International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts
Société Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle
Theatre Collections - co-operation between the Theatre Museum and theatres, theatre associations and professionals in Finland
Pirkko Koski
(translation Graig Coogan, Soili Forsström)
The Theatre and Theatre Collections / Le théâtre et les collections de documents
International
Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing
Arts
16th International Congress, London, 9-13 September 1985
Proceedings of the Congress
Société Internationale
des Bibliothèques et des Musées des arts du spectacle
16ème Congres Internationale, Londres, 9-13 september
1985
Procès-Verbal
London 1986, pp. 66-68
To be able to understand the relationship between Finland's Theatre Museum and theatrical associations and institutions in the country, one must know a few facts about the history and life of the Finnish theatre. The country has no tradition of a court theatre of its own, although it has adopted some features of the Central European tradition in a weakened form. Today's professional theatre grew out of keen popular interest in the theatre and a strong amateur movement. The theatre sector is exceptionally large (more than 40 professional theatres), and highly organized. Cooperation is a familiar concept. The Theatre Museum has clear and influential relations with both the theatre field and associations and institutions. This facilitates comprehensive planning and activities. Due to the nature of the historical background as it is, documentation must be related to living theatre, i.e. performance, rather than to physical facilities such as theatre buildings.
Ours is the only museum in Finland actively involved in the field of stage art. Its activities are nationwide. The collections in the museum's possession consist of artifacts and archive material. We collect material of different kinds, but also actively produce it in the form of sound and video recordings. Surveying and centrally cataloguing theatrical material as well as research account for a growing share of activities. The Finnish theatre have archives, of course, but only few of them are professionally arranged. The largest and oldest individual collection is the Swedish Theatre Archive with a professional archivist. None of the theatres has a museum, and the theatrical collections of historical museums are small.
From a point of view of a nationwide museum the problems encountered in documentation concern representativeness, on one hand, and preserving records of special features, on the other. Here I speak mainly about the former. Representativeness can only be achieved by surveying the whole field. Here, we have received a very great deal of help from theatres, and especially from professional figures in the field.
In recent years, we have been trying to list the material that has been preserved in relation to various spheres of stage art. With the aid of a study based on a questionnaire sent to every theatre and scenographer in the country, we have been able to compile information on sets and costumes right up to quite recent years. This study is now nearing completion and will be published before the end of the present year. The next stage in this study - in which co-operation will also be needed - is to ascertain the conditions in which the material is being stored, transfer what is considered necessary to the museum and, possibly, make joint storage arrangements.
Another extensive research project will involve a study of the activities of the workers' theatres. This will be done in co-operation with the Federation of Workers' Theatres and the labour movement's archive personnel. Finland's workers' theatres are of major historical significance, and thus the study will involve the research of a significant area of the whole history of the theatre in Finland.
A research work, which is still in the planning stage, will cover old theatrical props, of which we have only comparatively few in our own collections. However, there are more of them, unused, in theatres' prop stores. The props (those which are not very old) are easily cast away. The old objects are not in use because of the new materials, better working conditions and new techniques; even the valuable ones look often unduly out of place. That is why we have to act quickly, if we wish to save this material. It is essential for an expert propmaker to be involved in this work, because there is no literature on the subject, nor any written records on which the work could be based.
Special features in the theatre documentation are easier to recognise and record; concerning the performances of today a request (and sometimes money) is often all that is needed in the line of active efforts.
Our museum regards it as its responsibility to ensure that our collections can give the researchers of the future and the general public an adequately clear picture of what today's and yesterday's theatrical performances were like. That is why we are building our own collection of material. Finland's theatres send us yearly regular copies of the printed material produced for each first night and photographs of the collections. We receive other donations too, such as scale models, sketches and drafts, old archive material, videotapes etc., on a less regular basis. This requires co-operation, they are not gifts: we get material because it is understood that we, the theatres and the museum, are working together. The understanding has for instance materialised in a paper giving us the right to videotape performances wholly lawfully. Some theatres have realised that the safest place for old material is in a museum. So far there has been no reason to limit those activities, because our collections are, in many respects, incomplete.
