WAT TTT Documentation oystems RB.Light DARoberts ANIC PlaIX HUNGARYChapter 27 The history of Hungarian museum documentation, its present application and future aspects Istvan Eri and Tamas Bezeczky Introduction Efforts to standardize and centralize the coordination of museums in Hungary started in the 1890s. The formulation of the principles and their practical application in all aspects of museums began in the period before the First World War. The problems of documentation, recording and inventory were also discussed. Since the Central Advisory Board of Museums and Libraries was authorized only to give recommendations and. to suggest different methods, the results were rather rare. An investigation into documentation and recording methods showed that there were about 28 kinds of inventory and documentation system throughout the country. Most of them were used for the purpose of administration with very little or no technical or scientific information. At the same time, there were about half a million museum objects with no data given about them. ‘Standard documentation system The first Hungarian collections containing objects of cultural value were established in the 15th century, during the reign of King Matthias. In later centuries, remarkable collections were gathered by members of the aristocracy and certain scholars, but these were often plundered or destroyed during the frequent wars. ‘The National Museum was founded by Ferenc Széchenyi in 1802, using his own collections as a basis. In the second half of the century, it included archaeology, ethnography and natural history departments and 2 library. A coin catalogue was produced in 1808 and the first inventory completed 1820, both in Latin, From 1846 to 1926, a uniform inventory was used, in which were noted details such as registration number, date and method of acquisition, object name, physical description, collection place, number of items and price (Figure 27.1). In 1926, this style of inventory was replaced 27278 by specific inventory volumes for numnismatics, archaeology and history. This work within the National Museum formed one of the bases for the more general development of documentation in all Hungarian museums. rs . wr Ce M0 1 beaten ein dys pea tal cinta ite atiarcee nite ents este : atau ee opt 4 aad oe ie Lathe picasa | Bayt) Se eed : a UR aseksSeeee streamer Figure 27.1 page from the archaeological inventory, National Museum, 1910 The fact that the Office Internationale des Musées (OIM) recommended the introduction of a standard museum inventory system in 1927 was very well known among the Hungarian experts (see Chapter 30). Hungarian scientists participated in the discussion over this topic in the journal of the ues of Mouseion in 1928). E, Petrovics from the Muscum of Fine Arts and Gy. Vegh from the Museum of Applied Arts published their mainly sceptical opinions on this subject. More importantly, a young Hungarian ethnographer, J. Honti (1910-1945), took part between 1937-1939 in the Central Office of the OIM in Paris in developing the recommendations in29 connection with the standard inventory system. In view of the concern with this problem in the Hungarian scientific world, and because the successor of the OIM, ICOM, mentioned this subject in the first general meeting in 1948, scientists in Hungary started in 1949 to introduce a standard Hungarian inventory system, based on the recommendation of ICOM. The introduction and realization of unified and obligatory rules needed more than the agreement of the members. There had to be binding instructions and an executive body, and the statute 13/1949 concerning the museums and monuments offered the well balanced legal principles for it The basic aspect of the modern, social oriented law is, that any kind of object of museal value represents a part of the national heritage, regardless of ownership. Their recording is necessary as part of a scientific inventory. A new body, the Central Office for the Museums and Monuments, founded in the same year, was responsible for the compilation and realization of the standardized forms of documentation. In a relatively short time the new inventory system was worked out and came into force on the Ist of January 1950. From this time on, we can speak about a standard documentation system for Hungarian museums. ‘The main points of the standard inventory system are: it refers to every museum in Hungary without consideration of its funding body: it encompasses every museum object which is under the protection of the cultural policy, as a single object or as a collection. IF it is part of a public collection (e.g. church collection or other associations’ collection), the inventorying of these subjects is the task of experts from specially designated museums: the inventory system consists basically of the individual identification of the objects and the recording of their data. For this purpose there is a standardized special inventory book in the form of cards with headings and for recording of more information a so-called ‘research description ear: all printed papers in connection with this task were issued centrally and expenses arising from visits to museums without qualified experts were paid from central finances, as well as other administrative issues; by entering the data from former inventory books with insufficient information, and adding technical definitions, a great part of the country’s museum objects were taken gradually into the inventory, and objects not yet taken into the inventory were recorded; asa future aim, establishing a data bank for the research description cards was discussed ‘in different technical centres (archaeology: Hungarian National Museum; fine arts: Museum for Fine Arts, et.) ‘The description of the standard museum documentation system (as an annex to the museum law) is given in the form of an instruction of the Minister of Culture. The current version of the inventory procedure is given as an annex to the updated museum law 9/1963. The system incorporates the use ofa diary, inventory and catalogue cards. The diary of