Kind of like the coffee-making equipment accessioned in the 1980s by well
meaning volunteer collections folks at my last museum...
Sarah's post got me thinking, what are some of the other strange objects
people have found accessioned into their collections?
Dan
Dan Bartlett
Curator of Exhibits and Education
Instructor of Museum Studies
Logan Museum of Anthropology
Beloit College
(608) 363-2678
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Sarah M. Allen Sarah Allen Museum Technician Knife River Indian Villages
NHS Stanton, ND 58571-0009 701.745.3300
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 10:12 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Outreach & artifacts
My 2 cents.
Be sure they are actually "artifacts", I know that sounds dumb, but bear
with me. Once, I was doing an inventory of American Indian artifacts in a
collection and could not find a pair of moccasins the computer said we had,
with no description... I got out the accession book and found who had
donated them and when, but nothing for a description there either. I about
pulled my hair out looking for these things, as the museum was small and
mostly archeological items, the moccasins should have stuck out like a sore
thumb.
One afternoon, I had an epiphany. I shared my office space with the
education specialist. I got in his traveling discovery trunk and behold,
there were the moccasins, numbered and all. It did not take me long to
realise looking at them that they were not authentic. but why catalog them?
I found an employee who had been there for ages. she told me that some
people a few years back had started cataloging everything that came thru
the door as artifacts, regardless of origin. They were quickly told to
stop, but several items were never "fixed". The moccasins had been made by
a vendor specifically for the use they now had. they were not gifts, but a
commissioned and paid for prop for the interpretive staff, over 15 years
prior.
Sarah Allen
Julie Blood
<julieblood@SANJO
AQUINHISTORY.ORG> To
Sent by: Museum [log in to unmask]
discussion list cc
<[log in to unmask]
SE.LSOFT.COM> Subject
[MUSEUM-L] Outreach & artifacts
02/02/2009 01:00
PM
Please respond to
Museum discussion
list
<[log in to unmask]
SE.LSOFT.COM>
We have traveling trunks that docents take to outreach programs for
schools. Recently I found out that there are actual artifacts in these
trunks. I am thinking that these should not be the actual artifacts, but
reproduction items or objects taken strictly for education purposes only.
Has anybody else experienced this before, if so how did you handle it with
your education coordinator?
Thanks!
Julie Blood
Collections and Exhibit Manager
San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum
P.O. Box 30, Lodi, CA 95241
(209) 331-2055
(209) 953-3460
[log in to unmask]
www.sanjoaquinhistory.org
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