Paper short abstract:

By 2025 the fur industry in Norway is due to close down. Collecting and documenting how objects have been used by farmers can be an easy assignment for a cultural historical museum. But how can museums also collect the emotions connected to the fur industry?

Paper long abstract:

The collection at Jærmuseet contains objects documenting modern agriculture, showing the materialistic part of the Norwegian agriculture from the last 100-150 years. The main part of the collection is unproblematic, both emotionally and culturally.

These days Jærmuseet is working with documenting an industry that carries completely different cultural, political and emotional connections than the rest of the agricultural collection. In June 2019 the Norwegian parliament decided to shut down the fur industry. Jærmuseet has decided to document the industry before it is gone forever. Using and collecting interviews, artefacts, photography, and video as methods to understand how a fur farm works, we are also getting a sense of this part of Norwegian agriculture. But how can we also collect the emotions connected to a controversial industry?

A typical object from the fur industry would be the cage. What happens to its life when it goes from housing minks and foxes to being a part of a museum, as the result of a political process? What happens with the emotions connected to the object when they become a part of a museum's collection?

Collecting the emotions connected to the industry, I want to interview informants while also collecting objects related to the topic.