Granì (Jul 2017)

Museum documentation on museum objects in the context of scientific studies: examples of different storage groups, rarities of rituals and daily life of the Jewish community in Ukraine in 19-20 centuries in the collection of NMHU

  • T. O. Kutsaeva

DOI
https://doi.org/10.15421/171763
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 4(144)
pp. 69 – 75

Abstract

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Issues, met by scientists during the process of research on museum documentation (inventory cards, scientific and standardized passports, cards of catalogues) on museum objects, related to themes «History of Ukraine in the 20th century» and «Rites and everyday life of the Jewish community in Ukraine in 19-20 centuries», have been studied in the article. Consideration of the abovementioned situations allowed describing the museum documentation as phenomena which has to evolve together with the access to information in the 21st century. It has been emphasized that due to the modernization (transformation of inventory cards into the format of scientific and standardized passports, review of ideological clichés and correction of erroneous information in these documents, additional attribution and (re)attribution of exhibits), even better use of museum collections will be provided with minimal time expenditures. Gathering of accurate information about historic attractions will be continued. The accent of the research is the necessity of museum workers’ training (researches and employees of museum funds) within the non-formal education by means of museum’s internal resources. The purpose and relevance of the research has been defined by the given thesis. By generalizations of historiography, it has been found that the suggested topic, including awareness of the obsolescence by museum community (extreme ideological stance, emptiness, falsity) of certain blocks of museum documentation and the criteria of their systematic and complete replacements have not been subjects of the discussion in the museum field yet. In order to expand the research, the list of required types of museum documentation - inventory cards, scientific and standardized passports, catalogs, descriptions, а systematic card index, has been created. It has been determined that the actual museum legislation never uses the word «revision» and uses the word «correction» only in exceptional cases. It has been generalized that a cards of the catalogue, a meaningful source of information about museum objects, is not required, and there are no requirements for its formation. It has been additionally determined that the inventory cards, directories and additional descriptions, stacked on their base before 2000 year, can form now that «confusing» heritage of the Soviet museum sphere, which is referred to by contemporaries. So, taking into account the fact that a huge part of the exhibits were registered at the time of the USSR, the information, which was available 30-50 years ago, is outdated now. Thus, the inventory cards and cards of catalogues, compiled before 2000 year, have been chosen as a subject of the research. Such possible problems of some blocks of museum documentation as extreme ideological stance, emptiness, falsity, lack of emphasis on the uniqueness of the individual exhibits, incomplete attribution and others, have been identified at the study.

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