Dear Bernice, Geoffrey and Gary,

Allow me one amendment to Bernice's last suggestion: Please change "...
Cultural heritage ..." in  "... cultural and scientific heritage ...'.

After all, museums of natural history, botany, geology, paleontology,
archeology, anthropology (to name a few) keep the primary sources of
evidence of an enormous part of our scientific heritage, collected over the
last couple of centuries.
Of course, one can argue that our scientific heritage is part of our
culture, and I will immediately agree. However, it is unfortunate that many
see culture and science as different and often even hostile worlds, as
illustrated in the fact that many national and local governments have
different departments of Science and Education and for Culture, often
reflected in different 'governing bodies' of different types of museums and
in the debate on the position of research in museums as was earlier
mentioned during this discussion.

Bernice's definition would then read:

"Museums are institutions that serve society by promoting knowledge,
appreciation and conservation of the natural world and the cultural and
scientific heritage of humanity through collections, memories, sites and
processes they care for, research and interpret for public benefit."

Sorry for this late reaction, I should have noticed this earlier!

Thanks and with best regards,

Steven W.G. de Clercq

Utrecht University, senior consultant Academic Heritage
Vice-Chair of UMAC, ICOM's International Committee for University Museums
& Collections
website: <http://www.icom.museum/umac>
Straatweg 17,  3603 CV MAARSSEN,  the Netherlands
Tel:  OO31-(0)346-567.573;  Fax:  0031-(0)346-578.843
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
__________________________________________________________________________



On 02-11-2003 14:38, "Bernice Murphy.com.au" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Responding to Gary Edson (29 October 2003):
>
> Thank you, Gary, for the message indicating how you see the discussion has
> evolved.  I endorse strongly the effort to include more colleagues through
> incorporating whatever you can accomplish now by way of summary translation
> into French and Spanish.
>
> I have taken time to reflect on the responses of colleagues, and to
> consider their different perspectives.  I also paid attention again to
> Geoffrey Lewis's suggestions - for his insightful comments on behalf of the
> work of the Ethics Committee (which he has chaired through the detailed
> process of revising the ICOM Code of Ethics).  I strongly endorse his point
> that we should be thinking of a definition that advances the interests of
> 'the museum profession' in its largest scope, not simply museums or museum
> professionals, or even ICOM members.
>
> Concerning one of the definitions you are keeping in circulation (the one I
> proposed some weeks past), I would prefer to substitute this (revised)
> version:
>
> "Museums are institutions that serve society by promoting knowledge,
> appreciation and conservation of the natural world and the cultural
> heritage of humanity through collections, memories, sites and processes
> they care for, research and interpret for public benefit."
>
> In response to Gary's query:  to my mind 'memories, images' are not
> necessarily part of 'collections', but carry a movement towards
> acknowledging the living, the virtual, the oral or literary image, and the
> intangible aspects of culture.
>
> I have retained 'memories', surrendered 'images' but included 'processes'
> this time (which could be both scientific and cultural).
>
> The important issue about a museum being presumed to be a permanent
> institution (and some other details) could be added in the points of
> application that would follow whatever revised definition is finally
> adopted in the ICOM Statutes.
>
> (For clarity, my previous suggestion - now withdrawn - was:
> Museums are permanent institutions that conserve and communicate knowledge
> of the natural world and the cultural inheritance of humanity through
> collections, records, memories, images, and sites they care for, research
> and interpret, in public trust, for present and future generations." )
> Bernice Murphy
> ===============
>
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