Vlasta Havelková (néeWankelová; 16 December 1857 – 16 June 1939) was a Czech ethnographer, archaeologist and collector of folk embroidery. She was member of the Olomouc Ethnographic Society and custodian of the Náprstek Museum in Prague.
Havelková was educated at municipal school in Blansko, before studying at the Higher Girls' School in Prague[cs] (Czech: Vyšší dívčí škola v Praze),[2] which her elder sister Karla also attended.[5]
On 11 May 1876, Havelková married Jan Havelka[cs],[1][2] a Moravian high school professor, painter, writer and ethnographer.[8] They had a daughter together called Milada, who became a still life painter and married a professor at the School of Applied Arts in Prague.[9] Havelková was widowed in 1886.[8]
Havelková's husband was responsible for the establishment of the Patriotic Association of Museums in Olomouc, which built the first museum in the city in 1883.[8] Havelková collected thousands of examples of folk textiles for the museum and organized the first ethnographic exhibition.[2] She became the curator of textiles at the Regional Museum in Olomouc (Czech: Vlastivědné muzeum v Olomouci)[10] and was a member of the Olomouc Ethnographic Society.[1]
From 1888 to 1891, Havelková published the journal Mährische Ornamente, which focused on traditional Slavic folk arts. The journal featured contributions from her family, including her father and her sister Madlena.[10] She also actively participated in archaeological research at the Late Pleistocenehill site at Předmostí u Přerova.[1]
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