The Problems of Building Up and Preserving Museum Collections before and during the War

Author

Soniachna Liliia

a Doctor of History, a senior research fellow at the Ukrainian Ethnological Center Department of M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine).

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-00087580-7526

The Problems of Building Up and Preserving Museum Collections
before and during the War

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the problem of filling and storing ethnographic exhibits in the collections of museums of various levels, status, and areas of work before and during the war. The article is based on the authoress’s own observations and communications during the study of the fund collections of Ukrainian folk clothing of the forty-one museum institution during 2009–2025. The experience of grant cooperation with the international Swiss foundation ALIPH is revealed exemplified by the National Reserve “Ancient Halych”. It is aimed at improving the working conditions of the collections during military operations in Ukraine. The methodology of the work includes the principles of historicism, comprehensiveness, systematicity, and objectivity, which are implemented through a combination of general scientific, historical, and ethnological methods with interdisciplinary methods, methods of museum source studies, technical and technological research. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the highlighting the positive grant experience of the National Reserve “Ancient Halych” and a comparative analysis of the problems of filling and storing the collections of museums of various levels and specializations. Conclusion. Thus, the processes of filling and storing fund collections of traditional Ukrainian clothing in museum institutions depend on many factors. In particular, from the level of funding from the state authorities, the organization of their own projects, providing an opportunity to earn additional funds for the purchase of new exhibits or expeditionary research, and the opportunities of grant stories used by the museums. The tool of grant proposals in wartime conditions, in our opinion, is the most relevant and effective option for improving the storage conditions of ethnographic exhibits of Ukrainian folk clothing and replenishing fund collections. And the positive experience of cooperation between the National Reserve “Ancient Halych” and the international fund ALIPH only confirms this concept.

Keywords

ethnographic exhibits, funds, museums, filling and storing, National Reserve “Ancient Halych”, collections of Ukrainian folk clothing, grant.

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