Opponentinlæg: Valtonen, Hannu - From Commonplace to Curiosity – The Museum Value of two Messerschmitt Bf 109 – Aircraft at the Central Finland Aviation Museum

Staff officer Hannu Valtonen’s doctoral dissertation in museology ”Tavallisesta kuriositeetiksi – Kahden Keski-Suomen ilmailumuseon Messerschmitt Bf 109-lentokoneen museoarvo” (From Commonplace to Curiosity – The Museum Value of two Messerschmitt Bf 109 Aircraft of the Aviation Museum of Central Finland ) is based on three previously publis- hed works on Messerschmitt aircraft by the author: 1) Lapin lentokonehylyt. Yli 20 vuotta pohjoista lentokonearkeologiaa (Aircraft Wrecks of Lapland – Over 20 Years of Northern Aircraft Archaeology,1993), 2) Luftwaffen pohjoinen sivusta. Saksan ilmavoimat Suomessa ja Pohjois-Norjassa 1941–1944 (The Northern Flank of the Luftwaffe – German Air Force in Finland and Northern Norway in 1941 – 1944, from 1997) and 3) Messerschmitt Bf 109 ja Saksan sotatalous (The Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the War Economy in Germany, 1999). The dissertation is the first doctoral thesis in museology to be submitted in Finland, which must naturally be taken into account when evaluating Valtonen’s success in this venture and the scholarly significance of the study for museological research. The only comparisons are to be found in studies in ethnology and art history among other subjects, but there is no counterpart to Valtonen’s work in material culture studies .