Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 2015, Qupperneq 183

ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS182
Summary
Artifacts from the Icelandic agrarian society in Haslemere, Surrey
The advancement of industrialization in 19th century Europe precipitated a
reevaluation of the role of traditional rural handicrafts. That process occurred
against a varied economic and social background, while national romanticism was
also a strong mobilizing force for action from the mid-19th century. In the late
19th century, the small town of Haslemere, County Surrey, England, became a
rallying place for a group of people dedicated to the revival of village handicrafts.
These activities were greatly inf luenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement and the
Home Industry Movement. Workshops were established and handicraft societies
formed. Artifacts from countries peripheral to industrialization in Europe were
collected serving as models for students of arts and crafts thus creating a small
„Peasant Arts Collection“ in Haslemere. The leading instigators of the handicraft
revival in Haslemere were two couples: Maude and Joseph King and Ethel and
Godfrey Blount.
Similarly, in nearby Godalming, Reverend Gerald Stanley Davies had
established a collection of artifacts from agrarian societies in Europe, including
Iceland. In 1909 Rev. Davis ś collection and the Peasant Arts Collection in
Haslemere were merged and exhibited in Haslemere under the name „The
Peasant Handicraft Museum“. It has been housed in the Haslemere Educational
Museum, division of Human history – Ethnograpy since 1926. Today, its name is
„The European Peasant Arts Collection“ and it is composed of objects from the
agrarian societies of Sweden, Norway, Lapland, Northern-Russia, Holland, the
Baltic countries and Iceland. There are between 40 and 50 artifacts from Iceland
which are principally objects of wood, such as receptacles, mangle boards, needle
boxes, spindle whorls, and butter stamps decorated with carving. Also belonging
to the Icelandic collection are two drinking horns decorated with carvings and
eight woven fragments decorated with geometrical designs.