construct recommendations. Should it have a form of instructions or of a guidebook? We decided to make something in-between. Private museums in Poland are neither a thematic nor a geographical monolith. They have different operations’ scales and satisfy different needs. We want these recommendations to be treated as suggestions of certain solutions (very often already implemented), and not as rigid rules. 1) The establishment of an alliance of private museums. We believe that such an initiative, proposed and carried out by private museums, would effectively represent these institutions, integrate the museum environment, be the place of information exchange, and would help with running the museums. 2) We believe that an important issue is integration of private museums with stateowned and self-governmental museums when it comes to organisation of certain events such as exhibitions and also during _124
subject-related events organised for the museum environment, such as conferences, meeting, workshops. It appears to be one of the most effective ways to avoid ‘ghettoisation’ of ‘private museums’, and to integrate them into the official circulation. 3) The co-operation between private museums and business entities, cultural institutions or non-governmental institutions may bring organisational and financial benefits. Since there are difficulties of starting the co-operation with local entities, the solution may be a co-operation with institutions from more distant regions. Such a co-operation and communication should boost the organisational, entrepreneurial and promotional potential of a given museum. 4) Running an activity individually or with a small number of partners. It is important to observe the needs, to evaluate the operations, to transfer the responsibilities and to create new partnerships, in order to fulfil the goals more effectively. The co-operation with universities or schools may help with exhibit maintenance, and regular contact
with tourist information helps with distribution of information about the museum. 5) We recommend a broader co-operation with private museums when it comes to children and teenage education. Contact with a private museum, especially in small localities, can result in the habit of participation in the culture, interest in history, or visits to other museum institutions. 6) Private museums can be regional (but not only) tourist attractions. We recommend to incorporate them in promotional and informative programmes of local self-governments, organisations and tourist information institutions.
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The only chance for the museum’s development is agritourism because it would attract visitors. Those initiatives are extremely important because people look for such places. (neighbour, m16) 7) We recommend better documentation of collections (examples of forms can be downloaded from www.bezpiecznezbiory. euwww.bezpiecznezbiory.eu ). Gathering such information may be useful, for instance, in case of a robbery or a wish to transfer the museum/collection to heirs. Also, a free computer program for cataloguing the exhibits created by public institutions would be useful.
8) An entrepreneurial initiative of the private museums’ owners is their great asset, however, it is sometimes limited by the lack of confidence on the market of animation-related, educational and cultural services. We recommend to implement own ideas, to observe prosperous institutions, and to take advantage of developing economic situation of cultural institutions. 9) Recommendations for self-governmental administration and cultural institutions in regions with private museums. As the research shows, a co-operation and support for each pro-community activity and operation is effective in terms of education and financing. 10) Recommendations for tourists, enthusiasts, school children, teachers, scientists, neighbours who like to visit, watch and listen. Private museums certainly expand knowledge, evoke emotions, and are worth visiting. Guests recommendations The recommendations that we propose do not cover all issues discussed in the report. We asked people/organisations working in various areas and fields about their ideas concerning private museums. We hope that these will be interesting suggestions, or maybe also an inspiration for further research and new questions.
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Guests recommendations The recommendations that we propose do not cover all issues discussed in the report. We asked people/organisations working in various areas and fields about their ideas concerning private museums. We hope that these will be interesting suggestions, or maybe also an inspiration for further research and new questions.
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Association ‘Z Siedziba w Warszawie’
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How to get to teachers?, Arkadiusz Ciechalski, Group of CKR schools in Kowal Some are open, some are not – lessons have to be carried out according to the curriculum. Theoretically, visits to private museums should be organised during lessons dedicated to problems of the region. In high schools there is a subject called cultural knowledge, however, it lasts only two semesters, one hour per week. In order to organise a trip also other lessons would
have to be ‘sacrificed’ what sometimes results impossible. Moreover, teachers would have to convince students to buy tickets and it is highly problematic in some societies. Our school has not obtained any offer of a visit to a private museum. Public museums also send them rarely. In case of any trips we try to find some attractions, also in a form of private museums.
From the lawyer’s point of view, Pawel Zaniewski, Museum of Arms and Applied Technology in Kobylka 1. Benefits: The recognition among visitors is the only benefit for the private museums’ owners. We should not beat about the bush – for the world of museum workers we are only harmless freaks, for officers ‘necessary evil’, because this is the trend in European Union. Unfortunately, I do not see any financial, social or other kinds of benefits for the museums’ owners. When it comes to the society – they have access to the culture. 2. Warnings: I do not have any. Everybody has to experience it first-hand. 3. Problems and recommendations: The latest problem is the wrong interpretation of the museum activity and comparison to the physical person’s business activity made by the Revenue Office in Bydgoszcz. The departments explain everything. In August 2010 we presented to the current NIMOZ director (then deputy director in MKiDN) the following remarks: _128
In regard to the Museums Act: 1. No regulation concerning the relationship between the minister and private museums. 2. The conflict of the diarchy resulting from the Articles 5 and 8 of the act. Both the owner and the minister has the right to be in charge of the museum. When it comes to the founder his right results from the Civil Code, however, this issue is not regulated when it comes to the state supervision over museums that were not founded by the minister. The issues of supervision, rights, responsibilities and costs should be regulated. 3. The Article 21 section 1a is incompatible with the Civil Code. Exhibits should be treated as furnishings (in the light of property right). A private museum which is an organisational entity has right to property (furnishings), as in case of civil law partnership. The owner of the museum is the person who has the property right. The founder is the person who gives the institution the foundation act, but he or
she is entitled to dispose the museum to a third party, nevertheless, according to the Act, the founder remains the owner of the collectibles, which is incompatible with the Civil Code. Furthermore, the exhibits which are treated as furnishings are the part of the estate. The previous provision saying that exhibits are property of the museum was correct. In regard to regulations: 1. Currently there are two biding regulations which govern keeping records of exhibits – The Regulation of the Minister of Culture and Arts of the 26th August 1997 and the Regulation of the Minister of Culture of the 30th August 2004. The former concerns cultural assets, and it does not relate to the Monuments Conservation Act nor the Museums Act. What is “cultural asset” from the legal view? Both regulations provide different times of registration – 30 days in case of cultural assets, and 60 days in case of collectibles. 2. § 4 section 2 of both regulations enables to run activity which is inconsistent with the Museums Act. An example can be the situation when a local ethnographic museum does not record some kind of a donated vehicle, because it does not refer to the character of the museum. It enables trade (also illegal one) of the monument, because the permit of the minister to dispose or exchange the good is not required. In my opinion, each exhibit should be recorded as it is provided for in the Article 1 of the Museums Act. The regulations are incompatible with the act in regard to this issue. 3. The Regulation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the 1st December 2008 regards state-owned and self-governmental museums with public collections. Private museums should be treated according to their exposure to risk and the value of their collection. There should be separate security regulations concerning private (not state-own nor self-governmental) museums, due to their exhibits.
The current regulation is incompatible with PN-93 E-08390/14 which provides separate security regulations for smaller and larger museum institutions. Moreover, Centre for the Protection of Public Collections [OOZP] should provide museums with free of charge instruction patterns and plans described in the regulation. 4. The appendix 3 to this regulation is inconsistent with other provisions of the regulation: the item 7 provides for that collectibles of the value not higher than 5 circulation units should be transported by one escort driver, whereas the item 9 provides for that one unarmed escort driver is allowed to transport from 0.3 to 1 circulation unit. What about the value under 0.3 unit? Should it be transported without the escort driver (which is incompatible with the item 7)? Or maybe by the armed escort driver? There is a fallacy in the regulation. In my opinion, it lacks the provision regarding transportation of 0.3 calculation unit without an escort driver. General remarks: 1. The Museum Act should contain provision providing for that according to the Public Benefit and Volunteer Work Act private museums should be treated as non-governmental organisations, because they meet all requirements for obtaining such status. Moreover, the Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)14 prepared by the Committee of Ministers to member states on the legal status of non-governmental organisations in Europe (adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 10 October 2007 at the 1006th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies) should be finally adopted by the Polish law. 2. The Museum Act should also contain provision concerning the co-operation between private and non-private museums. There is no such co-operation at the moment (an example can be no reaction for my offer sent to the Warsaw Rising Museum – not to mention the administrative _129
culture which says that we should answer each letter). We sent our remarks as social consultation to MKiDN again in December 2012. Detailed remarks: 1. The act should give all museums the legal status. Currently, the legal status is given by the founder, which is inconsistent with the provisions of the Civil Code which provides for that the legal status should be given by an act and not by presumption. 2. We want to legally protect the word ‘museum’. Entities which do not regulate their status/rules and regulations in co-operation with a minister, should not be allowed to use the word ‘museum’. 3. There should be a legal protection against confiscation of collectibles in all museums by the State Treasury and the enforcement officer, regardless of the founder. Museums as non-profit institution
should be particularly protected by the state. 4. The procedure of regulating the status/ rules and regulations should have the form of an administrative procedure. 5. The legal institution ‘museum in organisation’ should be abrogated. Currently there are no distinction between ‘a museum’ and ‘a museum in organisation’. 5. In regard to regulations: 1. There is no regulation governing the relationship between the minister and private museums. This was alleged by the Supreme Chamber of Control in May 2009 in Information about the results of the control of protection and availability of museum collectibles in Poland [Informacja o wynikach ochrony i udostepniania zasobow muzealnych w Polsce] (Znak 11/2009/P/08/75/KNO).
Justyna Malinowska, Director of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Tourism Organisation’s office: Private museums are becoming more and more popular due to their rich and unique offer aimed not only at individual recipients, but also groups and companies. What are the advantages of private museums in Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province? They are innovative, interactive, they involve visitors in active participation and entertainment based on educational factors. They are an alternative to traditional museums or galleries, moreover, they make the given region more attractive. Private museums are well thought over – the owners have fresh ideas how to organise it, how to attract visitors, the audience is usually involved in the direct participation _130
in the process of visiting. Very often ‘works’ that visitors can make themselves are an additional attraction. There are three large and well-known private museums in Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province. These are the Real-live Museum of Gingerbread in Torun, the Museum of Soap and History of Dirt in Bydgoszcz, and the Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin. Moreover, local chambers related to certain subjects are built in countryside. More and more enthusiasts of collecting want to show their collections to broader audience. We can find unique exhibits and impressive stories in private museums. They also offer an intimate atmosphere.
