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The 17th project of the Antwerp-DFAS Volunteers consisted of packing
the Folklore's Museum's collection of devotional prints in acid-free
envelopes, giving inventory numbers and
checking the old numbers.
At first glance it seemed quite easy and we thought it would not take much time, but
more and more drawers full of devotional prints were brought to our working area. By the end of 2008 we had packed a collection of +/- 15,000 prints.
The collection at the Folklore Museum is one of the largest in the world.
Printing devotional images
is a very typical practice for Catholics in the Low Countries.
They cover all kinds of events such as sacraments at first Communion,
the Ordination
of priests, monks or nuns, or they are to honour different
saints: the Virgin Mary (in all her characteristics), Jesus Christ
(with different attributes)
etc.
Some of these prints are extremely beautiful, others are real kitsch and some are
simply prayers to thank, to honour or to remind. The oldest ones date from the mid 19th century, but most are from the first half of the 20th century.
By the end of November 2009, when most of the devotional prints were numbered and packed in acid free envelopes, but were not yet classified, the volunteers took time out for another project and resumed working at the
Folklore museum in March 2009.
Putting all the pictures, by subject in numerical order was a task that took much longer than
expected because the directions we received changed during the project. We had to go through all the devotional prints a second time.
At the end of August 2009 we were finally able to put the full collection in big acid free boxes. By then the volunteers must have had
halos! There is not one name of a Saint, a name of a pilgrimage place in Belgium, an aspect of the life of Jesus or that of the Holy Virgin
that we have not had a print of it through our hands!
One volunteer put the entire collection’s inventory into Excel
spreadsheets which will be put onto ADLIB (the worldwide digital system for museums) later.
In a report to the curator the volunteers expressed the hope that
these collections would one day become the subject for in-depth research by experts or students in Theology or History.
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Above: the first set of boxes.
Above: A volunteer checks the inventory number.
Above: Checking the inventory. |
