Special exhibitions in the Territorial Museum

The origins of Cellba doll production in Babenhausen date back to 1923. On April 15, 1923, Carl Wimmer from Babenhausen and on September 21, 1923 Otto Becker from Babenhausen applied for a patent for connecting celluloid doll limbs. Locations for production already existed, since building officer Heinrich Schöberl (1875-1957) had acquired Wilhelm Loesch’s liquidated celluloid goods factory for hair ornaments in the 1920s. On January 1, 1924, the “Babenhausen, Schöberl & Becker celluloid goods factory” officially came into existence. The Cellba dolls, marked with the mermaid on the back, were sold all over the world. In the early 1930s, a manicure and toiletries department was also set up. In the 1930s, Cellba was the largest employer in Babenhausen with over 100 employees. In the 1950s there were almost 400. Almost every household had someone “into the Bobbe”. In the 1960s, however, the highly flammable celluloid used in the manufacture of toys was banned. In 1966, the American company “Mattel” took over the business and from then on supplied the world market with Barbie dolls. “Mattel” stayed in Babenhausen until 1987.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Cellba, a special exhibition “100 years of Cellba” will be presented in the Babenhausen Territorial Museum. The exhibition will be on Officially opened April 2, 2023 and will be on view until April 1, 2024.

This special exhibition from Sabine Frank’s private collection offers viewers a “photographic journey through time” through the past century. The development of photo technology from medium and small format cameras is illustrated in more than 80 exhibits. The technology is explained by display boards showing the function and a look inside a camera.

The first Polaroid cameras from the middle of the 20th century, the presentation of film development and how light meters work complete this exhibition.

The first 500 children to visit the exhibition will receive a small foldable “cardboard camera obscura” including handicraft instructions to take away.

The replica of a “wattle wall from the Bronze Age” with a corresponding information board can now be seen on permanent loan from the “Hessian Energy Saving Campaign” (HESA) in the Territorial Museum in the Prehistory and Early History department. HESA is a project of the Hessian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy, Transport and Regional Development.

In Langenselbold, the Main-Kinzig district archeology recently excavated a burned-down settlement. It dates from the Bronze Age 3400 years ago. The findings were preserved by traces in the hard-burned clay with which the wickerwork was pelted. The walls of the huts consisted of two wicker walls placed at a distance from each other, and hay had been stuffed between them, about ten centimeters thick.

The hay was burned, the imprints of the stalks in the hard-burned clay plaster were the evidence for an energy-saving wall from the Bronze Age. The damaging fire that destroyed the settlement has received the mud to this day. A stroke of luck for the Hessian archaeologists, because now they were able to gain a more precise idea of how people lived 3400 years ago.

“It is extremely plausible that the walls were already well insulated back then: In our climate, there would have been frost in the huts for long periods of winter. With the ten centimeter thick grass filling, the thermal insulation is amazingly good. This quality was only achieved again in 1995 with the thermal insulation ordinance at the time, ”says Klaus Fey from the“ Hessian Energy Saving Campaign ”.

One such Bronze Age energy-saving wall can now be seen permanently in the Territorial Museum. Information material is available. Such a replica could already be seen for three months last year. Since this energy-saving wall had met with considerable interest, the museum management tried to obtain a permanent loan. This has now been set up.