The private museums from our regions are appreciated by returning tourists and they also win prestigious awards, for instance the Real-live Museum of Gingerbread obtained the Polish Tourism Organisation’s certificate in 2008, and in 2012 it was included in New 7 Wonders of Poland according to National Geographic Poland.
These objects are certainly popular and the Tourism Organisation of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province will promote it. They will be promoted also on the website www.visitKujawsko-Pomorskie.plwww.visitKujawsko-Pomorskie.pl as an element complementing the tourist offer.
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Photographic appendices. Dodatki fotograficzne. Visual reflections. Refleksje wizualne.
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Appropriate location
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__ 1 Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin, which is situated in a medieval church renovated from the owners’ funds. /phot. Joanna Kozera __2 Gallery of the Kujawy region in Kowal is situated in a hundredyear-old mill. The owners’ house is situated beside it. /phot. Malgorzata Czyzewska __ 3 Private Museum of the Polish Devil ‘Przedpiekle’ in Warsaw is situated in a cellar of a block of flats. /phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt __4 Tadeusz Barankiewicz’s private museum in Wola Rebkowska is located in the same building as the motorcycle club. The building was built by the owner. /phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt __5 Museum of Native North-American Indians in Wymyslowo is located in the building adapted for this particular purpose. However, the owners are planning to build a room which would look like a tipi. /phot. Joanna Kozera _5
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Exposition: a) The things forest
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b) Subject expositions
__ 6 Museum of the Polish Devil ‘Przedpiekle’ in Warsaw. /phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt __ 7 Mr Pietrzak’s Heritage Park of Sokolow Region in Sokolow Podklaski. / phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt __ 8 & 9 Irons and radios in Tadeusz Barankiewicz’s Private Museum. /phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt _8
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c) Showcases
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__ 10 Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin. In the picture: Dariusz Subocz, owner. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 11 Museum of Sat-Okha Native North-American Indians in Wymyslowo. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 12 Museum of Sat-Okha Native North-American Indians in Wymyslowo. Faceprint of a Sat-Okha. / phot. Joanna Kozera __ 13 Museum of Communication in Paterek. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 14 Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm in Redecz Krukowy. /phot. Joanna Kozera
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d) Descriptions
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e) Photographs
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__ 15 Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm in Redecz Krukowy. The green telephone is a gift from Pawel Stolarski. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 16 Marian Pietrzak’s Heritage Park of Sokolow Region in Sokolow Podklaski. ‘The wringer from 1935. Gift from Roman Omalenczuk from Sokolow Podlaski’. /phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt __ 17 Museum of Communication in Paterek. Exposition of photographs on the bus’ windowpanes. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 18 Gallery of the Kujawy region in Kowal. Archival photographs of Kowal and its residents. /phot. Malgorzata Czyzewska
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__ 19 Marian Pietrzak’s Heritage Park of Sokolow Region in Sokolow Podklaski. Photographs of gravestones, monuments, and necropolises. /phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt
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f) Home spaces
__ 20 Museum of Palindromes in Nowa Wies. /phot. Foundation Ari Ari __ 21 Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm in Redecz Krukowy. Sheds. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 22 Marian Pietrzak’s Heritage Park of Sokolow Region in Sokolow Podklaski. Matzevas and a water wheel. /phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt __ 23 Museum of Sat-Okha Native North-American Indians in Wymyslowo. Totem, agricultural machine, and the founder. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 24 Gallery of the Kujawy region in Kowal. Exposition on shrines in the Kujawy region. /phot. Foundation Ari Ari
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g) Open-air expositions
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h) Perfectly recreated worlds
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__ 25 Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm in Redecz Krukowy. A several-dozen-year-old room. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 26 Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm in Redecz Krukowy. The office of Agricultural Machines Factory “Krukowiak” from the 90s (calendars from the beginning of the 19th century). /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 27 Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm in Redecz Krukowy. A several-dozen-year-old room. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 28 Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm in Redecz Krukowy. An equipped chemistry. A stick from the 90s on the glass: ‘Tu kupisz Always’ [You can buy Always here]. /phot. Joanna Kozera _29
__ 29 Collection/Museum of toys and Christmas decorations in Wloclawek. In the picture: Leaning Tower of Pisa and Triumphal Arch. World in miniatures. /phot. Pawel Struppek’s archive
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Exhibits
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Storage of collections
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__30 Museum of Communication in Paterek. /phot. Joanna Kozera __31 Neon Museum in Warsaw. Switched on (and switched off) neons. Working of the exhibits. /phot. Anna Kulikowska __32 __33 __34 Most of the visited museums exhibits most of their collectibles. An interesting exception is Mr Pawel Struppek from Wloclawek, whose collection of toys and Christmas decorations is exposed only from November to March. They are kept in cabinets and boxes prepared particularly for this purpose. /phot. Joanna Kozera _34
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Education
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__ 35 Gallery of the Kujawy region in Kowal. Antoni Lukaszewicz showing around a school trip. /phot. Foundation Ari Ari __ 36 Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin. Invitation for workshops. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 37 Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin. Education room. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 38 Museum of the Polish Devil ‘Przedpiekle’ in Warsaw. An appreciation letter for help with writing a Master thesis (Polish philology student of Warsaw University) /phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt _38
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Promotion
__39 Jacek Grzywacz’ Heritage Park in Lochowice. Waistcoats for the personnel. /phot. Joanna Kozera __40 Jacek Grzywacz’ Heritage Park in Lochowice. Board at the park’s entry. /phot. Joanna Kozera __41 Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm in Redecz Krukowy. Postcard. __42 Museum of the Polish Devil ‘Przedpiekle’ in Warsaw. Stamp. __43 Neon Museum in Warsaw participates in the Night of Museums.
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__ 44 Museum of Arms and Applied Technology at the history picnic ‘Meeting with the history’ in Kobylka. /phot. Anna Kulikowska __ 45 Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin. Board in front of the entry. /phot. Joanna Kozera __ 46 Museum of Arms and Applied Technology. Leaflet. __ 47 Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin. Leaflet.
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__48 Museums’ logos. From the left: Bread Museum in Warsaw, Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin, Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm, Museum of Arms and Applied Technology, Museum of Kurpie in Wach, Neon Museum in Warsaw. __49 Museum of Sat-Okha Native North-American Indians in Wymyslowo. /phot. Joanna Kozera __50 Museum of Agricultural Technology and Farm in Redecz Krukowy. /phot. Joanna Kozera __51 Collection/Museum of toys and Christmas decorations in Wloclawek. /phot. Joanna Kozera __52 Marian Pietrzak’s Heritage Park of Sokolow Region. Guest book. /phot. Malgorzata Jaszczolt
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Guest books
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Museum in the information about the region/locality
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__ 53 Museum of Sat-Okha Native North-American Indians in Wymyslowo. Fragment of a map of tourist attractions in the Tucholski district. /phot. Joanna Kozera
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__ 54 Museum of Palindromes of Tadeusz Morawski. Board in the honour lane in Nowa Wies, devoted to Tadeusz Morawski (the museum is also mentioned). / phot. Foundation Ari Ari
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Articles.Reflections Dodatki fotograficzne. from the research. Refleksje wizualne.
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Malgorzata Jaszczolt Private museum as a museum of emotions, that is emotion/human/object/story/place1 I am striving to recall the sensations I once felt when I entered an art temple: a castle, a museum, a church, an auction house. For me a castle or a church has always been a different place than such institution as museum which is filled up with pieces of art and pieces of the past. A castle or a church is a piece of art itself, a piece of art that survived through the ages and places where I feel unimportant and very temporarily. For example, when entering a castle, I go back in time for a moment. I imagine the inhabitants of the city, their lives, famous people that lived there. I physically feel their presence. For me, it is an evanescent crumb of eternity. I am here just in passing, but the art will stay on. When I am in a church I can touch the stone and statues, which is forbidden in museums. (…) It is unthinkable to explore them only with eyes. (…) Museums are just storehouses for me. (…) The exhibited pieces of art constitute only a part of what is there. (…) These fractions, closed and separated, remind me of wild animals in a zoo. In case of the animals, as well as in case of the pieces of art, closing them off their natural environment is against the nature. (…) My relatives, who always accompany me when I visit a museum or a castle, are astounded by the quickness with which my eyes sweep all the displayed works of art and by the sudden emotion I often feel in front of one of them2. Stephane Breitwieser
About emotion What kind of emotion is it to be moved by a thing or things? Is it a turn towards their history, a reflection on their value, a contemplation of the meaning they have, an admiration of the handicraft artistry, a delight over their aesthetic value? In our lives, things (…) are tools that facilitate and boost our existanceas well as carry values and meanings3.
1 Research conducted In selected private museums of Mazowieckie Province: 1.Museum of Arms and Applied Technology in Kobylka owned by Iwona and Pawel Zaniewscy. 2. Private Museum of the Polish Devil ‘Przedpiekle’ in Warsaw owned by Wiktoryn Grabczewski. 3. Marian Pietrzak’s Museum of the Sokolow Region in Sokolow Podlaski, owned by Jadwiga and Marian Pietrzakowie. 4. Museum of Garwolin Village of Tadeusz Barankiewicz, Wola Rebkowska, owned by Marian Barankiewicz. 2 S. Breitweiser, Confessions of an Art.Thief, MUZA S.A., Warsaw 2007. 3 R. Tanczuk, Ars Calligendi. Kolekcjonowanie jako forma aktywnosci kulturalnej. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wroclawskiego, Wroclaw 2011, p. 23. _148
What are they, that they influence us in such a way? What is ‘the essence of things’ and what do things hide, that they have such a powerful influence on us and such a driving force? They make us to surround ourselves with them, because of the existential necessity. However, we want to have ‘luxurious things’ as they satisfy our need for inner, spiritual sensations, substantially and sensually. Since the beginning of mankind, an uncountable number of things have been made. Having fulfilled their function, some of them simply disappear from ‘the market’ and other, new items overtake their place. It also happens that old objects stay and successfully continue to exist in their original function next to the new ones, or they become relics. There are also other things – which are like the chosen by gods – which repose like bloodless sacrifices in museum temples in order to reflect the realisation of human dream of immortality and the rule of the world we would like to ‘possess’. It would be impossible and unnecessary to ‘save all things’. Out of the repertory of constantly produced goods we have to choose the items that should be important for the culture because they reflect the ideas of their times as well as these which are ‘needed’ by the culture – but paradoxically, not because of their ‘indispensability’. The selection is made on the basis of their value: originality, scarcity, mystery, authenticity, antiquity, commemorating, extraordinariness, miraculousness, classicism, artistry and beauty that can exemplify the scientific and historical truth4.
