Vapriikki Donates Its Sámi Collection to Sámi Museum Siida

The collection will be transferred to Siida in Vapriikki on Wednesday 29 April, 2015, at noon. The media are welcome to attend the occasion.

– We could say that the artefacts have been on loan in the south for 110 years, and now they are returned to the Sámi community, says Deputy Collections Manager Teemu Ahola from Vapriikki.

– The donation will complement the oldest part of Siida’s collections in a significant way, and it is very important both for the Sámi Museum and the Sámi community to have the artefacts back home, rejoice Siida’s Collections Specialist Marjo-Riitta Rantamäki and Substitute Curator Anni Guttorm, who will travel to Tampere for the occasion.

The set of objects on Sámi culture – once a part of the collections of the Häme Museum – has its roots in the first phase of museum activities in Tampere. This collection of some thirty artefacts is comprised of Sámi textiles and footgear and includes a Sámi sled and a Sámi knife. The objects were collected by artist Gabriel Enberg from Tampere in 1905, when he visited Sámi villages in Inari in order to make paintings. A year later he sold the collection to the Häme Museum, and, ever since, the Sámi artefacts have belonged to the collections of the museums of Tampere.

Through this collection transfer, the Tampere Museum wants to restore the objects back to their home region and the Sámi community, to which they belong. The transfer is also a sign of advances in the national collection cooperation of museums.

In 2009, Finnish museums launched a project called TAKO for the purpose of coordinating collaboration in matters related to acquisitions, documentation and collections. The museums of Tampere are also partners in this project, which has worked determinedly in order to define the responsibilities of cultural historical museums for acquisitions and documentation.  This approach means that museums contribute to the national responsibility by taking upon themselves the acquisitions and documentation of certain themes in their collections.

As part of this process, museums can transfer their collections to other museums that have the responsibility, and thus also the expertise, for the acquisitions and documentation of the collections that are being transferred. The transfer of this Sámi collection is a concrete sign of the fact that collaboration between museums is increasing and museums want to improve the collections management of Finnish museums.

Further information:
Teemu Ahola, Vapriikki, Deputy Collections Manager, tel. +358 40 761 5905
Marjo-Riitta Rantamäki, Sámi Museum Siida, Collections Specialist, tel. +358 40 571 5670
Sari Valkonen, Sámi Museum Siida, Museum Director, tel. +358 40 767 1052