In article <[log in to unmask]>, Wayne and Mary
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>I,m one of those folks without a masters in anything to do
>with Museums, but here I am on the Board of Directors
>operating and managing a Museum  - so a question to you
>good folks -
>
I have a Masters, but it was in Museum Studies, not dating jugs - inded,
you will find that Masters fall into two kinds: subject-specific, be it
paintings, Roman archaeology, Zoology, or whatever, and museum-specific.
The first kind gets you an expert in paintings (etc.), the second kind
an expert in everything from how to write an acquisition policy to how
to dispose of collections, via how to run visitor surveys.

>recent acquisition - a pitcher  that is supposed to be 150
>years old. How can we tell?  No markings on it. It was not
>mouthblown because it has seams on both sides.
>
OK, this is how I'd do it if it landed on my desk.  First, I'd look at
it.  What is it made of?  Earthenware?  Porcelain?  Glass?  Plastic?
What is it's shape (earlier shapes are copied later, but rarely, 'just
right')?  Then I make a guess.  This is based on 'where I see it' - does
it 'look right' in a 1930s house, a 1900s house, an 1850s house?  (Am I
entirely off track thinking of houses - is this the kind of jug used in
hospitals, or in churches?)  Then, _starting_ from that hunch, I go and
look in books, especially suppliers catalogues.

Another question I'd ask: who is telling me that this is 150 years, old,
and does it matter?

For example, someone in their 60s comes in, and says 'this belonged to
my grandmother.  She says it belonged to her grandmother, who was born
in 1840 - so it must be 150 years old.  Of course, that great-great
grandmother could have bought it in 1900 or so ... but that isn't why
this object fits the collection policy - why it fits is because the
donor says that he remembers this jug in his grandmother's house in the
1940s.  So I'd be more interested in getting a photo which shows how his
grandmother used or displayed the jug, than in pinning down the date of
manufacture.

I hope that helps,

--
Pat Reynolds
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at home
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at work
Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum
   "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years time"
   (T. Prattchet)