acquisitions is concerned with objects that have not been incorporated into the formal inventory. It can include information about the280 acquisition and the object and a reference to the pr number. This information then forms the basis for the inventory entry. At the beginning, a general inventory book was planned for the purpose of the fundamental inventorying of every kind of museum object. The book had 18 headings and it seemed that it was sufficient to contain all the information regarding the technical-scientifie and the proprietory economical aspects. However, with the exception of museums containing smaller collections (2000-3000 items), this system did not find a widespread usage. The large national museums (National Museum, Museum for Fine Arts, etc.) with different specialized collections already had inventory and storage systems. They wished to preserve their procedures for recording special technical aspects in the revised inventory system. Therefore, they developed certain differing types of inventory books. So in the large museums several inventories existed simultaneously according to the profile of the collections. Since the curators and experts were responsible for the maintenance of their collections according to those inventory books, they continued their practice without taking into consideration a centralized inventory system. These special inventory books were also used by local museums with heterogeneous collections. Beside the general inventory book, there are 11 specialized books with 11-16 headings: natural science (for animals, minerals, plants and fossils), anthropology, archaeology, archaco-zoology, numismatics, ethnography. fine 1s, applied arts, historical objects, literature, and industrial history. The headings in these books are illustrated in Figure 27, In addition to the inventory, a catalogue card may be prepared with full details about the object, including a drawing or photograph. jonal inventory Growth of collections This practice very much helped the new obligatory inventory tendencies and the taking into inventory of the rapidly growing material of museum ns. In 1950 there were one and a half to two million individually registered objects in Hungarian museums. In 1980 the number was eight million. Each year about 200.000 museum objects are registered, This ‘amount of work pressed very hard on the museum experts as they alone were allowed to make an entry in an inventory, and the drafting of the deseription cards was their task The inundation of the large muscums (archaeology in the Hungarian National Muscum, ethnography in the Ethnographical Museum, ete.) hampered the processing of the material. The data storage system of the 1950s was, anyway, outdated (the library catalogues were used as models), so the idea of a central data bank could not be realized. Development of the system The tardiness of the revised, but still not entirely standardized, museum documentation system hindered the efforts to use it for purposes of scientific research. During the mid 1960s museum experts started to reconsider the281 Figure 27.2 Content of general and special inventory books form of the records. The subjects of their experiments were closed collection units, The need for improvement of the methods of data storage and processing and of the technical conditions on the one side, and the demand for greater information on the other, made it essential to introduce computer processing ‘of museum records (Bén, 1980; Bezeczky, 1980; Eri, 1971). In order to realize this aim, the Institute for Conservation and Methodology of Museums compiled a long-term plan which allowed its gradual introduction. A basic concept of this plan was the use of all the advantages of the documentation efforts which were made 30 years ago. A completely new inventory system had to be avoided. The numbering systtm used in the282 inventory of the museum objects could serve as a basis for computer processing. This numbering system was made up of year of recording, the number of items each year, additional serial number, and identifica number (for differentiation of objects from collection units). The application of pre-numbers was also necessary: comprising the identification numbers of ‘museums and the numbers for the collection in the museums. We recommended the re-introduction of standard museum inventory books, which are able to collect all the data given for the individual museum objects, within 22 headings. With the help of formal changes the problems of the computerized data processing of the inventory entries and the reproduction of the inventory in the data bank can be solved. The headings in the inventory are: identification data inventory number category number of the objects number of pieces dimensions name of the recorder accession data method of acquisition place of origin date of acquisition price and number of receipt name of collector, vendor or donor remarks scientific parameters scientific description age or date of origin site of production or use museum procedure data state of the object method of conservation conservation document number photo archive number archive number storage control remarks (data) Parallel with the gradual introduction of the revised inventory system in the museums, the establishment of a central data bank can be started. Potential improvements include: offering of improved facilites to experts (such as the ability to treat entire collection units); the introduction of certain terminological rules for free texts; establishing local data banks of small capacity while ensuring their283 Priority must be given to large-scale scientific works (edition of collection catalogues, publishing of archacological and ethnographical topographies). Last but not least, consideration must be given to a close connection with international practice, assuring the possibility of adaptation and connections to international systems. The last modification of the Hungarian museum statute — 19/1981 — offers a possibility for the realization of these plans. It contains the changes in the instructions.