As I have mentioned in other posts, I have been see-sawing quite a bit on
this issue. While it is passed the date when the flag was scheduled to be
retired, I believe, as others have pointed out, that the discussions about
this artifact help inform our decisions concerning almost all of the items
that come under our consideration. That having been said, I think it
interesting that no one has considered other ways we can memorialize this
flag aside from actually preserving it. Photos of it being found, being
retired, it's condition, oral histories of the people who found it, the
people who made the decision to burn it, those who wish to save it, and
other pieces or "memory-making" could form the core of a collection or
exhibit that could be quite powerful even without the actual flag, and even
be the more moving if the flag's absence was highlighted in some fashion.

My point is that, as others have pointed out, we cannot save everything, but
that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to remember what we have lost.

Matthew

Marybeth Tomka Wrote:

> I would like to comment not on whether the flag should be preserved (since
> it is already Saturday, the 20th) but rather on the thoughts of some that it
> shouldn't be kept.  I am an archaeological collections manager and we are
> faced with making retention decisions all the time.  Some archaeologists
> very dedicated to the preservation of certain types of artifacts and do not
> think other categories need to take up our valuable and dwindling curation
> space.  I personally believe that we can not make decisions for future
> researchers  without considering the whole picture.  So back to the flag.
> It might not be as meaningful in a musuem for some people, but I think that
> one look at the flag and acknowledgement of where it came from would bring
> tears to the eyes of another visitor.
>
> Just my opinion.

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