The collections

2018

Collection management

Collection management aims to look after the cultural heritage for future generations and includes all activities and measures that ensure that the collections are looked after, documented and made available to the general public. The museum's collections today consist of more than 90,000 objects, 2.65 million photographs, 140,000 books and periodicals and 1,150 shelf meters of archive space.

The collection work in 2018 has, alongside the ongoing management work, been focused around the handover of the Telemuseet, intake of the technical-historical collection from NRK, management of the Medical Museum's collection, and digitization and making DEXTRA Photo available.

Transfer of the Telemuseet

The Telemuseet's collections were incorporated into The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology at the turn of 2018 through a business transfer. The collections consist of approximately 20,000 objects, 450,000 photographs, 400 shelf meters of archives as well as technical drawings, film, sound and other material. In addition, the museum took over a specialist library of 6,000 volumes, a collection of forms and advertisements and a large collection of props. The bulk of the Telemuseet's collections are registered and published on DigitaltMuseum. The collections are stored in a 2,500 m² mountain hall.

Four former Telemuseum employees were given positions at The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology . The museum's staff has therefore been strengthened with a conservator, department head for communications and marketing, a museum librarian, a collection employee and a dedicated object conservator for the collection.

The Telemuseet has operated an extensive regional operation with exhibitions and collections throughout the country. Rundemanen, the Bergen radio transmitting station with engine house from 1912, and the collections in Tromsø broadcasting station at Langnes, are the largest. A survey has been carried out of which obligations and agreements The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology has taken over in relation to the regional operation.

The Telemuseet and The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology have had the same registration system for objects, photographs, film and sound. The merger of the two bases was completed in 2018. The Telemuseet and The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology do not have the same library system, so a conversion from the Telemuseet's Tidemannbase to the Teknisk musum's ALMA will take place during the first half of 2019.

The round mane

5 A b Round man for 900 Rundemanen før og nå. Foto: Thomas Fjærtoft.

En del av arven etter Telemuseet er de to fredede byggene på Rundemanen, Bergen radio sendestasjon med maskinhus. Dette er The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technologys eneste antikvariske bygningskompleks. Sendestasjon og maskinhus ble restaurert utvendig i 2012 av Telemuseet i samarbeid med byantikvaren i Bergen. I 2018 startet innvendig restaurering og maling av fasade. I 2019 vil vi prøve å få til et formidlingstilbud, gjerne i samarbeid med Museum Vest.

Intake of NRK's technical-historical collections

In 2017, the museum entered into agreements with NRK on the transfer of objects and documentation from NRK's technical-historical collections. Microphones, TV cameras and other equipment show a media technical development of which NRK has been a central part. From October 2017 to September 2018, the museum took over approximately 1,300 objects and extensive archive material. In NRK's warehouse at Alnabru, the museum established a work line for selection, registration, condition assessment, treatment, photography and packaging of the objects. At the same time, NRK's staff and history group contributed valuable expertise. The objects were made available to the public through DigitaltMuseum, and the project was disseminated through radio, television, online articles, social media and lectures. The agreements with NRK also involve further cooperation related to their technical-historical collections.

Digitization of DEXTRA Photo

In 2018, the main focus in the management of the collection has been on two areas: further development and streamlining of the digitization and cataloging work and making it available at the DigitaltMuseum. The digitization work at the museum must combine the highest possible quality that does justice to the original material with resource-efficient production. In 2018, the museum has therefore invested in additional equipment that handles large volumes. Furthermore, the database work has been optimised. In 2018, the museum has advised other museums, had study visits and hosts in digitalisation.

In 2018, a total of 22,121 photographs from DEXTRA Photo were published at DigitaltMuseum. These have been downloaded in good resolution 3,525 times for free use.

DEXTRA Photo and the museum are one of four main partners in the book and research project Norwegian Photo History from 1940 to 2011. The project is supported by the Norwegian Culture Council and the Norwegian Photographers' Association. Both the object and photo collections in DEXTRA Photo will play a key role here with sub-projects linked to, among other things, image agencies and advertising photography. The project started in 2018 and will continue until 2021.

DEXTRA Photo is owned by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB and is deposited at the museum.

Management of the Medical Museum's collections

One of the most important tasks for the museum is to collect and look after health and medical historical artefacts, photographs, books and archives.

