My Favourite Things: Weary casket, silver spoon and knickers (with a hole)

The exhibition juxtaposes information gathered from probate inventories preserved at the National Archives and the artifact collections of the National Museum in order to dive into the material world of people in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Bible, rotten. Large raggedy-chest, no good. Sewing clamp. Seven casks, dilapidated, all rotten with very few bands and most of them bottomless. Knickers with a hole. This is among the things that were sold at the auctions of estates.

Such things are on display in a new exhibition at the National Museum of Iceland, the Arc Hall. Its title is: My Favourtie Things: Weary casket, silver spoon and knickers (with a hole). The exhibition presents the results of the research project My Favourite Things: Material Culture Archives, Cultural Heritage and Meaning that was carried out by scholars at the University of Iceland cooperating with a group of international experts.

The exhibition juxtaposes information gathered from probate inventories preserved at the National Archives and the artifact collections of the National Museum in order to dive into the material world of people in the 18th and 19th centuries. What did people possess? How much worth were their belongings? How do the possessions of people of the past reflect in the preserved cultural heritage of the nation?

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