This consists of three main collection units: one concerning the history of the museum, another handling museum documentation, and a third being the Records Office. It has the task of recording and processing in an up-to-date manner all the collections of the museum and the source documents relating to the increase of art objects, i.e. the Accession Register can be found here. It helps researchers to see in full the data of origin of the elements that are connected in a full bequest.
The collection unit concerning the museum history
Its task is to ensure the fullest possible documentation basis for the scientific classification of the history of the PLM and for other activity connected to literature and museology conducted in the affiliated institutes, as well as in other places in Hungary and abroad. It collects, systematizes and processes documents concerning the museum’s history which refer to the period from its establishment in 1954 to its renovation in 2000. It contains some 25,000 lots: hand-written and typed correspondence, exhibition scripts, installation plans, visitors’ books, reportage photographs, press cuttings, professional bequests of former colleagues, scripts of events and theatre performances, publication designs, documentation of the listed building, documents concerning the establishment and operation of provincial literary memorial places, and documents concerning exhibitions held abroad or received from elsewhere.
Collection unit of museum documentation
This is a collecting place of documents, traditional and digital picture files and audiovisual files from after the renovation in 2000. It archives the operation of the museum – exhibitions, events and information about museum education and affiliated institutes. It is primarily aimed at assisting museum specialists (writing tender applications, data of loaned and exhibited artworks, professional materials of earlier exhibitions, projects and publications) and it can also serve as a source basis for academic research about the theory and practice of literary museology. The museum’s activities have significantly changed since 2000. The Documentation Department collects the professional materials of organisational units which do not hold highly valuable museum pieces, do not have a record system, yet continuously ‘produce’ a large amount of digitized stock (photo laboratory, exhibition group, PR and Marketing Department, museum education and affiliated institutes). The digital data stock has skyrocketed, new media have appeared, and exhibitions use interactive IT and smart phone apps. It present a new challenge for the Data Collection with regard to archive data.
Records Office
This is an invaluable collection of historical documents. It provides information about the organisational changes in the museum and the origin and history of individual objects of art. It is extremely fortunate that the in-office correspondence filing is available going back to the establishment of the PLM. Due to the themes and writers of the letters, the files contain data of literary and cultural historical significance about the world of public collections and the participants of cultural life in the second half of the 20th century. The compilation of records in the Károlyi Archive situated in the mansion can be researched using the registering system and log books with the cooperation of the office, given advance notice.
Press review
The up-to-date press review in the data base can be accessed in the Museum Documentation Collection. It primarily supports public education and marketing, as well as writing applications for tender. It also reflects on the presence of the museum in various media. This unit of the collection can be accessed with the help of our colleagues.
Contact: E-mail: adattarikutato@pim.hu, Telephone: + 36 1 317 3611 / 124
