Collections
The systematic and scientifically contextualised collections are the most representative collections on Estonian culture, formed over more than 100 years of systematic collecting and of research-based collecting work. The ENM collections serve as the bases for the activities of the museum in the field of research and exhibition.
The museum collection has grown to over a million units. The artefact collection, with over 140,000 items, started with the collecting activities of the Learned Estonian Society and the Estonian Students’ Society at the end of the 19th century. The artefact collections contain items related to everyday life from the 19th to 21st centuries. The Finno-Ugric collection, founded in the 1920s, is currently one of the biggest and most unique in Europe.
The artefact collections are divided into five groups: the largest ethnographic collection in Estonia (more than 100,000 objects), ethnographic artefacts from Finno-Ugric cultures (ca. 10,000 objects), artefacts representing more distant cultures (ca. 3,000 objects). Separate assemblies are formed by the cultural history collection (ca. 20,000 objects) and works of art (more than 1,000 objects). Systematic collection work was started immediately after the foundation of the museum in 1909, giving priority to the preservation of the old, and peasant, culture. Objects currently being collected are foremost connected with everyday life in Estonia.
The ENM’s manuscript archive (approximately 2,700 volumes totalling more than half a million pages) mainly preserves ethnographic manuscript materials collected by researchers and archival staff, although there is also material contributed by other researchers and materials sent in by the museum’s voluntary correspondents. The collections also hold ethnographic drawings (50,000 items), the biggest photography collection in Estonia (approximately 200,000 photos) and film and video footage (primarily ethnographic film material). Photography and video are increasingly used as means of documentation, and to a lesser extent as a particular method for visual anthropological research.
Since 2008, three museum collections have been merged into the ENM collections (Heimtali Museum, Estonian Postal Museum, Tartu County Museum).
The museum collection has grown to over a million units. The artefact collection, with over 140,000 items, started with the collecting activities of the Learned Estonian Society and the Estonian Students’ Society at the end of the 19th century. The artefact collections contain items related to everyday life from the 19th to 21st centuries. The Finno-Ugric collection, founded in the 1920s, is currently one of the biggest and most unique in Europe.
The artefact collections are divided into five groups: the largest ethnographic collection in Estonia (more than 100,000 objects), ethnographic artefacts from Finno-Ugric cultures (ca. 10,000 objects), artefacts representing more distant cultures (ca. 3,000 objects). Separate assemblies are formed by the cultural history collection (ca. 20,000 objects) and works of art (more than 1,000 objects). Systematic collection work was started immediately after the foundation of the museum in 1909, giving priority to the preservation of the old, and peasant, culture. Objects currently being collected are foremost connected with everyday life in Estonia.
The ENM’s manuscript archive (approximately 2,700 volumes totalling more than half a million pages) mainly preserves ethnographic manuscript materials collected by researchers and archival staff, although there is also material contributed by other researchers and materials sent in by the museum’s voluntary correspondents. The collections also hold ethnographic drawings (50,000 items), the biggest photography collection in Estonia (approximately 200,000 photos) and film and video footage (primarily ethnographic film material). Photography and video are increasingly used as means of documentation, and to a lesser extent as a particular method for visual anthropological research.
Since 2008, three museum collections have been merged into the ENM collections (Heimtali Museum, Estonian Postal Museum, Tartu County Museum).