Carol Morgan wrote: "an instituition may>legitimately call itself a Museum
 even thought they have no collection."

Yes, Carol, and it also comes from a source no less august:  the Institute
of Museum Services has provisions in the IMS GOS grant application for
"non-collecting" institutions to respond to more detailed questions about
its exhibits, rather than collections.  My guess is that this originally
came about to recognize science-technology centers, which are sometimes
non-collecting.  I know of a couple of history/art museums that are also
non-collecting, but I haven't quite gotten over that yet.

With collections being so expensive to maintain, and exhibitions and
educational programs being our most public product, can this be the wave
of the future?

Claudia Nicholson
Curator of Collections
South Dakota State Historical Society, Pierre

[log in to unmask]