In 2018, these collection projects have been ongoing:

Conservation and cataloging of human material in the museum's collections.
Registration of and acquisition of documentation on the University's surgical instrument collection - a collection of around 2,000 individual objects from the 19th century. Work on this collection will continue in 2019, and will be carried out in collaboration with the University of Oslo and other institutions that own or have worked on parts of the collection.
Review and cataloging of photographs from the Rikshospitalet in collaboration with retired senior obstetrician Per Børdahl.
The private archives of Harald Natvig and Aase Marit Olsen have been arranged, cataloged in the museum's internal system Asta and published on the Archive Portal.

Collection work

Samlingene ved museet skal være tilgjengelige både for bruk og formidling i museet og for allmennheten generelt til forskning og formidling. DigitaltMuseum utgjør museets viktigste publiseringskanal for samlingene og museet publiserer registreringsdata og fotografier med så åpne rettigheter som mulig for å sikre størst mulig bruk. Ved utgangen av 2018 er 33.767 gjenstander og 67.116 fotografier tilgjengelige på DigitaltMuseum. Fotografier fra Oslo er også tilgjengelige på nettstedet www.oslobilder.no.

The museum uses central joint services within collection management, such as the websites kulturnav.org, digitaltmuseum.no, oslobilder.no and the Primus database. In 2018, the museum prepared common guidelines for the use of Primus, increased use of accessions in accordance with recommended standards from the collection management system SPECTRUM and KulturNav. KulturNav is a website for creating, managing and sharing common open terminology and authorities for use in the collection database Primus. The museum has permanent responsibility for two authority registers. These are: the personal register Persons Industrial History and the organizational register Industrial Companies. In addition, the museum has been responsible for the organizational register of photography companies in 2018.

Audio and video will be available

In 2018, the National Library was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture to prepare a plan for the digitization of film and audio material in Norwegian museum collections. We have worked closely with the library as a pilot institution in the actual mapping work and in 2019 the museum will be a pilot for the digitization itself.

The museum has collected sound and film material from the 1920s until today both as examples of various techniques and technologies and because of the content. The material collected as technological examples is incorporated into the artefact collection, while the documentary material is incorporated into the archives. This has led to different registration practices and storage conditions. There is an extensive backlog in the registrations of film and sound and little material has been digitised.

Lending and borrowing of museum objects

Museet låner ut gjenstander og arkivalia til utstillinger ved museer i inn- og utland. I 2018 har museet lånt ut gjenstander til blant annet Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo Museum, Frammuseet, KRIPOS, Universitetet i Oslo, Jeløy Radio, Jernbanemuseet, Justervesenet, Moss By- og Industrimuseum, NVE, Ringve Museum, Norsk Vegmuseum, Norsk Hermetikkmuseum, Sporveismuseet, NRK, Norsk Luftfartsmuseum, Spillum Dampsag og høvleri, Sørvågen telegrafstasjon, Jødiske Museum og Arithmeum i Bonn, Tyskland, Tele- og losmuseet i Lødingen. Enkelte av utlånene har også innbefattet kurérvirksomhet og bistand med montering. Totalt har museet 55 aktive utlånsaker til andre institusjoner.

Library

The library contains one of Norway's largest collections of technology and industrial history literature, in addition to an extensive collection of medical history and science history literature. The library has 140,000 registered volumes of books and periodicals.

Preservation

The conservation measures at the museum are linked to the exhibition, loan and collection management work and priorities are made based on the state of preservation. The climate in all magazines and showrooms is logged and objects are exhibited in climate-controlled stands where necessary.

In 2018, the museum acquired a mobile heating chamber for insect remediation. Objects will be heated to a sufficiently high temperature to kill live insects, larvae, pupae and eggs. At the same time, the chamber will automatically regulate the relative humidity (RH%) so that damage to the objects is avoided. The heating chamber is based on a 30-foot container for easy transport and is the largest mobile facility of its kind in Norway. The facility can be rented out to other museums.

Key figures for the collection work

Year	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014
Number of items estimated	91 611	60 000	60 000	60 000	60 000
Reg items in Primus	76 611	49 560	48 768	47 782	45 509
Reg. items current year	27 051	792	986	2 273	276
Published items DigitaltMuseum	33 767	16 148	15 862	15 810	12 596
Number of photographs (estimate)	2 650 000	2 200 000	2 200 000	2 200 000	2 200 000
Reg. photo in Primus/photo station	160 302	102 654	74 256	68 542	64 807
Reg. photo current year	57 648	28 398	5 714	3 735	1 666
Published photographs DigitaltMuseum	67 116	43 090	42 140	24 772	19 621
Number of archives	478	128	126	_	_
Registered archives in Asta	391	25	23	_	_
Registered archives in the current year	366	2	_	_	_
Published archives on the Archive Portal	31	15	11	_	_