Collection

Our collection is developed on the basis of the former open-air museum Altranft.
This inventory comprises a total of around 9,000 collection items (8,450 of which have inventory numbers, plus around 6,000 inventoried library and archive items).
The inventory is currently undergoing a general stocktaking.

Our collection concept plans to focus the inventory more strongly in accordance with the transformation into an Oderbruch Museum: We collect objects that tell something about the Oderbruch, its history and present. Thereby, questions of the development of the rural culture are in the center. The spectrum of contents thus ranges from handicrafts to hydraulic engineering, agriculture, building culture and the manifold forms of rural society.
During such an extensive transformation phase as that of our museum, collection care means first and foremost the creation of suitable foundations for the preservation of the museum collection, i.e. primarily the improvement of the existing depot situation. The focal points of the collection that are currently being prioritized are

Regional craft

Furniture

If not shown in permanent exhibitions (Bergschmidt-Hof, "Mahlsdorf-Zimmer"), the furniture of the acquired stock is stored in a large gymnasium on Heerstraße, which needs to be upgraded as a depot (above all by means of suitable temperature control).
The representative Wilhelminian furniture from the collection of Lothar Berfelde = Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, which is well conserved at Schloss Altranft, is a special case. As the "largest Mahlsdorf collection outside Mahlsdorf", they form a highlight of our exhibition tour. However, as they have no connection with Altranft Palace or the Oderbruch region, they become the setting for "artistic interventions": an approach that places high demands on the care of the collection in terms of the protection of cultural assets.

Agricultural history/agricultural technology

The largest depot with almost 1000 sqm is available for this object group: the "external depot Schäferei Bergthal". It currently consists of some valuable or breakage-typical working tools and machines, but also of destroyed, damaged and incomplete objects, up to building rubble and building residues. Only after the removal of the non-collection mass building materials as well as the damaged and incomplete objects, the sectional installation of a solid concrete floor can begin.
A special case in this group of objects are the vehicles: Carriages, sleighs, tractors. These objects are subject to a particularly rapid loss of value if not properly stored. In order to avoid the simple "discarding" of such objects, new forms of involving regional actors, partners, "godparents" are to be sought. If possible, this process should be completed before the end of 2018.

Textiles

By far the best-documented and best-stocked textile collection is located in three well-air-conditioned rooms in Altranft Castle. In addition to clothing, it also includes helmets, walking sticks, bags, umbrellas, blankets, flags and banners, and much more.

Oderbruch objects in the "Studiolo

The exhibition project "Studiolo" in the former rooms of the museum library represents an attempt to illustrate the new concept of collection development by means of selected objects with a connection to the Oderbruch. This also includes showing the existing "collection gaps".
"The Studiolo has both a documenting and a prospective character: On the basis of what is shown, it is supposed to stimulate the visitors to think about the Oderbruch, to make their own contributions or to give hints on what should/could be considered or worked on. The current stocking with documents, books or objects from the existing holdings is therefore to be understood as provisional (...) the collections that are shown here should have the character of an index in the first place, i.e. refer to other holdings, places and sources in the Oderbruch, but make their context visible. The Studiolo thus functions as a place where the collections of the Oderbruch Museum can be put up for discussion, reflected upon, and tested, thus acting as a hinge between what exists and what is to be achieved." (Michael Fehr, 2017)

Use or reserve collection

In working with the collection, objects are continually identified that, for a variety of reasons, should not remain in the Museum's future "scientific collection" but are in acceptable condition and valuable to the work of the Museum's various divisions or its partners.
Many of these pieces can already be found in use at the museum: in the staff offices, in the café, in the "Rural Culture Workshop", in the Fisher House...
For all these objects, a central storage facility was created in the attic of Altranft Castle at the end of 2017, which functions like a "lightweight large display case". Here, the objects are protected from dust and insects and can be treated for conservation if necessary.