MINM.no

Musical Instruments in Norwegian Museums is a project for the registration of musical instruments in Norwegian museums. It was created by the Norwegian National Museum network for music and musical instruments, with the support of the Archive, Library and Museum Authority.

The National Museum network for music and musical instruments has in recent years worked with two projects: Musical Instruments in Norwegian museums (MiNM), starting in 2006, and Musical database over the Net (MON), starting in 2007. Both with support from the Archive, Library and Museum Authority. In practice, the projects have overlapped each other and were interdependent. The first project focused on registering and revising collections of musical instruments in Norwegian museums. It has since focused on the processing and presentation of material with questions about search procedures in museum databases, terminology and nomenclature. The studies are unique among Norwegian Museums  in the ambition of a nationwide concentration on one object type, to see what is available in museum collections and to reflect on various results and trends. The musical instrument register (MiMN.no) is built up as a static database that was completed on January 15th, 2010.

In the long term, a common digital catalog system for the entire Norwegian museum community will become a reality through Digital Museum. By that time, MiNM.no  is likely to have played out its role. Until then, however, it may be of great value for users to be able to get a quick overview through the registry, which is a type of «general audit» concerning musical instruments in Norwegian museums,  including also smaller collections that are so far not searchable on Digital Museum. In effect, the database is an advanced check list.

Europeana, the European database was launched in 2008, with material from more than 1500 institutions across Europe. Europeana will in time include everything that is shown in digital museum, but with a user interface in many different languages.

If you have comments, please send us an email with them info@minm.no!

Click here to search in the collections!

Search Tips

MiNM.no is a Norwegian database, with the majority of all terms and concepts in the Norwegian language. Even so, words may still be written in many different language variants, such as bokmål, nynorsk, regional dialect, old-spelling, foreign languages, etc. Users are encouraged to use multiple search terms in order to find find what they’re looking for!

Standard søk – Standard search

Standard Search searchs through the name of the instrument, clarified term, alternative designation, manufacturer, and classification code.

The program does not distinguish between the use of small or capital letters in the search. One doesn’t have to write whole words, or words from the beginning. A search on a sequence of letters ”fel” finds both fela, fele, hardingfele, spydfele, taffelpiano, etc., but perhaps not the fiolin or violin.

Avansert søk – Advanced Search

Advanced Search allows you to put additional specifications in the search, such as whether it should contain a search string or to be a precise spelling. The possibilities are:

Betegnelse – Designation (What instrument? Includes both name, specified term, alternative designation)

Produsent – Producer (Person or company who made the instrument)

Produsert sted – Place of manufacture

Produsert land – Country of manufacture

Museumsnummer – Museum Number

Classification (List of ‘outline‘ tags, based on the Hornbostel-Sachs classification for musical instruments)

• 534.1 Idiophones
• 534.2 Membranophones
• 534.3 Strings
• 534.4 Wind instruments
• 534.5 Keyboard Instruments
• 534.6 Mechanical musical instruments
• 534.7 Electronic instruments
• 534.8 Instrument Specialists
• 534.9 Special instruments

Samling (Museum collection that the instrument belongs to)

Datering fra – Dating from

Datering til – Dating until