EVOLUTION OF THE MUSEUM EXHIBITION “SLOVENE DENTISTRY COLLECTION”

Abstract

In 1993, the Museum of Recent History Celje was the first to put on display its unique dentistry collection; we exhibited dentistry instruments, devices and equipment used in the past by dentists and dental technicians in Slovenia. Thanks to a private collector from Celje, Franc Štolfa, DMD, a considerable number of these items have been preserved. He has collected about 3000 artefacts that were donated to him by individuals from all over Slovenia and which testify to the development of dentistry in Slovenia in 19th and 20th century. Dr. Štolfa had been cooperating with museums, and in 1991 donated the entire collection to the Museum of Recent History Celje in exchange for permanent care and protection. Experts from the museum now maintain, protect and document the collection: they develop it and present it to the public. The main items in the collection include surgical rooms, dental and dental-technical instruments, devices and equipment, photographic materials and literature on dentistry. Over the last decade the dentistry collection has moved several times from one location in the museum to another, while we continued to work intensively on finding a suitable site where an exhibition could be set up that would meet museological standards and regulations. Setting up the exhibition in these spaces is for now an experiment. It, however, gives both the custodians of the museum and members of the public, at least in terms of Slovene museology, a unique opportunity to evaluate the concept of the exhibition and think it over. Once a better solution, in terms of both form and content, is provided, the exhibition will be modified and put into its final shape.