The Mautner family and the Volkskundemuseum in ViennaThe history of the museum runs parallel to the history of the Mautnerfamily. Their paths cross repeatedly and their fates and misfortunesare linked.Isidor and Jenny Mautner held positions in the museumas wellas in the Verein für Volkskunde(Ethnographic Society), Isidor as an­officer, Jenny Mautner as a benefactor, who in 1917 helped organizethe moving of the collections from their original location in the build-ing of the Vienna stock exchange to its current location in the Garten-palais Schönborn in Laudongasse in Vienna’s 8th district, Josefstadt.Their children, particularly Stephan and Konrad Mautner and hiswife Anna, maintained close contact with the museum, both in con-junction with their research, and also in connection with the manyobjects the museum acquired prior to 1938. During the First WorldWar, the connections between the museum and the family were­particularly strong regarding the reopening of the collection. Themuseum’s self-image as“reflection of the diversity of Austrian folk life,as a champion of“the idea of Austrian’s statehood and acting as amodel and stimulus for”native art and work” in the name of“Heimat”(homeland)mirrored the business and patriotic aims and values of theMautner family and their enterprises.The intentions regarding the care for traditional costumes from1935 – which was the zenith of Austrofascist cultural policy – weresimilar, too: The museum created a special advice-department(“Trachtenberatungsstelle”)for matters to do with traditional folk­costume while Anna Mautner produced traditional costumes withher textile printing company and followed her mission as expert in­traditional costumes.MP116