ISS 25 (1995).pdf - The International Council of Museums

first immigrant housing. The first question made when the work was
finished has been: what should be done with the house? The first answer,
naturally, was: let's do a museum! I have been invited to come and help
the municipality in this project, together with the Office of National
Heritage in the area. What kind of museum, with what objects, could one
propose for the house? There were no objects, no staff, no public money
available. There was yet a group of people, the Friends of Old Hamburg,
who had been fighting since 20 years for the preservation of their old
quarter and the big park, a vast area of land soon to be bought for the
construction of another big hotel to host the shoes' dealers. In the empty
house where I met the local association, the only thing they had in hands
was the reproduction of a famous painting by a local artist, representing
the interior of that house, the first shop settled in the area by one of the
founders of New Hamburg: John Schmitt; a little shop where the
community used to meet to buy primary goods and to discuss the latest
news from the capital of the Province. The symbolic meaning of the
house, in its original use as a community centre, gave the group the first
idea of what should be done with the house: to reconstruct its original
function, as a shop where one could meet and exchange again real goods,
news, family links, and all sort of symbolic goods existing in the fabric of
th4t particular community. The project of a community based museum
was born, as a perfect tool for the strengthening of people's sense of
identity, of community links and values, and for the protection of their
original environment. It is impossible to describe here how the whole
work developed, run by this group of people, formed by all kinds of
professionals, housewives, widowers, old teachers, young architects and
photographers, university teachers, local businessmen. The strategies, the
obstacles, the conflicts, the discussions, the whole process in itself are
worth of study and exploration. The reality now, after nearly three years
since it was inaugurated as the "Schmitt-Presser" house, is a little "shopmuseum",
run by the people of Old Hamburg, nearby the big park
where another preservation project is being developed. What kind of
museology took place in this project?.. a very "popular" kind of practice,
from the identification of things people had at home, from the listing and
temporary borrowing of these things, from a campaign of recollection and
registration, to photographing and cleaning of the materials, to the
installation of the old shop furniture, of an exhibition on Old Hamburg
life, of a photographic competition, of reports in local newspapers, of the
writing of administrative rules and statutes, of donations and
contributions of all sorts. All the problems and tasks of a true museum
have been faced and tackled by people with no museological experience,
with the help of half a dozen museum professionals, and with the
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