Against entropy It is not possible to save or preserve everything. There is no logistic possibility to do that. There is entropic decay and decadence that generates antithetic attitudes in people, which aims to prevent a destruction and a total disappearance of unanimated matter formations, different forms of life and its remains as well as the humans themselves, with the products of their culture and technology. The scope of this ‘action’ of saving things from destruction and oblivion is left to humans, to their free choice5.
Gathering as a cultural person’s need Collecting objects that are abstracted from their usability appears to be a model of ideal possessing6, which goes beyond the very market calculation, which is a fulfillment of the ardent quest for possessing and in which the daily prose is transformed into poetry, into a triumphant, unconscious discourse7. The need for gathering, which can then become ‘collecting’ or professional collecting is an almost common need – almost everybody collected items of a certain category as a child and we often continue doing it or start doing it in a certain moment in life. It results from our need for interaction with the world and establishing a relation with the environment – in childhood it is exchanging, in adult life it is externalising our interests, which are catalysed by the collection. We collect various items: toy horses, angels, stoups, collector’s cars, cats, stones of particular shapes, beer mugs, postcards, etc. Collecting gives us pleasure and we can
4 R. Tańczuk, op. cit., s. 209 5 Z. Żygulski jun., Muzea na świecie, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa 1982, s. 13. 6 R. Tańczuk, op. cit., s. 177. 7 Ibidem, s. 178. _149
boast of our ‘collection’ or put it ‘on display’ at home, but such a category of ‘private collector’ as a small scope and only fulfils our private need for possessing things that we like and that we want to have around us to delight our senses. We do not know if our collections ‘survive’, because they are exclusively oriented on our temporality and on our or our family’s private sensations, and they do not claim to be ‘recognised’. Art, weapon or china collections are regarded as serious and prestigious, but they require substantial outlays and expertness of a given domain. Such collections and collectors are renowned and the class of the collected items distinguishes both the collection and the collector. Between ‘big’ and ‘small’ private collectors there are probably ‘middle’ collectors who potentially gather ‘everything’. They are those who go beyond the home collecting, but their collections have not yet been recognised on the valuables market, which is culturally legitimised. Although these three collector’s categories result from the same need for gathering and possessing, they are divided by a gap of their value: the market value and the cultural value. In the future this evaluation can change if it reaches the pedestal of the values held. ‘Small’ collections are often composed of cultural ‘rubbish’ [‘that is items without value which will never be valuable, e.g. stickers, cards, boxes’ ], second type of collections are ‘big’ ones, composed of ‘solid’ items (‘gaining value in time and having ‘perfectly’ unlimited resilience, e.g. art, antiques’9), third group are ‘temporary’ things (‘that lose their value over time and have a limited resilience’10) from everyday life or a given part of everyday life. The ‘everyday life collectors’, often overwhelmed by a particular mission and with collector’s ideas in their minds, often ‘maniacs’ generally would like to get beyond the home space. They found ‘private museums’, ‘creations’ that do not fit in any strict definition, because as a repertory of items representing what is invisible, a collection can only be properly appreciated if it is made available for view11.
What is the aforementioned private museum It is a private institution, which has to meet formal requirements in order to be registered in The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage list and its operation is regulated by the Museums Act and the Cultural Activity Act; both documents of equal rank. Nevertheless, because the name ‘museum’ is not exclusive, there are also places that function under the name ‘museum’, but their owners decided to make their collections available for visitors but did not register them. Such places simply function under the name of ‘a museum’ or ‘a heritage park’. Interestingly, the majority of private museums’ founding fathers are men. Women only participate passively as formal co-founders (except from Iwona Zaniewska from the Museum of Arms and Applied Technology in Kobylka).
8 Ibidem, s. 229. 9 Ibidem. 10 Ibidem. 11 Ibidem, s. 137. _150
What was first? It is the excitement over a thing, often something old, produced ‘years ago’ or something contemporary but unique that forms the basis for collecting. It is the first thing that draws the moved gatherer’s attention that initiates the further course of events. Feelings always come first (objective analysis takes place later on), they are hard to define – old things, as well as old people, move those who have a certain kind of inner sensitivity. Meeting things and meeting with things stimulate into action those, who feel inspired by these things. It seemed strange to us that people throw many things away or want to get rid of them – they are difficult to recreate, they will not be produced again. When a person wanted to get rid of something or said that he would throw it away, we took it12. - said Iwona Zaniewska in one of interviews. Tadeusz Barankiewicz also tried to identify the source of his passion for collecting: In my house there were few tokens (because the informer’s house was burnt almost to the ground, note M. J.) so maybe the collecting was dictated by a grief as my friends and other families had more tokens13. And he added: Maybe we have to pass by a dilapidated house, experience a trauma of fire, destruction, deprivation of something to have a will to save, to soothe the sorrow of what is irrecoverably lost, and which we could not save, maybe it is a ‘compensation’ for the things that could not be saved. I observed such a breakthrough when this culture, the things that served people, including demolishing old buildings in villages, was left on the shelf, it literally perished in the fire, it was junked14. Ale to na pewno nie jedyne powody zajęcia się kolekcjonerskim gromadzeniem rzeczy.
Choosing things Nowadays, things are perceived to be correlatives – elements of the cultural reality but not as its components and they can obtain the status of cultural objects only in relation with the operative values. On the national level, choices from the ‘mass of items’ are made by the appointed national museum curators, who act according to scientifically developed rules (substantive opinion preceded by research and a commission that verifies the future museum collections). In case of home collections, eliminations have individual character and result from private preferences, needs, financial possibilities (this factor does not always have to play a role, it dependents on the collection type we can gather e.g. ‘worthless rubbish’ like stickers, advertisements etc.). In the private museums it looks similar. The owners, private collectors, make autonomous selections, looking for
12 Iwona Zaniewska, interview held on August 8th 2012. 13 Tadeusz Barankiewicz, interview held on August 13th 2012. 14 Ibidem. _151
undisputed, ‘unique’ features in the artefacts they find (they buy them from people they meet, on antiques markets or on Internet auctions). The museum curators make cool, thoughtful, scientific choices considering the given criteria and collector’s programmes. Recognizing the cultural status – a cultural asset consists of constituting the worthiness of an item for the person who evaluates it15. Private gatherers make their individual choices, they are the only decision-makers regarding their collections. In case of the selection of the items made by private collectors, we do not have to do with ‘value stating’, but with ‘value attributing’16.
The concept of collecting Collections appear due to the fact that people select objects and samples of all the materials available, and compile them in a way that renders the character of the group better than a sum of its individual components. Material objects preserve the link with the ‘material’ world, from which they come, but a collection is a ‘metaphor’ of this ‘reality’, a dream, an inscription on the world17. Contrarily to the museum professionals, who are guided by a scientific objectivism and who have to control their emotions, private collectors would preferably save ‘everything’ – everything that is old and seems worth saving to them. They partly realise that it is an unrealisable utopia, but the desire to preserve things is deeply rooted in them. Every item that we do not manage to preserve makes us mourn. I am thinking about the irretrievably destroyed things that could have been displayed and served the society as once those items had served the people and been used for work. I repeat what I have already said - demolishing old buildings, their history, the history of things that served people, is destroyed and neglected by everyone18. The idea of saving and protecting plays the primary role in the ideological strategic programme of private museums. Making decisions in ‘the museums of everyday life’ exists in a minimal degree and acquisition takes place when something ‘old’ is found and purchased (such items are often within reach of collectors possessing certain financial resources) or obtained as a gift. An item is assigned as a part of the collection according to its ‘antiquity’, past usefulness, memories, handicraft artistry, aesthetic value, but even in case of a registered private museum the items do not undergo ‘substantial qualifications of the commission’ (such procedure in case of owning a museum by a married couple would rather assume humorous or even warlike character). The situation is a bit different in museums which deals with a given matter – in such case almost everything that fits in the collection is included in it: scales, agricultural machinery, carriages, old books, baubles. Some make selection according to their programmes, e.g. the collection of Wiktoryn Grabczewski from the Museum of the Polish Devil entered in the register of cultural goods, has the image of devil presented in the Polish folk art, but apart from
15 R. Tańczuk, s. 212. 16 Ibidem, s. 211. 17 S.M. Pearce, Museum Studies In Material Culture: Introduction, [w:] Museum Studies in Material Culture, London-New York 1989, za R. Tańczuk, op. cit., s. 197. 18 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. _152
the collection Grabczewski has got so called ‘bric-a-bracs’ with a picture of devil. Mr and Ms Zaniewscy in turn, analyse the justness of putting an item in a collection before the potential purchase. When composing own collection, the gatherer refers to the items he or she collects as valuable objects that carry meaning19. Not every private collection is organised intentionally, this feature is reserved for museum collections and the subjectivism of the collection is a distinctive feature here. We have to do with a collection20 only when its owner perceives it as a collection , and such an approach has been adopted in the considerations. I asked Marian Pietrzak, the owner of the heritage park in Sokolow Podlaski about the rules of selecting exhibits. Malgorzata Jaszczolt: Does your collecting have a specific aim or do you gather everything? Marian Pietrak: Everything that turns up, as peasants used to say. When I see something interesting I just say ‘give it to me, I’ll buy it!’ M.J.: So there is no any special collecting programme, you do not collect only specific objects? M.P.: I think I collect everything that has some museum value. M.J.: What do you think is valuable then? M.P.: Something that I had to collect because it will not be existing after some time, it will completely vanish21.
