Collections of Cultural History
The three main collections of the museum's cultural history material are related to the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ (1966-) and its predecessors, the Seminary (1863-1937) and the School of Education (1934-1966). These three phases of the University's history form the main collections (abbreviations SEM, JKK and JY), which include the cultural history of the University and its predecessors, and comprise material relating to teaching, research, education, administration, working life and student life.
The Jyväskylä University Museum is a member of the nationwide network of collaborative repositories The museum's national recording tasks are: the built cultural heritage of the JYU campus, folk education and teacher training, physical education and physical education teacher training, research, teaching and student life at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ and its predecessors.
The collections tell stories about the development of a multidisciplinary university in Jyväskylä. The collection starts from the establishment of the Teacher Seminary for primary school teachers in 1863. The collections grow through donations and procurement by the museum. The museum also documents contemporary issues.
The museum’s collections include more than 10,000 items. The most common item types represent the broad range of the collections: handicrafts, drawings, notebooks, teaching aids, research equipment, chairs, shirts, classroom posters, flags, plates, card indexes, and more.
The museum’s collections related to the history of teacher training are nationally significant. They comprise the first teaching aids of teacher training and an extensive collection of classroom posters.
The collection of research equipment demonstrates the diversity of research conducted in different fields of science at the Jyväskylä College of Education and the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥.
The photograph archive of the Jyväskylä University Museum contains more than 100,000 photographs. Most of the photographs are related to different phases of the institution: the Jyväskylä Teacher Seminary, the Jyväskylä College of Education and the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥.
The pictures depict the history, staff, facilities and environment of the institution in different times. Everyday life and festivities on the campus are portrayed in the photographs of seminary staff and students and in the collections of the student union and student associations.
The museum also has special collections such as the photograph collection of Lauri Pihkala, a sports enthusiast and the inventor of Finnish baseball, and Lecturer Ahti Rytkönen’s photograph collection documenting the life of ordinary people.
