Collections 2020

The collections

2020

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 collections must be available for use and dissemination in the museum, and for the general public in general for research and dissemination.

The museum's collections today consist of more than 90,000 objects, 2.65 million photographs, 14,000 books and periodicals and 1,670 shelf meters of archive. The collection work in 2020 has, alongside the ongoing management work, been focused around the revision of the Medical Museum's collection and the museum's collection of objects related to the ICT field in connection with upcoming exhibitions, as well as the digitization and making available of DEXTRA Photo.

In 2020, a total of 58 objects and four paper and photo archives have been taken in. The intake is largely linked to ICT and medicine. 479 objects and 38,221 photographs have been registered in the museum's databases.

DigitaltMuseum is the museum's most important publication channel for the collections, where registration data and photographs are published with as open rights as possible to provide the greatest possible use. At the end of 2020, 35,045 objects and 82,803 photographs are available at DigitaltMuseum. Photographs from Oslo are also available on the website www.oslobilder.no . The museum uses central shared services within collection management, such as the websites kulturnav.org, digitaltmuseum.no, oslobilder.no and the database Primus. The museum has permanent responsibility for two authority registers in KulturNAV. These are the personal register Persons Industrial History and the organizational register Industrial Companies. In addition, the museum, together with Preus and Folkemuseet, has taken responsibility for following up the Photographers' Register.

Intake of O.Væring's photo collection

In 2019, with support from the Sparebankstiftelsen, the museum bought a collection of photographs by O. Væring. The around 3,000 images are photographs of architecture and urban environments, taken from around 1900 to the 1960s, and form an important supplement to the museum's collection from the architectural photographer Teigen's photo studio.

The material has begun to be repackaged in 2020 and the digitization and registration will be carried out in the first half of 2021.

Digitization of DEXTRA Photo

In 2020, the digitization of the DEXTRA Photo collection has accelerated. In 2020, 17,879 photographs have been digitised, registered and published. As of 2020, a total of 40,000 photographs from DEXTRA Photo had been published at Digitalt Museum. These have been downloaded in good resolution 6,854 times for free use.

The digitization work at the museum must combine the highest possible quality that does justice to the original material with resource-efficient production. In 2020, the museum has therefore invested in additional equipment that handles large volumes. The museum has been an adviser to other museums, had study visits and hosts in digitalisation, although this has been somewhat limited due to covid-19.

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

Management of the Medical Museum's collections

Work on the registration and conservation of human remains in the museum's collections has continued since last year.

Students on the conservation study at UiO have used the exhibition Sunn Sjel as a case study in a subject related to the control of the environment, climate and risk management in museum exhibitions.

The exhibitions Sunn Sjel and Blind Spot have been dismantled, and the objects have been revised and stored.

The selection of objects for the new medicine exhibition Life and Death has been continuously revised and conserved during the year, and the assembly work has been planned and started.

Collections from the former Telemuseet

The Telemuseet's collections were incorporated into The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology through a business transfer at the turn of 2018. The Bergen Radio transmitting station is listed and is part of this heritage.

The transmitting station of Bergen radio is located on Rundemanen, about an hour's walk from Fløyen. The museum is committed to communicating the history of Bergen radio, Rundemanen, in and around the transmitting station.
In June 2019, the museum had a positive meeting with Museum Vest in Bergen, about communication work for the transmitting station. Museum Vest and The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology aim to write a letter of intent in January 2021, after a response to the application for connection to water and sewage.

The fact that the radio station is located in the catchment area for Bergen's drinking water sources means that there are very strict rules for connection to water and sewage. This is a prerequisite for visits by school classes and in 2019 work was carried out to investigate drilling for water and tailoring a closed system for a septic tank. The county conservator is positive about this. The application was sent to the municipality in early 2020, but it has to go through many departments in the municipality, now it is being processed in the last instance, which is the building case department in Planning and Building. A response is expected during January 2021.

From the former Telemuseet, it came with a specialist library of 6,000 volumes. In 2020, the museum's librarians manually reviewed and converted 3,500 records/books from the Telemuseet's book database in Tidemann to The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology 's ALMA, as automated conversion between these systems was difficult. All books that are moved from the Telemuseet's magazine at Fet to the premises at Kjelsås are treated in a heat chamber for insect disinfection. Through this addition, The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology 's library is provided with a significant telehistory collection - many of the books are the only copies in Norway - and has become a specialist library in the field. Surplus books that are not found in the National Library are sent to Mo i Rana.

