Brandenburg Museum Association

The Museum Association of the State of Brandenburg e. V. (short: MVB ) is the professional association for the museums of the state of Brandenburg and the oldest of its kind in Germany. He advises and supports the museums of the state of Brandenburg regardless of their sponsorship. This takes place, among other things, through support in conceptual design and digitization, regular further education events and basic courses, network formation and support, funding acquisition and public relations. The association also carries out its own research projects. He represents the Brandenburg museums in the state of Brandenburg and in the German Museum Association .

The association is a registered association and has an office in Potsdam. It is institutionally funded by the Brandenburg Ministry for Science, Research and Culture.

history

The Brandenburg Museum Association is the oldest of its kind in Germany. It was founded on September 29, 1912 by 18 museum directors from the Brandenburg province in the Berlin restaurant "Zum Franziskaner". The renowned Eberswalde local history researcher and museum director Rudolf Schmidt called for the founding of the association.

In the Weimar Republic, the "Association of Brandenburg Museums" managed to do regular work, which contributed to the qualification of museum work. Half-yearly meetings included visits and specialist lectures and enabled a network of 20 to 30 museums in the province of Brandenburg. At that time there were about 50 museums there. Central issues of this time were a uniform collection activity and maintenance as well as methods of the exhibition. The first concepts of modern mediation work were also discussed. Georg Mirow, director of the Lebus District Museum in Müncheberg, stood out in particular in maintaining the collection. As early as 1921 he developed his own collection system based on a total of eight categories for Müncheberg, thus following modern approaches to museum work.

During the time of National Socialism, the Association of Brandenburg Museums was transformed into a state-controlled museum maintenance system as a result of the coordination. From March 1936 museum caretakers were deployed in the German provinces, and in November Oskar Karpa was appointed to this post for the province of Brandenburg. Then began a strong financial support of the local museums; The extent to which the ideology of the National Socialists shaped newly conceived exhibitions has not been clearly passed on or researched.

In the GDR, museum work was professionalized in the area. While there were mainly local museums in the 1920s, a more differentiated museum landscape has now developed in Brandenburg. The museum system was largely built up by Heinz Arno Knorr . The collection system developed by him still partly shapes the inventory of (smaller) Brandenburg museums today . At the same time, he designed a three-tier hierarchy for the museum landscape. Each district received its own district museum (Category I), which in turn advised subordinate district (Category II) and local museums as well as other museums (Category III). In terms of content, the museums followed political and ideological guidelines, but in the course of time there was also room for maneuver, e.g. B. for regionally significant topics and stories. Nonetheless, the focus on the history of the labor movement led to numerous thematic re-profiling such as agricultural or industrial museums.

After reunification, the (renewed) founding meeting of the Brandenburg Museum Association took place on July 30, 1990 in what was then the Potsdam District Culture Academy. In 1995 the association moved into an office in Lindstedt Palace in Potsdam. Since April 2007 the office has been located at its current location at Potsdamer Bassinplatz .

Membership in the museum association is not intended exclusively for museums, but also for private individuals who feel closely connected to the Brandenburg museum landscape, either professionally or personally.

activities

The Museum Association of the State of Brandenburg eV advises and supports museums in the State of Brandenburg in a variety of ways. In addition to individual advice for corporate members, the museum association organizes regular further training courses in museums, which take place annually on a specific topic. In addition, there are annual summer courses at changing locations that teach the basics of museum studies. In addition, an autumn conference takes place every year with a focus on content and an annual meeting at different locations.

The museum association has an umbrella license for the inventory software FirstRumos . Partner museums can purchase a discounted license and receive support from the association in their work.

Networks

The Museum Association of the State of Brandenburg eV oversees several networks on various topics as well as various regional groups for individual districts.

The following networks currently exist:

AG technology museums
AG Contemporary History in Potsdam
Working group GDR history in the museum
AG Brandenburg museums digital

digitalization

The advisory activities in this area include:

Selection of software for collection acquisition and collection management
Planning and implementation of the computerized inventory
Object photography
Online presentation of museum objects on portals (museum-digital, DDB etc.)
Copyright and usage rights
Digitization and exhibiting
Digitization and research
Digitization and participation
Social media channels
Conception of digitization projects and funding opportunities

Projects

The museum association carries out its own projects independently. These are financed by external funding.

digitalization

In addition to advising and supporting the digitization of stocks, the association also carries out its own projects. Four themed portals have been created on Museum-digital since 2013 , most recently via Brandenburg photographers in 2018.

Provenance research

The association also does justice to the increasing importance of provenance research with its own research focus. In addition to the processing of Nazi-contaminated objects in Brandenburg collections, there is a focus on objects with questionable GDR provenance. The "first checks" in the collections designed by the museum association have meanwhile established themselves as the "Brandenburg model" in GDR provenance research.

Statistical surveys

In the course of time, two comprehensive statistical surveys of the Brandenburg museum landscape have been made. Based on targeted questions from all areas of a museum, not only the current situation should be determined, but also acute and perspective key areas of action for the interests of the museums should be worked out. The last survey of this type was completed in 2017. The results are continuously processed and presented at regional conferences for individual districts in order to bring museums, their sponsors and the districts into discussion.

Research / exhibit

In addition to the above practically oriented projects, the museum association is also researching its own and the museum history of the State of Brandenburg. In addition, exhibitions are sometimes designed and implemented, e.g. B. the centenary exhibition for the 100th anniversary of the association 2012/2013 with exemplary objects from Brandenburg collections in the Archaeological State Museum Brandenburg .

Publications

The "Museum Blätter. Mitteilungen des Museumsverband Brandenburg" appear twice a year. These were first published regularly from 1916 onwards. The "Blätter" deal with a wide variety of content and methodological topics relating to museum work in the country. In addition to contributions from employees of the association, they also contain - depending on the topic - guest contributions from museum employees.

The association also designs brochures, maps and catalogs in close cooperation with the relevant museums. Most recently, a brochure with educational offers from Brandenburg technical museums was produced.