Strive for ‘ideal collection’ According to Wiktoryn Grabczewski, ‘every gatherer strives for creating an ideal collection because (…) the collection should be good’ . For the owners their collection is unquestionably a world on its own, definitively replete with positive values. Everybody perceives their collection to be the best and wants it to be like this, doing their best to make it ‘perfect’. ‘We seldom perceive something else as valuable’ , states Zaniewska. The collection owners are also familiar with the competitive aspects that give rise to envy, but it is all with the view of the ‘good cause’ – an ideal collection which is always arbitrary for the collector. The phenomenon is described by Tadeusz Barankiewicz:
19 R. Tańczuk, op. cit., s. 194. 20 Ibidem, s. 149. 21 Marian Pietrzak, interview held on July 7th 2012. 22 Wiktoryn Grąbczewski, interview held on September 26th 2012. 23 I. Zaniewska, op. cit. _153
If you go somewhere and there is something that you don’t have – you are simply jealous. I want it, and I will get it, maybe from you, or maybe in other way. When you get it, you feel satisfied24. Because collecting is…
‘A mania for collecting’ When you get into it and you reach some level, you start looking from other perspective and you get involved. I can compare it to alcohol addiction, there is something similar in it25 - adds Barankiewicz. Collecting gives us an addiction - like pleasure. Although addiction is contradictory with scientific evidence about its harmfulness, it successfully absorbs us and compensates for the possible moral doubts with the feeling of happiness, fulfillment, delight. Collecting also happens to be the only ‘addiction’ that the gatherer can afford: I do not drink, I do not smoke – my only weakness are devils (…). If I had money, I would buy devils, but usually I do not carry money. I would sell my house… You do not imagine what it does to people… [gathering – ed.]. I would go on foot if I knew about a devil (…)26. Things start to rule over the man collectors can feel it, but they cannot ‘set themselves free’. Maybe collecting is ‘incurable’ and there is no rescue for those who become addicted. Considering the financial status, if the addiction of ‘gathering’ is supported by the family, it can generate more advantages than disadvantages, because it belongs to the domain of ars colligendi and is a form of highly valued cultural activity in the western culture . It can eventually bring plaudit, approval and social respect to the collector who follows his ‘mania’.
Collector’s loneliness. Who is the collector: a narcissist, ‘a madman’, a freak, a fanatic of things? Examples of unsound gathering, like the one of Stephan Breitwieser from the excerpt from Confessions of an Art Thief cited at the beginning, who stole pieces of art in order to create ‘the most beautiful museum of the world’ for himself are not very common (I do not have the hard data on the subject) but still it happens. Collecting satisfies the need for possessing in a fine-spun way. When it goes together with mental problems, it can lead to obsession, oscillate on the verge of madness28. In psychiatry it is referred to as narcissism
24 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. 25 Ibidem. 26 W. Grąbczewski, op. cit. 27 R. Tańczuk, op. cit., s. 7-19. _154
that reconstruct the need for control and the desire for purity. In literature, a gatherer is compared with Casanova and Don Juan and described as a loot capturer, a trophy hunter, a contestant who fights against the competitors, and even a man who is able to commit a crime29. The collector is presented as an individualist, an eccentric who distinguishes himself among society but who is not always accepted. But who is our domestic gatherer from Mazowsze? He is a bit of a ‘freak’ (this is a name heard by Mr and Ms Zaniewscy from the officials and they admit it to be true: It is kind of eccentricity, because it limits our possibilities, we cannot go on holidays, because we will not leave it to lie fallow, (…) we feel like doing this, but obviously it would not be a secure protection so we would be afraid to leave it like that30), ‘a weirdo’, a person with a big ego, so ‘an egoist’ who devotes unreservedly to his or her passion. Somebody ‘detached’31- endowed with a ‘collector’s sense’ who even if does not ‘flash forward’, distinguishes himself among others. Someone who is maybe ‘weird’ but who evokes emotions, positive or negative. Someone ‘different’ who deals with other domains than the rest of us, and stands alone, because he or she is interested in something that is not common or widely popular. Surely it is a maniac, sometimes a person that is overwhelmed with a certain ‘mission’ or a fanatic who obstinately gathers various ‘unnecessary’ items. Gatherers are often ‘put in a pigeonhole’, perceived stereotypically. They are aware of this state of affairs and talk about it openly: From what I have observed, people think that such people like me are scavengers, madman. Why should we keep it, if it is no longer necessary? I bear a stamp of that scavenger, of a guardian of unnecessary things but I am not ashamed of it, I am even proud of the fact that I managed to restore, brush up these items and show people that such things existed in the past32. The collector bears some consequences, though he easily accepts it because a collection is like a child that we love. The collector is a lover of his collection, this is his treasure, he is tied to it, it is the source of his happiness, his heart is always with it, he indulges it, gives this time, energy and money for it. To cut the long story short – the collector loves his or her collection33. He or she is ready to ‘sacrifice’ their time as well as money and does not perceive it as a commitment. The gatherers’ dedication to their collection is disinterested. Analysing the collectors without their collection would be impossible. The collectors and their collections form an indissoluble organic relationship. The collection
28 Grospierre, Kunstakamera, The exhibition catalogue, Nicolas Grospierre, Warsaw, 2008, p.10. 29 E.g. the character from Perfume by Patrick Suskind who collected women’s fragrances. 30 I. Zaniewska, op. cit. 31 A reference to the title of memories of Jacek Oledzki Badacz osobny by Lech Mroz [Konteksty, Polska Sztuka Ludowa,Antropologia Kultur, Etnografia, Sztuka, 2004, year LVIII, No 3-4, 266-267, pp. 243-247], denoting someone who flashes forward and goes beyond the confines. 32 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. 33 M. Sommer. M., Collecting, an attempt of philosophical interpretation, Warsaw 2003, after: R. Tanczuk op. cit. p. 247. _155
authenticates the collector, authorises him or her as a person of a given kind . Another fragment from the interview with Marian Pietrzak is worth citing here: Marian Pietrzak: Some people say that I should buy a new car, that I should drink and it would be more beneficial than that, etc. Malgorzata Jaszczolt: Why do people criticizeit so strongly? M.P.: They are just simpletons. M.J.: People are bothered by it rather than satisfied with it? M.P.:Yes. (…) M.J.: You mentioned that your neighbours are unfriendly towards this establishment? Why? Do they lack consideration? M.P.: On the one hand, they were envious, on the other hand, they were prejudiced against this all. M.J.: Didn’t you try to convince them? M.P.: No, because I knew it would not work35. Gatherers are people who have strong characters. Their partners have no choice but to accept this ‘disability’, but in time they start to feel the engagement and participate in the activities of the other half. When they rub shoulders with the collections they start to understand, maybe get interested in it, sometimes they feel respect for this activity. The wife has to share her husband’s passion. At the beginning she was furious about this ‘passion’ but then she got to like it because she had no other choice. ‘I had to accept it, because otherwise we would have to break up’36, admits Jadwiga Pietrzak. There are also cases of spreading ‘the collecting virus’ on the family members: The whole family ‘got infected’ with this passion. (…) My father did not give me just the passion for collecting, but the passion for life37. In the majority of cases, they can share their passion only with their partner or family, as the society shows various attitudes, they look at us with astonishment, incomprehension but sometimes also with acceptance, although not with admiration Anna Kulikowska: : And how do the neighbours react? Pawel Zaniewski: Positively, they always ask if we are doing something38. However, the collector always knows otherwise, finds himself ‘above’ it and feels the strength of his items.
34 R. Tańczuk, 286 35 M. Pietrzak, op. cit. 36 Jadwiga Pietrzak,interview held on July 15th 2012. 37 Marek Barankiewicz, interview held on August 26th 2012 38 I. Zaniewska, op. cit.
_156
Reading things Items can only repay for that with their ‘silent’ gratefulness, rich in what they contain. Every collector understands his ‘material beings’, can read from each and every element of his collection, but if they do not know the history since they did not manage to tie it with the bought buy it with tie item, they try to make it up, deduce, guess. It is fun to discover something, to add to the item’s history, it often happens from scratch39. The potential significance of the item is inexhaustible, however, it means that it is the collector who has to decide what exactly an item means for him40. The available biography of the item is not a sine qua non for its purchase, but in the case where the thing is “naked” we have to add to its history, fill its materiality with words. Every gatherer intuitively knows that only the history and the item make an ideal combination. Therefore, he dwells upon it, goes through it or makes speculations. Tadeusz Barankiewicz informs us: Before I buy or receive a thing, I try to touch base with the proprietor and then I have the possibility to bring this item to life because it has its story that can be told. Of course this story should be precise, but it is not. (…) Now we can write it down but once people had no such possibility and passed it orally. The story was distorted in time, but the sense was there. (…) I have a sixteen-paged notebook of the memories told by my mother and I regret not getting to know everything. I have got so many questions, there are loads of things that would be worth knowing. Sadly, these people take it with them when they die (…)41.
Małgorzata Jaszczołt: Do you remember exactly where you bought this item and everything you got to know about it? Tadeusz Barankiewicz: Yes, but it will all disappear when I die and I think I am going to make a specific register in winter, because signing something ‘coupe carriage item 1’ means nothing, but if we add information on its origins and history – that will be the most important42. Marian Pietrzak also tries to get all the possible information about the purchased things, he takes notes, but he does not write down all the information. He believes he will remember everything. Grabczewski, in turn, finds each devil together with its story valuable:
39 Pawel Zaniewski, interview held on August 8th 2012 40 R. Tańczuk, op. cit., s. 226. 41 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. 42 Ibidem. _157
The richness of my collection consists in the fact that every devil has its legend or proverb43. ‘Things can carry us to the past or to the present’44. Through the variability of context-related meanings carried by things it is possible to read them in various ways or even ‘manipulate’ them intentionally or unintentionally (with no negative mark). The collectors read things in a certain way, create their own entities which cannot always be scientifically justified. However, the reliability of those who look for ‘the truth’, ask, read, aim for making the collection have its justified existence, cannot be denied. The open, disinterested attitude of the collectors – understood as a subject – towards the object enables them to experience it, and the object is transformed into experience45. This sensitivity discovers and attributes to the items their value, which is a certain constant for them. At the same time, when linking the history of building the collection with the collection itself, it supplies the collector with an autobiographic novel pattern46, and we, researchers, ‘read’ the collection and its owner simultaneously, without evaluation of both ‘elements’. The particular objects are indexes of specific events and experiences linked with the collector’s biography of an individual. The items composing the collection always refer to the collector . It can be noted again that ‘the collector and his or her collection’ constitute one entity.
