Why preserve it if there are no visitors...  There's a very good question which
touches the basic paradox of all museums: the contradiction between preserving and
exhibiting objects.  Every time we display something, we also endanger its
preservation.  So, as a professional historian and museologist, I would tend to
agree that Museums should focus on preservation first.  However, the current
pressures force us to compromise with principles.  We've done it successfully in
most cases - until now - but one does wonder where it's going to stop.  I'm
thinking, for instance, about the current trend of firing curators and to replace
them with marketing experts, educators and communication experts.  In the long run,
and despite the energy I must put into making the museum I direct competitive on the
free market, I fear what institutions will lose is their collective memory and
culture about collections and their meaning - the very essence of their nature.  In
my mind, the question becomes: are museums still producers of knowledge or are they
becoming distributors of knowledge that is being produced elsewhere?

Hervé Gagnon
Director-Curator
Colby-Curtis Museum
Stanstead (Québec)
Canada

Andrew S. Richmond-The Papers of Philander Chase a écrit:

> <Why perserve it if there are no visitors?
>
> History should be preserved simply because it exists.  I'm one of those wacky,
> overly-idealist folks who thinks historical artifacts, documents, works of art,
> etc. are inherently valuable and should be preserved, regardless of who sees or
> does not see them.  I've gone days and days and days without archives patrons,
> but I still am determined that everything under my control be well-preserved.
> Should we, or any museum/archives/institution close down and get rid of our
> holdings simply because of low attendance?  I stand by my argument that our
> institutions exist to preserve.  Yes, we preserve to make available to
> researchers/visitors, but we also preserve regardless of who, if anyone,
> visits.  Entertaining the visitor should not come before preservation on a
> priority list.  It is both a means and and end.
>
> -Andrew
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Andrew S. Richmond | Proj. Dir. | Editor | The Papers of Philander Chase |
> Kenyon College | P.O. Box 141 | Gambier, OH 43022 | Phone: (740)427-5689 |
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
> Please visit!    http://www.kenyon.edu/khistory/chase/
>
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>
> "His grave will be precious to us.  It will be honored by all generations in
> this College and neighborhood."
>                                 -Bp. Charles P. McIlvaine
>                                  upon the death of Lorin Andrews
>
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