Oh dear.   I think I'm going to have to back Candace on this one.

In truth, no one has said that small, unaccredited, volunteer-run,
non-"professionally" staffed museums eat dirt (not to mention send moldy,
insect-ridden objects without the slightest hint of good manners), but those
of us in the 12,000 small museums dealing with the perception that any of
those adjectives imply lack of appropriate collections stewardship is not an
uncommon experience (sorry if you have to read that sentence a couple of
times for it to make sense, but then it's late afternoon in the middle of
the week).   But (also in truth) most of the comments on this situation have
suggested one or more of these as explanations.

It was certainly unfortunate that the objects arrived in a (literary) lousy
state and it was also unfortunate that whoever sent it did not call ahead to
find out if the package would be welcome.  HOWEVER, they were appropriate
objects for the collection and there was a letter which provides the means
for follow-up.

My initial response was "do not attribute to malice what is more likely due
to stupidity".   Thinking about it a bit more, perhaps the focus should be
on the sender's good intentions (after all don't we all want objects to find
"good homes"?) and a response that begins, "I'm sure you didn't realize...".

[As a side note on the deaccession question, it is also possible that these
were objects that wer offered to the first museum, either separately or as
part of a larger donation, with the instruction "find a good home" or "do
whatever you want with them".]

janice

Janice Klein
(Chair, SMAC-AAM)
Director, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
[log in to unmask]
www.mitchellmuseum.org


-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Candace Perry
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 3:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Don't Bug Me?


I guess I'm just feeling sensitive today...sniff...
Candace Perry

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