In article <[log in to unmask]>,
   "Christopher D. Geist" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
{snip}
>  All this is too bad.  The basic idea of developing a TV series around
>visits to museum/historic house settings is a good one.  Bob just "dropped
>the ball."  We should all be relieved that he didn't drop anything else!
>


Have you watched "This Old House" or "The New Yankee Workshop" recently?  In
an episode that aired a few weeks ago, the TOH crew visited the Peabody Essex
Museum in Salem.  It appeared that they too, had a tendency to want to
fondle various objects, but appeared a bit more restrained than Vila.  NYW
occasionally visits historic sites, galleries, and museums and Norm seems to
encourage the examination of "period works" even if his own furniture designs
seem somewhat lackluster in comparison.

As someone mentioned earlier, we can't really expect everyone to be sensitive
to the issue of collections care without an clear attempt to educate them in
the issue of the cause-and-effect of object handling.  However, I do think
that shows of this type have a tendency to draw in a new range of museum
visitors even if the source of their inspiration is someone who thinks a chair
is just a chair...

Kevin W. Tucker
Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts
Columbia Museum of Art
Columbia, SC  USA
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