Census Report in the Orlicke hory Region in 1997 Lace Makers census

Report on the Inquiry of the Present State of the Lace Trade in the Orlicke hory Region in 1997 In 1997, the Lace Museum in Vamberk acquired, from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, a grant to the project of the inquiry of the present lace trade in its region. In fact, the Orlicke hory area belongs to the well-known historical centre of this production. The project's phases are laid out into three years. The inquiry has been focused on finding the present state and its comparison with the historical sources available for the Museum. These are namely a very valuable manuscript inquiry made by Marie Sedlackova in the twenties of the 20th Century, and the documents on the "census of cushions" of 1940 - 41, the Museum has gained from Felix Gruner, the well known factor. To 15 selected communities (Ceske Libchavy, Dlouha Ves, Chleny, Jahodov, Lhoty u Potstejna, Litice nad Orlici, Merklovice, Polom, Potstejn, Proruby, Roven, Rybna nad Zdobnici, Slatina nad Zdobnici, Sopotnice and Zamel), listed in both of the two sources, also Peklo nad Zdobnici was added thanks to its lace making tradition, and the city of Vamberk that occurred only once in the previous inquiry. A questionnaire and an accompanying letter were delivered to each family in the searched community with the explanation of the whole action, and a request for collaboration. This experiment involved the use of 3,700 envelopes for gaining information about the present situation, hoping that contacts with the lace makers will be commenced, that memories of the last living old timers of the pre-war trade will be gained, and thus the vacant places in our region's lace trade history will be filled. It was successful. Out of the inquired communities, 159 filled questionnaires returned to the Museum both from the lace makers and the old timers. Out of this number, the actively practising were 134 lace makers (only 10 professionals, the other ones do it as their hobby, plus 38 children). The resulting number of lace makers was completed with 18 persons (including 12 children) who did not participate in the action from unknown reasons but whom we found in the list of instruction participants of the Educational Institute of Artistic Production in Vamberk in 1997 - 98; all of them were active lace makers. Another 10 persons (incl. 3 children) were found in the list of the action called "Lace Making Square" in Letohrad in 1997, and 1 professional maker, an employee of the lace maker's VKV Vamberk co-operative. If follows from all these available sources that in 17 inquired communities of the region, in 1997, totally 163 persons have actively made laces, of this 53 were children and 10 professionals. The following table shows the change that has occurred during this century in the field of lace making in our region concerning the number of makers and the change "from profession to hobby": The whole-area questionnaire inquiry processes lace makers or old timers born in the last 100 years. The data processed according to the basic information items of the questionnaires confirm some of our assumptions: the oldest generation born since the beginning of our century to 1930 (27 filled questionnaires) learned lace making similarly to the folk lace makers - in the family, usually from their mothers. Some lace makers continued in their professional education, as youngsters, in the Educational Institute of the Artistic Production in Prague and its branches - Vamberk, Potstejn, Rybna nad Zdobnici and Rokytnice v Orlickych horach. Many of these respondents still practice lace making, in their higher age. None of them enterprises in the field even if this is the generation that formerly lived on lace making. Three of them practised in the fifties to the seventies of this century for the lace making co-operative Vamberecka krajka Vamberk, and 9 persons still manage the point lace, the typical technique of this region. Out of the questionnaires of this generation, the necessity concluded to capture descriptions concerning the folk factor way of production and trading. We assume that some lace makers did not return their questionnaires because of their high age; for some of them, the answers were returned by their relatives or nurses. At the generation born in 1931 to 1950 (32 filled questionnaires) the number of those who have gained their professional knowledge in a school or in the Educational Institute, slightly increased. The knowledge of the point lace production technique decreased. Some lace makers continue their professional education in the Educational Institute. Two persons enterprise in the field. Also the founder members of the VKV co-operative belong to this generation. Out of the generation born in 1951 to 1960 (15 filled questionnaires) only one learned from her mother already while the other ones started in their basic schools, mainly in the Educational Institute. None of them manages the point lace. Women of this generation find their living more easily in industry, trade etc. The decrease of the lace makers is distinct and continues also in the generation born in 1961 to 1970. Here, other possibilities of the professional education beyond the Educational Institute are reflected - the hobby groups at basic schools, Folk Artistic Schools (LSU), lace making hobby groups in the Houses of Children and Youth. Some of them enterprise in the field themselves. Also the knowledge of the point lace technique occurs. Only in the generation born in 1971 - 1980, a mild increase of the knowledge of this technology occurs; the circumstance that most of these lace makers learned or improved their knowledge in SUUV is likely to have caused the change. Dramatic increase of the number of lace makers occurred with the youngest generation born in 1981 - 1990 where almost all of them have acquired professional training in the Educational Institute despite the fact that they started with their mothers or in the hobby groups. It follows from the comparison of the present situation with the lists of lace makers working for the VKV co-operative in 1974, and with the data on the first graduates of the lace maker school in Vamberk in the decades 1889 to 1899, that the communities of Vamberk, Sopotnice, Rybna nad Zd., Peklo nad Zd., Slatina nad Zd., Potstejn, Merklovice and Vamberk remain the important centres of lace making, unlike the Litice nad Orl., Dlouha Ves, Roven, Proruby. For the time being, the inquiry did not include the Doudleby nad Orl. community, despite the fact that in the first decade of the existence of the lace making school in Vamberk (established in 1888), 25 pupils from there attended it, and Lupenice - the lace making school was attended by 5 pupils in 1889 - 1899, and, in 1974, 1 lace maker worked for VKV from here. At present, according to the informer's reports from beyond the questionnaire inquire, certain territorial transfer of the lace making activity takes place. The lace makers in the Libchavy, Sopotnice and other traditional lace making communities start working in connection with new entrepreneurial intentions. Some of them keep newly acquired trading certificates. Because of the financial means shortage, the first phase of the lace making inquiry in 1997 was territorially restricted to several selected communities only. Even so, the inquiry has brought some very interesting and stimulating results that will be used for further work. We regard our contacts with the last old timers remembering the pre-war way of trading as very important, and from that we also can acquire their memories of the lace making life in the communities, of the lace making local terminology, their lace making ding-dongs etc. Thus, the Museum has acquired not only its informative material but also several old photographs, laces and underwindings. Some testimonies of the old timers are recorded on audio recordings. The next phase of the inquiry will take place in 1998.