Lat
Lat

Composer Emīls Dārziņš. 1906. Photo: J. Rieksts. RTMM 215709
Writer Anšlavs Eglītis, painting the ruins of Vecrīga. September 1941. Photo: Unknown photographer. RTMM 723428
Costume designer Baiba Puzina’s sketch for a costume for Adolfs Alunāns’ play “Džons Neilands”, staged at the Rainis Dailes Theatre. 1984. RTMM 543242

The Depository of Literature, Theatre and Music Collections, a structural unit of the Museum of Literature and Music (MLM), was established when, in 1925, teacher Jānis Greste began collecting items related to literature and music. Over time, the museum’s collection has expanded, and it currently amounts to more than 900,000 different holdings – documents, photographs, different printed material, letters, artwork, sound recordings and mementos – which are mostly organised based on their relationship to particular people, or to particular organisations and themes. The system for storing the museum’s holdings is inter-connected, and also includes cross-references to people who do not have related collections at the museum. These cross-references are referred to as related collections, and the artefacts representing them can be found in collections related to other people. The museum has more than 3,620 core collections and 3,630 related collections. The museum’s collections are composed of collections from three main branches – literature, theatre, and music, as well as supporting collections, which are categorised based on the holding types – collections of artwork, books, negatives and sound/video recordings. Despite the reorganisation of the Museum of Literature, Theatre and Music in 2009, the collections of the Association of Memorial Museums and the Eduards Smiļģis Theatre Museum of the Latvian Academy of Culture continue to be held in the MLM’s Depository of Literature, Theatre and Music Collections.

The digitalisation of the collections’ holdings plays an important role in the conservation of the museum’s collections, which is why a policy/programme on the digitalisation of collections has been developed. The key purpose of this programme is to create a digital copy of an artefact that would give the most accurate impression of the original item, thereby protecting the museum’s holdings from overly intense usage, and possibly even the destruction of fragile items, and ensuring they get the proper period of rest. The programme also serves as a tool for documenting the state of an item prior to potentially risky actions, such as moving the collection, depositing holdings elsewhere, etc., as well as making the part of the collection that is not exhibited more accessible to users, facilitating the recognition of the museum’s collection as a unique resource.

There is high demand from cultural events and publications in Latvia for holdings from the Museum of Literature and Music’s Depository of Literature, Theatre and Music Collections. Anyone interested in them can access these holdings through the museum’s reading room, as well as at Artefact of the Month, a section on the museum’s website. The museums’s holdings are available for viewing on the joint catalogue website of the National Museums’ collections , and on the MLM and Latvian Academic Library database “Personu un vietu attēli”, as well as at projects from other collaboration partners, such as the digital collections “Rainis un Aspazija” and “Latvijas vēsturiskie skaņu ieraksti” by the National Library of Latvia.

The museum’s art experts from the Collection Research Department make the decision whether to accept items donated in the museum’s collections. To ensure the collections remain high-quality, these experts from the museum meet with the person offering the potential collection item to the museum, in order to evaluate whether the item corresponds with the museum’s collections’ acquisition policy and to assess how the item would add to the existing collection. Afterwards, the offer is evaluated by the MLM’s Collections Committee (as well as by the collection committees of both the Association of Memorial Museums, and the Eduards Smiļģis Theatre Museum of the Latvian Academy of Culture), and a decision is taken about whether the item should be added to the collections.

Due to the planned relocation at the beginning of 2019 of the Depository of Literature, Theatre and Music Collections to the new museum depository complex at Pulka iela 8, various preparatory activities are taking place, and new offered items are being accepted only in exceptional situations.

In 2017, 19,452 of the museum’s holdings (16,137 holdings in the core of the collection and 3,315 holdings in the supporting collections) went through a complete cycle of documentation.