The Purpose and Scope of the Ethnographic Collection
The Ethnographic Collection focuses on preserving objects and tools of traditional peasant lifestyles, agriculture, clothing, folk customs, beliefs, and cultural heritage in Zala County, particularly in Göcsej. In addition to peasant culture, it also explores the lifestyles of craftsmen, industrial workers, shepherds, and the lesser nobility of Zala. The transformations of 20th-century Hungarian society, including the decline of the peasant lifestyle, necessitate expanding the collection’s timeline from the 18th to the early 20th century to the present. Due to the spread of industrial products, the collection now includes mass-produced items alongside handcrafted and homemade artifacts.
The Historical Foundations of the Ethnographic Collection
The Göcsej Museum’s Ethnographic Collection, established in 1950, was created by the ethnographer-director Imre Szentmihályi, a passionate and knowledgeable researcher. The collection’s foundation included around 400 artifacts from the Göcsej Collection, established in 1935 and largely destroyed during World War II, as well as items, photographs, and folklore texts collected by the Zala Regional Research Working Group led by István Fülöp.
Imre Szentmihályi’s Collecting Work
Photographs taken during Imre Szentmihályi’s early fieldwork show his deliberate preparation for the construction of the Göcsej Open-Air Museum, showcasing the region’s wooden architecture. This goal influenced his collecting activities, making furniture, household and agricultural tools, and textiles displayed in interiors a defining part of the museum’s ethnographic material. Our carved mangling boards form a nationally significant collection exhibited multiple times. Tools from workshops of various craftspeople (e.g., gingerbread makers, coopers, carpenters, blue dyers, hatters, and rope makers) further enrich the collection. Szentmihályi’s photographs captured the vanishing archaic world of Göcsej: peasant homesteads, houses with porches, hill cellars, small noble mansions, village layouts, and their inhabitants. Today, artisans still draw inspiration from the collection’s shepherd carvings, leather items, and embroidery patterns.
Expanding the Collection and Exploring New Areas
Imre Szentmihályi’s research established the collection’s focus on village ethnography, vernacular architecture, and the material culture of rural housing. Subsequent ethnographers expanded the collection to include new areas (e.g., industrial workshops, glass furnaces, the situation of the Roma, and more recent social changes).
Marx Mária’s Contributions and the Expansion of the Collection
Marx Mária’s research emphasized collecting textiles, ceramics, and works by folk and traditional artisans of Zala. The collection also includes workshops of forgotten crafts (e.g., brush makers). Expanding the collection’s timeline, it now encompasses industrial products and iconic items from different eras. At the same time, artifacts like a date-marked razor case from a private collection show that gathering archaic ethnographic items remains relevant.
The Current State of the Ethnographic Collection
As of 2025, the Ethnographic Collection preserves more than 13,000 artifacts.