Collection as a life leitmotiv ‘Professional’ collecting organises life, and life is subordinate to collecting. It constitutes its axis. The existence is organised around this life-giving activity. ‘Only the organisation of the collection substitutes time’48 and helps the collector to deal with their passing. A seasoned gatherer has the ability to combine his or her professional issues with the need to enlarge the collection. For example, when Marian Pietrzak worked as a taxi driver, he reached various destinations: I was driving a taxi for 28 years, which gave me an opportunity to learn the whole Sokolowski district. I visited many cemeteries, palaces, manors. I was truly interested in all this, whereas other drivers were not. I met people who remembered heirs of properties, and they told me many interesting stories about it. I put it all together and wrote the book ‘Dwory, folwarki, palace zachodniego Podlasia’49. 43 W. Grąbczewski, op.cit. 44 J. Baranski, Swiat Rzeczy, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego, Cracow, 2007, p. 19. 45 R. Tańczuk, op. cit. s. 227. 46 Ibidem, s. 284. 47 Ibidem. 48 Ibidem, s. 165. 49 M. Pietrzak, op. cit. _158
Grabczewski, as a director of a puppet theatre, during his travels through Poland always asked about local sculptors to check whether they make devils. This need organises entirely the free time, ‘so that the free time is not a time wasted, but it brings happiness50’. A collection is also a hobby, a moment of pleasure that helps us break away from our duties, it is like a second, better life – a life that satisfies our ‘superior’ needs because it is a metaphor of reality rather than its imitation (metonymy). Barankiewicz’s words perfectly illustrate it: As long as I live, I will be happy because I managed to save it, I will preserve it. I hope that it will not be scrapped. I hope it will not be wasted. I would like it to stay here, but it is hard to say if it will. But I do not think about it very often51. Collecting is interpreting the world expressed in a medium of classified, categorised items, collections are a certain form of knowledge52. Some gatherers can ‘collect’ this knowledge, they ‘read’ things also in a scientific way, composing their collections with the use of authorial methods, develop it in a popularising way, also by writing and publishing books. A collection is a base, a starting point or a final point. They effectuate an organisation of the collection and their world and simultaneously their life, subject to the collection, becomes organised and ‘gains’ sense. Grabczewski writes books that are strictly connected with devil, e.g. Leczyckie Bajanie o Borucie Panie, Diabeł polski w rzeźbie i legendzie, Klechdy diabelskie. Marian Pietrzak bases his books about the region on his own memories and the history: Sokolow Podlaski w latach 1939 – 1944, Pamiętnik z czasów okupacji, Sokolow Podlaski dawniej i dziś oraz opowiadania z lat 1863 – 1945, Jacwingowie – powieść historyczna z czasów Kazimierza Sprawiedliwego, Dwory, folwarki, pałace zachodniego Podlasia, Kościoły i cmentarze ziemi sokolowskiej. In his case, memories, interest in the region’s history and getting familiar with it interlock. Not everybody organises their collection in a scientific way. Every owner of a private museum is obliged to run a stock ledger and a record description, the collections have a status of cultural property so they have to be inventoried (Zaniewscy run an electronic stock ledger, Grabczewski runs a traditional list in notebooks), whereas the non-registered museums are free from this duty (Marian Pietrzak ended his record on the number 250, there are more than thousand objects in the heritage park).
Małgorzata Jaszczołt: How many exhibits do you have? Do you run any calculation? Tadeusz Barankiewicz: Some time ago I started counting it all and when it comes to pieces, I count ice skates, loom or spindle as one piece, because I also have such items, I stopped at more than 2000 thousand. M.J.: Do you have it written down somewhere?
50 W. Grąbczewski, op.cit. 51 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. 52 R. Tańczuk, op. cit, s. 203. _159
T.B.: I tried to write it down, but I stopped. I think it should be own described. I have everything in my head… Taking care of the collection consumes a lot of time, which is a major drawback. Choosing things is a driving force, later these items make a human serve them and take care of them ‘till the end’ and even secure them after his or her death so that they can retain the memory of him or her. Thanks to objects, the collector together with his or her collection can become immortal. Items that join the collection become dead for the time and space of their lives, however, extracted from the cycle of life and context they gain immortality. In the collection, time is brought to a standstill in eternal ‘now’. Such a timeless perspective is close to divinity and thanks to it the gatherer touches sacrum. Probably the greatest profit the majority of gatherers have from collecting is the one they find difficult to articulate: the profit from contacting the self-transcending sanctity and magic in their lives . An ideal collection can never be closed, the collector ‘has never enough’ of new exhibits because closing the collection would mean ‘the collector’s death’ (sometimes the collector decides to close the collection, but it happens in the old age, when he or she wants to regulate the issues concerning the collection, cares about its future and wishes to decide upon its future location; Marian Pietrzak would like his heritage park to become a property of the city for a certain gratification, Wiktoryn Grabczewski in turn wishes to locate his collection in the museum in Leczyca). The collector would like the collection to be located in a museum, because it would be a guarantee of its value as well as make the collectors immortal, recognising themselves and their effort54. The collectors express a will to confide their collections to the hands of a national museum. The gatherer tirelessly continues to seek because the collection is his infinite dream. Małgorzata Jaszczołt: The collection has to be big. Tadeusz Barankiewicz: You are right - the collection has to be big.. That is why… M.J.: … the collector never stops… T.B.: The collector will never be satisfied… M.J.: The collection will never be finished…55
Personal interaction with objects/ inseparability of objects and humans Things can rule over a human. Their inanimateness is only seeming and the human, controlled by the collection becomes its live voice, a ‘leader’, who speaks in the name of all
53 R.W. Belk, Collecting in a Consumer Culture, [w:] Highways and Buyways, Provo 2009., za: R. Tańczuk, op. cit., s. 249. 54 Ibidem, s. 240. 55 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. _160
the collected artefacts. The human and things are in contextual, dynamic relation56. The gatherer has to take care of the items: conserve, develop, read, contemplate and even pamper them (although Wiktoryn Grabczewski says that the devils look older if pampered57), they rule over him but he also rules over them. A sensual contact with things forms and strengthens the bond between the human and the thing. In museums and private collections usually the visitors can also touch items (the only concern refers to children who can steal or destroy small pieces). In principle, the collection is not for sale – an item that has been purchased once – individualised and extracted from the goods circulation – remains in the collection for ever (‘I have never sold a thing, only exchange comes into play58’). Every item is personalised, recognisable, every item assumes characteristic features in the eyes of the collector: ‘each item is perceived as single, unique and model thing59’.
Sharing with the world As a repertory of items representing what is invisible, a collection can be properly appreciated only if it is made available for people . Some collectors reach to the point where they make their collection public by entering a higher level of collecting and organising ‘museums’. I do not keep it to myself. You can have something in a safe, on a wall, but you enjoy it more if you show it61. ‘Crazy’ about his collection and sure about the sense of the undertaking, the collector does his best to be able to present his collection: I had no other options. Then the idea came to my mind – I can locate it in a block, in a modern block and it will be still very interesting62. Making the collection public and showing it is for the collection and the collector a method for earning recognition among the broader public. Collectors also make their collections available for the educational purposes, and they perceive it as their duty: I admit students. If somebody does something for educational reasons I show them the collection, it is my duty. However, I no longer show it just to promote myself63.
56 J. Barański, op. cit., s. 18. 57 W. Grąbczewski, op. cit. 58 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. 59 R. Tańczuk, op. cit, s. 182. 60 Ibidem, s. 137. 61 P. Zaniewski, op. cit. 62 W. Grąbczewski on his museum organised in a tower block basement, op. cit. 63 Ibidem. _161
However, exposing collections during occasional displays and events is an opportunity for the collectors to demonstrate their knowledge. The collectors strive for that, they are willing to host exhibitions or even propose such presentations to community councils or city councils and they seldom obtain a response (Barankiewicz, Grabczewski, Pietrzak and Zaniewscy mention the insufficient interest from local authorities). They are active, they are waiting for an applause from the authorities, which, because of insufficient interest, are often perceived as institutions that overlook the grass roots initiatives of the ‘common’ people: There are other activists, with whom I am in touch, who are active in the field and we talk about saving bric-a-bracs. We see that there is a need for people like us, especially when an exhibition has to be organised in a community centre(...)64. They seek for a far broader cooperation the authorities. They underline a global contribution of their own financial resources and they are proud that they were able and still are able to build their collections BY THEMSELVES: ‘we do everything with the use of our own resources65’. The question of money, even if mentioned in a subtext, is not cited as the major problem. This is the good of the collection, that is noticing and sharing the collection with the maximum number of people that takes the first place.. Małgorzata Jaszczołt: Do you think that such a collection makes sense only when others can see it? Marian Pietrzak: Yes, why should I keep it to myself? I see it all, though. The thing is that we should show it, so that they could know how it looked years ago, what it was used for, who used it. I can even tell the names of the former proprietors, from which mill the particular stones come. I know the names of the millers, I remember it all and also other things. I know these people66.