However, it is neither necessary nor possible to transfer all theatrical material to the museum. A part of it is always kept at the theatres. We consider, however, that it is our task to try to influence this aspect in some way. Our theatres - except a few - have no professionals doing the documentary work, but they have great interest in information and knowledge in this area. On our own initiative we co-operated with the follow-up training centre belonging to the Theatre Academy last winter in arranging two seminars for persons who take care of theatre archives. The programme included lectures dealing with the preservation and cataloguing of different kinds of materials as well as a presentation on the traditions of such preservation. This was supplemented by a set of guidelines for the theatres.
Theatres are working for the next first night. At the Finnish repertoire theatres they begin to prepare the next first night immediately after the former is over. It is quite clear that the documentation is not the most important thing to these people. But they feel it is important, anyway, and are interested in co-operating. They always make some documents (for the press, for the audience) concerning the performance: these are left to the store or archive, or perhaps sent to the museum. It could be easy to add the documentary value in this material, and secure its storage. More knowledge is needed than money. In our seminars this information has been given.
Concerning the documentation work made at the theatres, the museum has to ascertain, too, that the important performances become documented carefully each year. It has to evaluate the quality and compare details as a whole. It can even ask the theatres to invest in this work, because the theatres in Finland are not operating on a commercial basis only but are subsidised by the state and by the communities.
The question rises very often: What is the value of a document as compared with the living theatre? What does it tell about the living art? We have talked a lot about this matter, but actual researches are very few. Anyway, we ought to know it and research, especially when trying to take care of the representativeness.
In Finland, theatrical bodies representing various occupational sphere cooperate within the Central Union of the Finnish Theatre Associations, with which the Finnish centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) is associated. The Theatre Museum has close links to this umbrella organisation. Since the museum is, however, an independent institute, its documentary character is kept clear. The chairman of the Theatre Museum Foundation's representative body also serves as the Union's executive director. The Union is a useful body for focusing pressure on public-sector sources of finance and decision makers, and also provides the most comprehensive representation of the whole theatrical sector than one can hope to accomplish. The co-operation also extends to international relations, because the ITI, as the largest body in this field, also has meetings with other non-governmental bodies like SIBMAS's Finnish representatives.
The museum has an advisory committee in which the Central Union of the Finnish Theatre Associations, actors' and set designers' unions, the University of Helsinki and the Theatre Academy are represented, in addition to the board of the museum itself. This organisation has been working for only a year, but has accomplished a great deal in that time. Among other things, the preparation of a preservation programme, approving a central archive project and examining the development of videotaping.
The museum is a member of the Finnish OISTAT centre, having been invited to join by the centre. The benefits obtained from the museum in this respect relate to the preservation of contacts with and expertise in an international sphere that is important from the viewpoint of its material. In conjunction with international exhibitions, it can offer its help in the form of collections and premises, but can also build up its own collections in preparation for exhibitions. Scenographers' help is important for the museum: we documentate much material made by them. The co-operation ensures our recognising changes in this area. If the scenographers know the value of the documentation they can, while working at the theatres, represent the museum and its views.
The reason for the co-operation with the institutes and associations is partly financial: when the museum has not been able to afford to arrange cataloguing projects or seminars, the University of Industrial Arts (set design) or the Theatre Academy have helped it. Almost without exception, collections have been compiled from donations. In return, the museum has been able to place its small exhibition premises at the disposal of professionals. It has also relieved associations and institutes of the burden of having to collect and store material.
We succeed in obtaining material, including some of a considerable significance, without co-operating with other organisations, but such collections come to us only occasionally, and the final collection may lack some very important features. We cannot, without co-operating with others, documentate today's theatrical performances, e.g. by videotaping them, which is of great topical interest today. In our experience, the support of the theatrical field is of a irreplaceable value in enabling us to work on a comprehensive and systematic basis, especially since our resources are very limited.
URL: http://www.theatrelibrary.org/sibmas/congresses/sibmas85/london85_12.html
Last updated: 27.11.2002
Information about this page:
Maria Teresa Iovinelli, General Secretary
Executive
Committee
Comité exécutif
Institutional Members
Membres institutionnels
Joining SIBMAS
Adhérer à la SIBMAS
International Directory
Répertoire international
National Collections
Collections nationales
Research Sites
Sites de recherche