CONTRIBUTIONS

Would you like to contribute to the collection? New contributions for the collection are accepted with gratitude. The museum is not only interested in precious objects or art. In order to shed light on all aspects of Danish Jewish life, it is also important to include everyday items and personal objects such as letters and photographs in the collection.

New contributions can come to the museum in many different ways. Someone may wish to ensure the preservation of a family treasure for posterity, or old objects may have come to light during clearing up. Objects do not have to be precious to become a valuable part of the museum’s collection, so it is always a good idea to give the museum a call to find out if any material you are about to throw out may be of interest.

The museum can send its experts to evaluate prospective contributions, or contributors may bring the objects round to the museum. When an object is donated to the collection, the Danish Jewish Museum takes on the responsibility for preserving it for posterity and for giving scholars and other interested people the possibility to use it for research or teaching. The museum’s collection will be used for research and teaching into the indefinite future.

It is important for the museum that the history of the objects is well documented. This means that the object’ origins and the way in which it found its way to its owner must be known; It must be known who the people on photographs are, when they were taken etc. This information is used in the museum’s evaluation of the object’s culture-historical value, which is what determines if something should become part of the museum’s collection.

Due to restrictions imposed by the Museum Act, the museum cannot accept contributions that are given on certain conditions. For example, the donator cannot demand that his or her donation is exhibited. Certain things are already well represented in the collection, such as prayer books and Hebrew bibles. The museum will therefore only accept such objects if they are really exceptional. The museum also has a study collection which is not part of the collection, but which can be made available to the public, for example in connection with school visits.

The museum always asks the permission of the donator before making an object part of its collection or study collection. A special declaration of donation describes the donation, and the declaration is signed both by the donator and the museum.