Museum as an autonomous text The presentation of the collection is always a self-presentation of its author67. Similarly, a private museum is an individual story of its owner, this is the owner who creates the narration that can be read from the collection. While collecting a given kind of items the collector can consider their present intersubjectively shared meanings or attribute new ones68. An item can indicate the past and itself69. The owner of the collection enjoys an absolute freedom – he or she can organise the collection according to his or her preferences and it will always be an ideal presentation. The meaning of objects ‘is created by mental as well as physical arranging them in the collection’70, and they can convey a real portion of the past to the present, and evoke constant, symbolic reinterpretation71. 64 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. 65 P. Zaniewski, op. cit. 66 M. Pietrzak, op. cit. 67 R. Tańczuk, op. cit., s. 138. 68 Ibidem, s. 195. 69 Ibidem, s. 215. 70 S.M. Pearce, op. cit., za R. Tańczuk, op. cit., s. 195. 71 Ibidem, s. 197. _162
In his museum, the collector is an ‘existence’ ascribed to it, this is the collector who takes the visitors around the museum, telling the story that he or she made up. The story in a personalised museum is a story of the gathering process, so the owner’s private story is linked with the stories of those who were once owners of these things – ‘passive containers of human intentions’72. It is a resultant of the original owners and their life histories, who individually or collectively ‘speak’ from the past through the items related with them and through the collector, who takes this set over and puts on his or her own vision. Things make us think73. Regardless of their biological idleness, through the physical existence of structured matter recognised with senses and becoming known in culture – objects constitute an undertow for reflections. They stimulate us to make individual references and interpretations (apart from the collector’s interpretation). Nevertheless, it is always the owner who establishes the rules and decides upon the character of the place. The owner is a demiurge there. Some collectors prepare a scenario and organise the collection according to specific assumptions (Grabczewski has organised his collection according to the Kolberg’s scheme), other collections seem to be in disarray (as it has been stated by the visitors of Marian Pietrzak’s display). Barankiewicz, in turn, prepared a veristic exposition with the aim to reflect ‘the life in Garwolin village’. However, thanks to the fact that the manner of interpreting them is not arbitrary, the expositions in private museums are, unintentionally, a bit polyphonic. We can read and interpret them in a variety of ways. Tadeusz Barankiewicz explains: When it comes to the museum, I do everything the way I like it, in my own style. (…) It is not a beautiful or rich museum, but I have been gathering these things for 30 years (…) There are no captions or descriptions because I think it is all just for me – maybe I am not right, but I believe that if I show an object and tell its story, it will be better remembered than the description which says that it is a spinning wheel for spinning threads from wool or linen. In my opinion, presenting objects to children, but also elder people who are not familiar with it, will make them remember it better. It may be intellectually demanding, but children have many ideas, some of them make correct associations74.
Evaluation A private museum is not evaluated by its owner, such evaluation is carried out in museums by the museum professionals in order to recognise the cultural value of the collection in a given moment. Unrecognised collections also can gain a status of valuable collections by the individual acquisition of the value, collective recognition and gaining importance in the cultural landscape. Collections that came from private houses trouble us because we have to refer to them somehow, define our attitude towards these ‘unobvious’ creations (there were problems with this part of the research as the majority of people were not willing to comment on the nearest museum, they did not know it or they had little reflections on it).
72 J. Barański, op. cit., s. 11. 73 Ibidem, s. 12. 74 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. _163
The only ones to make such evaluation are the visitors, their reception is composed of individual impressions concerning the museum. It also happens that some notice an incontestable value of the collection, but from the point of view of its composition it is a ‘lumber room’ for them75.
Lokalność Some private museums are established in ‘white spots’, the places where there are no institutions gathering the local past. In such places messiahs of local culture, ‘the privileged by themselves’ appear ‘naturally’ and they act on their own to save this culture. Everything lied dilapidated in boxes, in attics, in recesses and old sheds, so in the places where we keep unnecessary things, everything was taken out but nobody wanted to give me that, I had to buy everything76. Marian Pietrzak thinks that he engaged in it too late, because he counted on the local government planning to carry out an action and organise a museum of the Sokolow region. It is worth adding that the things that went to their collection were very lucky. For these collectors, the collection has the fundament made of local identity, they strongly identify themselves with the region, the culture of which, according to them, has been neglected. Jadwiga Pietrzak: He is crazy about this old clutter. Marian Pietrzak: I am not crazy about it, I just wanted to save it all from oblivion but something went wrong. J.P.: The inhabitants of Sokolow are not interested in it and Sokolow will collapse. What will we do with this? We will see what happens. M.P.: Only old geezers have interest in it. J.P.: It would be a pity to lose it all. It cost us a lot of money, but it is not about money, we do not want to lose it, we hope somebody will take care of it. M.P.: When I collected items I thought that I would give it to the museum founded by the community centre or the local self-government. But as I already said (…) I was a member of the city council in the years 1990 – 1994 and then I wanted the museum to be opened, I wanted the government to open the museum. I went there a couple of times when I was a council member. They said ‘we do not know much about it, but we are going to do this, we remember about it’. Time passed and they did nothing, that made me angry and in 1999 I said ‘I will do it’ – and I did. (…) Once, in the eighties, I wrote to local magazines.(…) I did not do this for myself, but for the city, so that it is not forgotten77. Grabczewski has similar aspirations: For me the perspective of leaving this for my descendants, in particular for my family, is most important. I would like them to see what was the little cradle that I was linked with. I mention Leczyca in every book I write. My wife says that I am crazy about Leczyca78.
75 M. Pietrzak, Rozmowy dodatkowe z targetem muzealnym. 76 Ibidem. 77 Ibidem. _164
and Barankiewicz: It seems to me that we should take care of such unique family and historical remembrances, and we should be able to preserve them for our descendants79.
The ending Małgorzata Jaszczołt: How do you think, why do people collect things, what are the origins of this phenomenon? What are your reflections about it? Why do you do that? On the one hand, we do not want to throw something away, on the other hand, we would like to preserve it for the future generations. Does something like this motivate you? Pawel Zaniewski: I think it does. Iwona Zaniewska: It does, but only when it comes to you. P.Z.: And what about you? I.Z.: For me it is rather what is now. P.Z.: For me it does. I like items with some kind of a story. I can get to know what happened to this item. M.J.: What was its past. I.Z.: I like it too, but I do not wonder if people would rave over it when I die. M.J.: So for you it is important that you collect items that you like. I.Z.: And I want to share it with those who live now, with me. P.Z.: And not think about the grandchildren: ‘this belonged to our granny’. M.J.: Do you think about it? P.Z.: Yes. M.J.: That it will be such a lasting reminiscence? P.Z.: In my opinion a person is alive as long as the memory of them lasts, in any form, so if in a thousand years someone remembered that this glass belonged to Mr and Ms Zaniewscy, it would be great. Gathering, like every human cultural activity, is an attempt to add sense to the world, an attempt to capture it through the things created by humans, because ‘(…) things created by people create people’, by pointing ‘at themselves’ they communicate about values and enable us to experience values through their poetics. Whether a collection located in a private museum will find its target, ready for emotion, depends on many factors. However, the increasing number of museums, including the private ones, is symptomatic. The virus of collecting mania is spreading. Taking a closer look at the private museums is an attempt to diagnose the social needs of gatherers, ‘common’ receivers and authorities. Time is always perceived as ‘the last chance’, we have to hurry up in order to catch something before the definite end of it: evanescence of last
78 W. Grąbczewski, op. cit. 79 T. Barankiewicz, op. cit. 80 D. Miller, Materiality: An Introduction, [w:] Materiality, Durham 2005 za: R. Tańczuk, op.cit., s. 104. _165
material and non-material phenomena. During the last decades the technological progress is extremely fast, we are overwhelmed with a growing number of manufactured goods, so we have to choose what is worth preserving and what should ‘survive’. The number of museum professionals would be insufficient for every domain of life. Private museums, that ‘secure’ in their original way selected strips of life, come to their defence. The enthusiasm of their owners, the collected artefacts and the imperfect way of presenting collections are moving. Should we change, improve, fix them? Before we do this, let’s enjoy the uniqueness of primary things81. Emotion/human/thing/story/place – constitute an inseparable package for me Bibliography: Baranski Janusz, Swiat rzeczy, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego, Cracow 2007. Breitweiser Stephane, Confessions of an Art Thief, MUZA S.A., Warsaw 2007. ‘Mowia Wieki’ 2012, vol. 01, National Institute for Museums and Public Collections, Warsaw. Grospierre Nicolas, Kunstkamera. Warsaw, 2008. Tanczuk Renata, Ars Calligendi. Kolekcjonowanie jako forma aktywnosci kulturalnej. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wroclawskiego, Wroclaw 2011. Zygulski Zdzislaw (junior), Muzea na swiecie. Wstep do muzealnictwa, Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warsaw 1982.
81 First museum registered as a private museum was the Museum of Smithery in the nineties of the 20th century. Next museums, including the unregistered ones, started to be created in the same period. In the post-war Poland it is not then an activity with a long history. _166
Joanna Kozera Collecting is a kind of a disease I visited seven private museums during the research. What fascinated and impressed me the most was determination of the owners. Although they were individuals, they were connected by passion and some kind of craziness floating around. If someone devotes their life to old vehicles or Christmas decorations, they have to be enthusiasts. ‘I don’t know, if it should look this way. Maybe it should be better organised, because there is a great number of sections and collectibles’ – says the mayor of Brzesc Kujawski, Wojciech Zawidzki, about the collection in Redecz Krukowy. The collector is a popular person in the town. He is a precious resident of both the town and the commune, because he “protects some subjects from falling into oblivion”. His large museum of agricultural machines, but also other post-war exhibits, “promote and protect from oblivion’. In opinion of interviewed persons The museum serves rather people ‘from the outside’, because people from here will always find time to visit it (…). People who come here read the information boards, they are more interested in the museum than the locals, who treat it as their own, just like the guy [Wladyslaw Lokietek – ed.], who stands on the socle. Janusz Borkowski – the owner of a family museum says that the fact that the collection has its heirs pleases him the most is. It is very important – ‘Even the best idea is pointless when it does not have any followers.’ Fortunately, Mr Janusz has two sons. (…) my sons got involved too and they will take care of it. However, will the third or fourth generation respect it? They will say: ‘Look, grandfather, or great-grandfather brought so much scrap, and there are so many rooms here, we could use it somehow. Let’s throw it away or sell to somebody for nothing. But then some museum will appear and take it, or someone will give it to some other museum. I believe, therefore, that collecting exhibits is noble, useful, and that people need it (…). As long as I can, I fulfil my goals. Whatever I do, I succeed in it. Everything what I do started in my childhood, when I joined ZMW [Polish Rural Youth Union]’. Now he is defending the honour of the agricultural machines industry.