Collection work

Lending and borrowing of museum objects

The museum lends objects and archival material for exhibitions at museums and institutions at home and abroad. In 2020, the museum has loaned a total of 18 objects to the National Museum, the Museum of Cultural History, the Grini Museum, the Road Museum and Trafo Kunsthall. The loans to the National Museum are objects that will be exhibited in the new National Museum when it opens. Some of the loans have included courier services and assistance with assembly.

In total, the museum has 60 active lending cases.

We have borrowed objects from approximately 50 institutions and private individuals for several of our permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Digitization of sound and film

In 2018, the National Library was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture to prepare a plan for the digitization of film and sound material in Norwegian museum collections. In 2019, NTM worked closely with the National Library as a pilot institution in the mapping work, and supplied audio material for digitisation. In 2020, the museum sent away all film and video material, a total of 22 pallets with 14,003 units that amounted to 4.7 tonnes of audiovisual cultural heritage. It will probably take the National Library in Mo i Rana several years to digitize all the material.

Preservation

Conservation at the museum is linked to exhibition, lending and collection management work. In 2020, the focus has been particularly on the parts of the collections that are relevant for upcoming exhibitions, surface treatment of the arc furnace and preliminary project for the conservation of the Lohner Porsche.

The climate in all magazines and showrooms is logged and objects are exhibited in climate-controlled stands where necessary.

In 2020, the art conservators continued their work on implementing IPM (Integrated Pest Management) at the museum. Traps have been placed around the museum specifically aimed at surveying bearded dragons. The heating chamber is an important part of work to combat insects in the collections. The chamber has also been used by the Library when taking in archives, and moving the book collection from Fet, as well as when purchasing packaging material.

The collection group has been actively involved in the work with measures described in the Security Plan with a view to RVR/evacuation, as well as fire protection and other security measures for magazines.

In 2020, the museum's equipment and professionals have been leased to other museums and cultural heritage managers. The dry ice blasting facility with artefact conservator has been used to clean statues in Bærum municipality, while capacity in the heating chamber has been leased to other museums. In addition, one of the museum's artefact conservators has assisted the National Museum in connection with mounting a new exhibition.

In 2020, a new aspiration system and new roof drains were installed in the old hall of the museum's remote warehouse in Gjerdrum. In this connection, a number of objects that are normally locked were made temporarily accessible through relocation. 350 objects that lacked a photograph and location were given a registered location and simple documentation photos in Primus. In addition, around 50 objects were repackaged for later easier transport and older pallets were replaced. The work took place with support from Ask Industrimontage, Operations and staff from Learning Department .

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, telecommunications and science history literature. The book collection has grown by around 3,000 volumes and now amounts to 148,000 volumes.

From autumn 2020, the library has adopted the new international cataloging standard RDA, which from the same time applies to all libraries that use the ALMA system.

In 2020, the museum's photographer has particularly worked with object and collection photography related to new exhibitions for the history of health and medicine and the upcoming ICT exhibition.

Key figures for the collection work

Year	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Number of items estimated	91 701	91 643	91 611	60 000	60 000	60 000
Reg items in Primus	77 385	76 906	76 611	49 560	48 768	47 782
Reg. items current year	479	295	27 051	792	986	2 273
Published items Digital Museum	35 039	34 548	33 767	16 148	15 862	15 810
Number of photographs (estimate)	2 674 450	2 653 000	2 650 000	2 200 000	2 200 000	2 200 000
Reg. photo in Primus and Fotostation	199 523	161 302	160 302	102 654	74 256	68 542
Reg. photo current year	38 221	1 000	57 648	28 398	5 714	3 735
Published photographs DigitaltMuseum	82 803	67 608	67 116	43 090	42 140	24 772
Number of archives	482	480	478	128	126	–
Registered archives in Asta	408	405	391	25	23	–
Registered archives in the current year	3	14	366	2	–	–
Published archives on the archive portal	75	45	31	15	11	–