A gyűjtemény leírása
With just under 1000 pieces, the Hunting and Gathering Collection forms one of the smallest units among the museum's collections. The artefacts it comprises deal with three traditional activities: gathering, beekeeping, and hunting.
Over the past 130 years growth of the collection has been sporadic, with additions made sometimes intuitively, sometimes in planned fashion, and sometimes even routinely. During the period prior to 1914, artefacts were often acquired by chance. The collection's first five pieces were bark containers acquired by János Xántus during his work in the Transylvanian territory around Borszék in Csík County in 1892. The collection also includes 20 artefacts added by János Jankó, the first of which is a lovely powder horn made of deer antler, and 10 pieces acquired by Ottó Herman. During the period of its conception, the foundations of the collection were set by János Xántus, Flóris Rómer, and Ottó Herman, whose work was later carried on by various employees of the Department of Ethnography. The museum also purchased some of the material using funds donated annually by patrons of the museum, or acquired objects from private contributors. Work on the collection subsided considerably during the period from 1914 until the mid-1930's, when a total of only 50 items were added.
Between 1934 and 1943, however, the collection grew by a healthier 115 pieces. A pamphlet on the collection written in 1939 by Béla Gunda did much to familiarize the public with the previously neglected hunting and gathering material, emphasizing themes within the collection that had received less than adequate attention and discussing the role of hunting and agricultural gathering to the economy of the time. The hunting implements collected by Gunda for the museum were displayed at the International Hunting Exhibition held in Berlin in 1937. Also during this period, the Ethnological Documentation Department published a reference on apiculture (beekeeping), written by Sándor Gönyey. Between 1948 and 1970, work on the collection was done more systematically, resulting in the addition of 302 pieces. Exemplary work was done by Balázs Molnár and Tamás Hofer, who aimed at a more complete understanding of the subject, reflected in the complete sets of objects collected. Their research, conducted in the town of Komádi in Bihar County, did much to spur interest in the implements of traditional beekeeping in Hungary, such as that shown by Géza Csernák and Marietta Boross. Work on the collection today is less intense, as lifestyles change and the tools of this somewhat archaic trade have become obsolete. Nonetheless, the collection is still open to documentation of newly fashionable activities, such as the gathering and use of herbs and other natural ingredients.
The material of the collection breaks down as follows: gathering 8-9% (bark containers, implements used in gathering flowers, etc.), beekeeping 25-26% (beehives and beekeeping tools), hunting 65-66% (powder horns, lead shot containers, various bird and small mammal traps, etc.).
The curator of the collection is Dr. Magdolna Szabó.