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As an entrepreneur – the owner of the biggest manufactory agricultural machines ‘Krukowiak’ – he raises a lot of controversy. His company gives employment to almost 10 % of the town’s residents. Nearly every day someone claims money from him, and recently the dispute regarding the land tax on the manufactory has ended. Mr Janusz summarises the situation with the words of the well-known Polish poet, Julian Tuwim, ‘success – something your friends will never forgive you.’ The majority of exhibits are gifts. People who work with Mr Janusz visited neighbourhood villages and collected old agricultural machines which were no longer used. Most of them have descriptions which say from whom the given exhibit was obtained. Apart from the typical activity, the museum organises festivals – ‘apparently there were five hundred people – who would like that? – says wife of one of the donators. ‘There must be catering and it costs.’ There is a custodian in the museum, a former worker of a ‘Krukowiak’ manufactory. She supports the idea of protecting history and expanding Borkowski’s collection: each person who comes here is surprised that we actually create history here, and that we maintain it all. We create history. Children have no idea, what they are looking at (…). Mr Janusz has been already collecting things that may appear on the shelves, let’s say, fifty years, such as butter or yoghurt packages, boxes, TV sets, more recent radios and computers. Is the museum popular? Yes, just as it is in a village. It is certainly known within a radius of 20 kilometres, both due to the company, and the museum. The bigger town, the more incognito you are. In a village everybody knows about such initiatives. – says Mr Janusz’ son, the collector and owner of an appreciable collection of motorcycles and antique vehicles. ‘Collecting is a kind of a disease.’ – he adds. Mr Radek has been spending all his savings on exhibits for 8-10 years. It is a very expensive hobby. But the museum means also a financial security for him. Residents of local villages respect what the collectors do. It was believed that everything which is related to countryside is boorish and fusty. Something can be primitive, but not necessarily boorish. However, people start to appreciate it when the West started to appreciate each place where naturalness is preserved. We started to follow them. However, as the mayor of the town says, people do not appreciate what they have in their neighbourhood. If they say they do appreciate it, it is only an empty declaration. Everything which is easily available is not that attractive. Why? ‘There is always something to do.’ – says one of the commune’s residents. ‘You don’t appreciate what is next to you.
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When we travel throughout Poland we visit a lot of places, but not those which are here, next to our house.’ It turned out that Mr Janusz raises as much controversy as fascination. Donators we visited said: I admire people who have some conception, even the simplest one, but it gives you an opportunity to earn money. I admire such people for their courage, not everybody would take the risk, go all the way, not everybody can achieve what they want. A professional museum that I visited was the Museum of Literature and Printing in Grebocin run by a graphic designer and museum conservator. The museum is located in a church from the 13th century, built by Teutonic Knights. The collectors won the tender to renovate, or rather to completely restore the building. When they first saw the church’s ruin there was trash up to the windows. They say: We are glad that it happened to us. At the beginning you never know what will come next, and when you go further, it is difficult to undermine your own decisions. From a time perspective, we do not regret it, although we could have spent the money on our personal needs, but we managed to reconcile it. Renovation of the building and its surrounding cost a fortune and required a lot of determination. The museum has been working for eight years already and has been visited by nearly ten thousand people – mainly organised school trips. It happens that even several trips come on one day. The museum was registered as a business activity. For this reason the owners have problems with obtaining subsidies. They are treated as a private activity. Mrs Agata, the co-owner, says that this is her husband who dreams. She is a person who brings him down to earth, to real problems and issues. Accidentally I encountered on my way also a family heritage park in Lochowice. It is run by the commune’s head and his wife. An alley of well-kept agricultural machines, as well as the nice collector encourage visitors to come in. The collection is not registered, nevertheless, it raises a lot of interest among the enthusiasts. This heritage park is invited to subject-related events both in Poland and abroad. We do what we want – if we want to go – we go, if we have money – we invest, if we don’t have money – we stay at home. – says Mr Jacek. The heritage park is very popular, it has its own logo, employees have their own professional and fashionable ‘member’ waistcoats. The museum participates in many events. Presentation of the machines raises interest and sentiment among the vil-
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lage’s residents. Mr Jacek told us that he was accosted once by an elder man who wanted to take a drive with an old tractor. Mr Jacek permitted to do this, and it turned out that he made one of the man’s dreams come true. I thought: it is so great that I came here with this tractor. It will make the life of this man happier. Every year the club ‘Traktor i maszyna’ [Tractor and machine] organises Poland-wide ball for all its members. It is the biggest and the most prestigious event of that kind in Poland. In the village Paterek, near Bydgoszcz, lives Mr Artur and his thirty buses. These buses cause a lot of problems, because they are big, loud, and they exhaust a lot of fumes. Mr Artur, however, does not get discouraged by his neighbours’ complaints, and he keeps develop his interests. 160 thousand zloty is needed in order to renovate one of the buses. That is too much for Mr Artur, therefore, he applies for funding and makes the buses earn for themselves. Mr Artur’s buses, the ones of the ‘cucumber’ type, are very popular in showbusiness, they appear in movies, they are used for tourist trips, and they appear every year during the Night of Museums in Warsaw. The owner spends all his earned money on vehicles’ renovation, especially that after each event there is something that needs reparation. ‘I don’t do it for money, it is just my hobby’ – he says. ‘I have many ideas, but it is not so easy to make them come true.’ That is obvious. The village is not in favour either of buses, or television conducting interviews, or visitors. Mr Artur’s mother says: ‘He needs a lot of determination to ignore all difficulties, because locals are against him.’ My son was always interested in buses. He is a bus freak. I thought that it would change, but it did not change – only buses all the time. He is still interested in it, but the whole family is against it. – she adds. However, she overcame her reluctance and wish for order. There are vehicles’ parts everywhere in the yard, and the house has not been finished, but she thought that she would change her attitude and adapt herself to something that cannot be changed. ‘I help him, even with dinners, with anything, so he can focus on something else.’Mr Artur says about collecting and collectors: These are interests of those people. They collect and then make it available to others. Everybody is interested in something, and there is such a need to collect it, keep it, and to be satisfied that we collected it. The very act of collecting is a motivation, we need to look for something and then get it.
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From time to time Mr Artur and his mother negotiate with their neighbours calling the police. They ask them to understand. There is only one ally – a neighbour, former bus driver, worker of PKS in Bydgoszcz. The most exotic and unique museum is the Museum of Native North-American Indians in Tuchola. How did they get there? It is all connected with the friendship between the collector, Mr Jan, and Sat-Okh, Stanislaw Suplatowicz – son of a Polish teacher – a fugitive from Siberia – and a chief of the Shawnee tribe. Sat was born and bred in Canada, in a ‘hidden village’, in the basin of the Mackenzie river. He was a soldier of the Polish Home Army, a writer, author of many books for children, story-teller, artist, a well-known populariser of the North-American Indian culture in Poland. His life was interesting but complicated. The most important is, however, that he got to Bory Tucholskie and became a friend of Mr Jan’s family. Before death he entrusted the care of his property, including memorabilia and decorations, to Jan. From all this the collection emerged and in 2000 the museum was opened on the initiative of Sat and the Polish American Indian Friends Movement. It was not easy for Mr Jan either. Apart from the museum there is an agritourism house, restaurant, and a stud farm on the property. Moreover, the tax office had objections, which turned out to be unjustified, concerning the museum, and misfortunes happened to the family. ‘People in Tuchola are specific’ – says Mr Jan. Now he is planning to erect a new building with an office, multimedia and professional exhibition room. The building in which the collection is located is made of wood and is visited by mice and also thieves. The construction works of a new building have already begun, and near the construction area we can see a totem which looks like an original American Indian totem. Someday the collection will be given to Mr Jan’s daughter – Joanna, who was also a close friend of Sat-Okh. She played in a movie about him, however, the production was stopped due to his death in 2003. If it was given to me, and they want me to do it so I will do my best to do it right. It certainly won’t get into the wrong hands. – says Ms Joanna. Mr Pawel is the only person in Poland who collects Christmas decoration, Christmas balls to be precise. He has more than four thousands of them. Apart from that he has a collection of about a thousand of other objects, which he includes in his annual Christmas exposition. This year is the fiftieth year of his passion. ‘I was collecting seven dwarves for 18 years (…) but people do not have imagination’ – he says. Nobody knows what they can see when they come to Mr Pawel. Everything is located in one, big room. There is light, movement, and sound. Each visit lasts about three hours. The visit includes treat, but what is more important, the guide is the very author of the collection.
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– says Mr Pawel’s wife. ‘I don’t do it for myself, I want to show it to others – this is important’ – says the collector. The collection can be visited from December to March. Every year more than 100 visitors come to the collector’s house. Mr Pawel carefully keeps record of all visitors, who are divided into individual visitors and family members. It is most popular among neighbours. Sometimes also clergymen come. The neighbours observe nuns and clergymen who come to meet Mr Pawel and his collection. In order to visit the museum an appointment has to be made. The owner invites his friends and family too, and also for them he makes appointments. It results from the museum’s location in a private apartment. ‘Can everybody just drop in, from the street, to see your Christmas trees?’ – one neighbour is surprised. Neighbours who have already visited the museum are impressed by the owner’s passion, determination, and conscientiousness. ‘I would not be able to be like him. I have to constantly change my occupations (…), I have it near my house and this is enough’ – they say. Who needs the museum? This place makes the very owner satisfied (…). I wish him all the best, because he is interested in it and it makes him happy (…). We all get some kind of skills and abilities from God. Someone is good at something and someone at something else. We just have to find it in ourselves. We have to want to find it. However, we need appropriate circumstances. Everything depends on what happens to us (…). It is hard work. There are many places in Kujawy where agricultural machines and old equipment are collected. I was informed in one office that it is a very popular occupation in this region. When I was going to Tuchola I stopped, among others, in ‘Rozen w Stopce’ – it is a restaurant around which the owners create a heritage park. There is also a krajenski cottage, which can be booked free of charged by trips and organised groups. There are so many attractions there.
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There was one feature connecting all collectors that I met – determination. They had so many determination that despite lack of money and other difficulties they managed to continue their passions. They managed to attract many people, however, these were not people who were most important in their lives – they devoted their time and energy to objects, in order to leave something which would not let them be forgotten. The passion is the essence of their lives, the need for acting, collecting and organising. It was an inner strength and calling.
Chaos vs. structure Collecting means organising the world, a particular part of the reality, to be precise. The subject and the span of the collection appears unexpectedly in the collector’s life – the collection finds the collector, not the other way round. Where does the determination to collect buses or Christmas balls come from? No one can answer this question. Collections were well organised – Christmas balls were divided according to subjects, agricultural machines or printers according to models. Mr Pawel who has been collecting Christmas balls for fifty years has more than four thousands of them. A Christmas tree that he decorated together with his wife just after their wedding was the beginning. The owner of the American Indian museum was somehow appointed to take the collection of his dying friend. He could not refuse. Now he is the heir not only of objects, but also of the memory of their owner. Order gives some of them the sense of security, it structures the world. For others the collection is a mission, a goal which needs to be achieved. Sometimes it starts with one particular object which makes us think, whether we do not want to have more of it – the first exhibit brings the others. However, there is no answer to the question, whether collectors control exhibits, or maybe exhibits control collectors.
