Ethnographic Subcollection

The ethnographic subcollection was created by merging independent collections from museums in Most, Litvínov, and the Holy Catherine Mountain during the integration into the district museum in the 1960s. Each of these municipal museums documented the way of life and livelihood in the folk environment through their collection of material culture. In addition to items from Most, Litvínov, and Kateřinsko, the collection also includes objects from a broader area of northern Bohemia – Cheb, Karlovy Vary, Chomutov, and even neighboring Saxony. The collection has been continuously supplemented with acquisitions from surveys of decommissioned municipalities in the mining area, especially since the second half of the 1960s. Some individual items originate from the Czech interior, from where they were transferred during the migration of the population for work in the coal mines that began in the 1870s.

The collection includes items representing several main thematic units: agriculture – a set of tools for plant and animal production (plowing and agricultural tools, harnesses, yokes, grain blowers, etc.); household – a set of household tools for processing plant and animal products (butter churns, bowls, cheese presses, ladles, grinders, baskets, etc.); food preparation (butter molds, gingerbread molds, pastry molds, etc.); tools in the household and crafts (planes, spinning wheels, cones, hand wooden mangles, etc.). Crafts typical of the Ore Mountains are represented: hosiery (molds for stockings, gloves, and sweaters, looms, knitting machines, etc.); toy production (carving tools, lathes, etc.). A comprehensive set consists of toy products representing the extinct production of toys and wooden items in the Czech part of the Ore Mountains. In addition to wooden toys, there are also toys and decorations made of metal, papier-mâché, and various material combinations. The oldest items in the collection date back to the second half of the 18th century, with the most represented from the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Expert Worker

Mgr. Ludmila Škrabáková, Ph.D.

ethnography, anthropology, education

E-mail: skrabakova.lomgm.cz