Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village

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Artsyz Historical and Local Lore Museum Museum "T. H. Shevchenko and the Spiritual Revival of Ukraine", Bazarynka village Local History Museum of Lymanske Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Museum of Local Lore Shabo Museum of Local History Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village Museum of Local History "Bessarabian Village Frumushyka-Nova" Bessarabske Historical and Local Lore Museum Folk Museum of the History of the Village and Agriculture of Stepove Museum of History and Local Lore Sarata Museum of Local Lore, Nadia village Odesa Historical and Local History Museum

The Edwin Kelm Museum
Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad Raion, Odesa Oblast

The museum was founded in 1998 by Edwin Kelm (1928–2021), President of the Society of Bessarabian Germans in Germany and a native of the Friedenstal colony—the former name of Myrnopillia village.

In the mid-1990s, he purchased a house in the village built in 1868 that had belonged to his grandfather. He also rebuilt demolished farm buildings, a summer kitchen, and a well. Museum staff then focused on furnishing the house with furniture, domestic utensils, and everyday objects, and stocking the outbuildings with work inventory and samples of agricultural machinery. The search for new exhibits extended not only through Myrnopillia but also to neighboring villages. The result is a museum with a historical and ethnographic profile, whose exhibition recreates the daily life and way of life of German colonists from the 1870s to the 1940s.

Wall hanging with text: "The food you cook with love and care, no matter how simple, will still taste good"

Friedental village, Artsyz district, Akkerman uyezd, Bessarabia Governorate, 1900s. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblas

Tablecloth

Southern Bessarabia, early 20th century. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

A pocket for watch"

Southern Bessarbia, late 19th century. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Wall hanging with text: "Lord, stay with us, for evening is approaching."

Southern Bessarabia, 1900s. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Decorative embroidery

Author: Irma Hammerling. Alt-Elft village, 1934. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Decorative embroidery with text: "Be joyful in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer."

Southern Bessarabia, early 20th century. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Waffle maker

Bessarabia, early 20th century Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Roof tile press

Western Europe, 1930s. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Corn grinder

Southern Bessarabia, 1930s. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Beet cutter

Southern Bessarabia, 1930s. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Grape crusher

Southern Bessarabia, 1930s. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Inter-row cultivator

Artsyz district, Akkerman district, Bessarabia Governorate, early 20th century. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Two-furrow plow

Germany, early 20th century. Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Mower

USA, 1900s Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Threshing machine

Sarata village, 1937 Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

Threshing drum

Southern Bessarabia, 1930s Edwin Kelm Museum, Myrnopillia village, Bolhrad raion, Odesa oblast

For this project, photographic materials were used, which were taken during the historical and ethnographic expeditions of 2001–2003 and 2007–2009 (led by Candidate of Historical Sciences V. V. Solodova) to the former German colonies of the Black Sea region – in villages of the Odesa and Mykolaiv Oblasts.