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Anna Kulikowska To touch the memory – object specification on the basis of the research in Folk Culture Park in Kuligow. In this case the object is a bowl full of meaning Bożena Shallcross Things, things, things. We gather them even in our childhood. Sometimes they are just useless things which have only some kind of sentimental value. They fill our attics, cellars, storerooms. We keep them because we hope that someday they will remind us of something that cannot be forgotten. Sometimes we take them somewhere, where they will be safe. Such places are museums, galleries, exhibition rooms. One of the places to which objects with historical value are brought is Folk Culture Park in Kuligow run by Mr Wojciech Urmanowski. The museum is better known as ‘the heritage park in Kuligow’, and it is run on behalf of Dziedzictwo Nadbuzanskie Foundation, the chairman of which is Mr Wojciech. Most of the exhibits come from Podlasie and southern Poland. All collectibles are located on a small area, in several buildings. Why a heritage park? My grandfather was a blacksmith, so was my father. I was filled with this subject (…). I dreamt about some things, then I started to make my dreams come true. The entry gate is built from wooden boards. There is an information plate with opening hours and information ‘under video surveillance’ at it. Visitors can have the impression that they are entering a closed area that only authorised persons can enter. Then they get to the yard where we find three stands: the first one with the map of the region, the second one where the owner is selling tickets, and the third one with wooden and earthenware products for sale. They attract especially the youngest visitors – they are fascinated with colourful souvenirs. On the other side of the yard there is a blacksmith forge. Sometimes we can meet a real blacksmith with a cowboy hat there. His works are placed in the middle of the yard. A metal goat, fancy flowers, angels – they are all for sale, however, they are extremely expensive. In a cottage we can find a mini-gallery full of old and new objects. Paintings, figurines, sculptures, old irons, even tables. Also workshops, presentations, and discussions are held here.
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There is also a residential cottage with the fence and pots on it. When we enter it we experience a kind of a time travel. In one room we can find beds with colourful bedcovers, a stove, a cradle, a chamber pot, and religious paintings in the corners. In the second room there are wooden tables. Everything has been carefully recreated. In other buildings there are tailor’s workshop, loom, wringer. There is also a coach-house with many carriages, waggons, and sleighs. We can find also old bicycles there. In front of one of the cottages we see a dugout boat and large barrels. There are so many exhibits that it is difficult to enumerate them. Also visitors that I talked to said that the place was a little bit chaotic. Students from the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Warsaw worked here several months ago within the practice’s framework. Also Mr Wojciech says that there is still a lot of things to do, a lot to organise, however, his health does not allow him to do it. The museum attracts more and more people. They say: ‘We should see what is next to us instead of traveling to the other corner of Poland.’ There is a group of habitués, people from cultural and art-related environments, who participate in open-air events organised by Mr Wojciech. They appreciate his determination and persistence. They try to support him, however, they are also people who criticise him. The park is in mess, and Mr Wojciech is not able to manage and organise everything on his own. He needs people who would help him. Nevertheless, everybody agrees that ‘it is great promotion for Kuligow.’ The exhibits were hired out to such movies as Zemsta by Andrzej Wajda or Pornografia by Jan Jakub Kolski. Sometimes the owner organises open-air events related to sculpture, paintings, and blacksmithing, presentations of regional food, and carriage drives. Moreover, weaving and pottery workshops for schools, as well as lessons about birds are organised there. Mr Wojciech co-operates also with the reconstruction group ‘Ulani nadwislanscy’. Sometimes he manages to gain funds for projects, the Marshal’s Office financed creation of the website and information boards. However, it is not a steady income. Mr Wojciech has to use his personal resources to pay for his passion. Income from tickets is not enough to maintain, renovate, and gain exhibits. Being old is the most important feature. Teresa Pekala ‘Touching exhibits gives a chance to find yourself on the timeline’ said Teresa Pekala. There is some kind of ‘community in passing of time’. It can be a destructive experience of existence’s finiteness, but it can also be an initial stage, a sort of ‘initial emotion’ for the complex thought about the past.
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A place-object initiates the experience of bond and membership to the community of all people who had been here before. It is a specific community, which is related to a particular tradition, and which respects the heritage. It satisfies the natural need to possess the past. These experiences are very emotional, yet transitory, because visitors co-exist with the exhibits only for a short while. However, it leads to the need for more such experiences. The condition for a similar experience is existence of an object from the past times, which is a mediator and generator of a certain experience of the past. We can see the exhibits in the heritage park, just as people who had been here before. It creates the images of the past, which are not imaginations. They create some kind of a visual archive. One of the visitors that I talked to told me that his grandfather had been a blacksmith, and that he knew blacksmithing only from his grandmother’s stories. Thanks to the visit to the heritage park he could see how it really looked like. Biographical and historiographical images of the past coexist with movie images, they co-create individual memory, but at the same time they hinder individual imaginations. In this way objects become mediators in overcoming time distance. A historical object or a fragment of a landscape do not store untouched past, but only confirm its existence. Objects connect us with the past through aesthetic experiences. When we enter the heritage park we can experience the past through our senses. Mr Wojciech allows to touch and to examine exhibits. That enables us to feel the bond between tradition and heritage. That which existed in the past is expressed in something which exists in the present. Simple everyday objects become carriers of history and identity. Teresa Pekala says: The authenticity of it is limited to the existence of this, what was recalled. It is connected not with the content of the past, but rather with the acceptance of its traces, which means the acceptance of them disappearing, and appearing in a new space. Experiencing the time becomes experiencing the space, objects and their time. The heritage park in Kuligow is a new space for the past traces. It is a place, where they can testify about the past times. I appreciate this idea. It is extremely useful. It satisfies the human need to know the past and to connect with it. It evokes the feeling of unity and integrity. We can find out where we come from or how the life looked like some time ago. There are many social and spiritual aspects related to materiality. Pekala says: If there is a relation between the memory of the past and the experience of the space – motor, sensory, emotional and mental one – aesthetic experiences influence the process of
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remembering and creating the autobiographical memory. An aesthetic experience in a particular space may become an existential experience of time.
LITERATURE: Pekala Teresa, Czas miniony jako doswiadczenie przestrzeni, [in:] Czas przestrzeni, ed. K. Wilkoszewska, Cracow 2008. Shallcross Bozena, Dandys i zydowskie rupiecie, [in:] Rzeczy i zaglada, Cracow 2010.
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Reviewsfotograficzne. Dodatki Refleksje wizualne.
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Prof. Wojciech Jozef Burszta Department of Anthropology of Culture Institute of Culture and Communication University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw
The review of the research report ‘Private museums, local collections. Researching new cultural space’ prepared by Monika Maciejewska and Longin Graczyk I read the report on the research, which conducted between March and November 2012 in the area of 20 districts and 50 communes of Mazowieckie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie Provinces, with satisfaction. A well prepared and trained exploratory team, consisting only of women (Malgorzata Czyzewska, Malgorzata Jaszczolt, Joanna Kozera, Anna Kulikowska, Monika Samoraj, Ph D. Katarzyna Waszczynska, Ewa Nizinska, Agata Rybus) together with members of the Objects Anthropology and Museology Scientific Association run by the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw, did a great job. The research (quantitative, qualitative, active observation, photographic documentation, etc.) was conducted in 22 private museums and collections. 54 other museums and collections were researched with use of surveys and demographics. As a result we receive an interesting overview of a phenomenon of modern collecting, which has already become inherent in the cultural landscape in Poland. It refers to the so called provincial Poland (peripheral, local), but also smaller and bigger Polish cities. The array of museum-related activities is vast – from Museum of Sat-Okha Native North-American Indians (Wymyslow near Tuchola), Collection of Scales and Weights (Wloclawek) to Private Museum of the Polish Devil “Przedpiekle” (Warsaw), Bread Museum (Warsaw) and Museum of Palindromes (Nowa Wies). The full list can be found in the report. I just want to add that each of these places constitutes a separate story and deserves more detailed presentation! The researchers managed to present the broad context of motivations and reasons for museums’ and collections’ foundation, moreover, they managed to characterise the everyday life and social contexts of the navigators of the past (as the enthusiasts of collecting can be called). The book consists of two parts, however, the second part is mainly a summary and a list of major problems that arouse during the research (it includes also advise for future, because
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the research will be continued, and recommendations which are indispensable element of all reports prepared under MKiDN). Although the last part consists of only several pages, it is significant mainly because of the fact that analysis and descriptions from the part I show that it is highly problematic to classify and regulate such initiatives in the context of cultural policy in Poland, especially when it comes to museums. The first part of the report presents in an interesting way how complex the problem is. It is presented through descriptions of the social milieu of local museums and private collections in two provinces. We find there: portraits and basic information about the collections’ and private galleries’ founders, situating them in their community; characteristic of collectibles; information about forms and methods of exposing and space arrangement; many stories about how to make those specific mini-institutions function and how to win the audience. There is a specific narration in the report; there are two levels of the story – linear-descriptive and interpretative one, but they do not interfere. The research material is extensive. It shows that collectors and their problems connected with the social and cultural landscape are complex and unclear. It is an important report on social and individual awareness of Poles, who decided to take matters into their own hands and demonstrate their individuality through their activity, the aim of which is communication and manifestation of their own system of values and definitions of the culture. An important part is information about institutions which suspended their activity, got liquidated, or exist only in a virtual space, which shows that there is no guarantee that this dynamic phenomenon will develop. Legal regulations became a burning questions, and it is limited not only to administrative decisions concerning the situation when a collection is called an unofficial museum. It is not about names, but about improving the understanding of the society through rights given to individuals to express their passions outside official cultural institutions. As Zygmunt Bauman says, the state cannot be the dog in the manger in this case. You should carefully read the report and draw conclusions from recommendations which reflect what had already appeared in the research. Milanowek, 22 March 2013
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BIBLIOGRAPHY IN POLISH
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