Lending and borrowing of museum objects
The museum lends objects and archival material for exhibitions at museums and institutions at home and abroad. In 2021, the museum has lent objects to the Preus photo museum, the Haugaland museum and the Royal Collections. Some of the loans have included courier services and assistance with assembly. Lending cases have been limited in 2021 due to the need to direct internal resources towards the large exhibition projects Life and Death and I/O. The museum has also lent objects and art in connection with the exhibition Life and Death, as well as the collaborative project with the National Museum Sand in the Machine and Gerhard Munthe - Adventurous Interiors»
In total, the museum has around 60 active lending cases, and loans from 50 institutions and private individuals for several of our permanent and temporary exhibitions.
Photography
In 2021, the museum's photographer has particularly worked with object and collection photography related to the upcoming I/O exhibition and for the Life and Death exhibition. This has included images for marketing the exhibitions, content for Life and Death, as well as exhibition documentation and photography of events and ongoing individual assignments from colleagues . The exhibition At home with people with serious and long-term mental illness was loaned to the Randsfjord Museum in 2021. The National Medical Museum has visited the homes of people with serious and long-term mental illness to find out how they are doing . The exhibition shows photographs taken by the museum's photographer and stories from these visits.
Preservation
Conservation at the museum is linked to exhibition, lending and collection management work. In 2021, the focus has been particularly on the parts of the collections that are relevant to the upcoming exhibitions Life and Death and I/O. The main part of this work has taken place in the conservation workshop in the Klima2+ exhibition. This has made it possible for the public to follow the work on the objects as the exhibitions take shape.
In 2021, the curators have drawn up a written routine for IPM (Integrated Pest Management), as well as followed up on the work of surveying bearded dragons through examination of deployed traps around the museum. The follow-up involved carrying out the first part of an extensive beard clean-up at the museum carried out by Rentokil, as the mapping showed clear beard crean occurrences.
The heating chamber is also an important part of the 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 is constantly involved in the work with the measures described in the Security Plan with regard to RVR/evacuation, as well as fire protection and other security measures for magazines. The work on the museum's salvage plan for prioritized objects at Kjelsås was completed by the summer of 2021. Revision of the plan must be done after completion of the I/O exhibition in accordance with new floor plans in spring 2022. Corresponding evacuation plans must also be prepared and made for the warehouses at Gjerdrum and Fet.
In 2021, the museum's equipment and professionals have been leased to other museums and cultural heritage managers. The dry ice blasting system with object conservator has been used to clean statues in Bærum municipality. The facility and training have been leased to the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum for cleaning the heavy water cellar.
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 books. Incorporation of the Telemuseet's book collection into ALMA was completed during 2021. This has freed up capacity to start registering the extensive medical history book collection. The work to register and make this searchable in Oria will continue in 2022. Likewise, registration of the library's magazine collection of international periodicals into ALMA began towards the end of the year and will continue next year.
Archives
In 2021, the museum has registered five new - and an increase in previously registered - archives in ASTA. All the archives are published on the Archives portal. Of the new archives, textile designer Pia Bjørnstad's archive, Aktieselskapet Barbu's drawing archive and A/S HP Andresen & Co's mekaniske Verksted og Jernstøberi's archive can be mentioned. A larger addition to Tandbergs Radiofabrikk A/S will complete the museum's registered archives after this company.
A three-year registration work of the archive by engineer and aerospace specialist Erik Tandberg was completed in 2021. The data will be transferred to ASTA and eventually made available on the Archive Portal.
The work of registering archival material from the National Medical Museum has just begun. The professional group that has been set up to organize the medical collection work has supported proposals to hand over parts of the collection. Drawings from the Kysthospitalet in Tromsø have been handed over to the Norwegian Archives, Tromsø department. A response is awaited regarding the handing over of a larger patient record archive from the District Dental Clinic in Vikersund to Intermunicipal Archives Kongsberg. These deliveries will free up space for more central parts of the medical archive collection.
Collections from the former Telemuseet
Telehistoric objects play a central role in the upcoming exhibition I/O. Over 90 objects from the collection after the Telemuseet are being conserved and prepared for assembly.
From the former Telemuseum, a specialist library of approximately 6,400 volumes followed. The incorporation of this into the museum's library was completed in 2021, when data from the Telemuseum's book base in Tidemann was manually converted to the ALMA system. Of approximately 6,400 volumes, 3,500 have been incorporated into The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology and made searchable in Oria. The books have been moved from the magazine at Fet to Kjelsås. Many of the titles are unique in Norwegian libraries. This makes the museum's library a specialist library of older Norwegian and international telecommunications literature.
In Rørvik, the museum has about 300 telehistorical objects. Telenor has sold the building where the collections are located. The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology has therefore entered into an agreement with Museet Midt to transfer the objects to their warehouse. This was completed in October 2021.
Photo: Håkon Bergseth
Photo: Håkon Bergseth
Photo: Håkon Bergseth
Photo: Håkon Bergseth