We ran into this alot at a museum I used to be at- there are certain issues
that are "hot" and research will always overlook.

Here's the solution I made on one project that almost exactly replicated what
we were doing for an exhibition catalogue. I met with the historian and saw
that he was doing alot of other research which I did not have the resources
to do. We both explained what we were looking for the final result of our
works to be and found that there was space for both in this world- he was
doing more of an interpretative work (reaching wrong conclusions I feel) and
we I was trying to pull the info together and present it without comment. So
we both understood each other's goals and boundaries and were able to work
together to enrich each other's work. Never in the process, however, would I
have spent a day at the copier copying all my research notes- I would point
him to the recources I had used so he could find the information himself.
When our facts would clash, we would compare the sources.

But this was a case of two final products. Both of which were stronger for
the cooperation, and I feel the collected files of both projects (he will be
donating his when he is done) are benefiting the long-term knowledge of the
institution. I have always held that helping researchers of all kinds helps
the museum in the end (something my board never understood and felt that I
was wasting my time).

I would have your Director of Education talk to the restorer- see what
exactly he is doing. Maybe he is doing this because there is no information
on this artist and he feels writing it himself is the only way to get it. If
she explains her goal, perhaps he would either like to work with her to
co-author or perhaps just buy whatever the museum eventually publishes. This
is the DirEd's research, and although it is helping interpretation in the
museum, if it then sits in her desk and is only shared with visitors, you are
missing a good opportunity to expand your museum's reach.

In the course of our lives in a museum, we get tons and tons of information
in our brains. We know where the obscure pieces in the archives are or what
is the real meaning of that rusty canteen on the middle shelf in the back of
Collections. We have stood with visitors explaining how a window was opened
before we sealed it shut for environmental control. And much of this is lost
when we leave the museum. I have many times had offers from writers to
co-author publications, with me just spewing out information and resources
from my head and them doing the follow-up research and writing (their
argument being I would never find time to sit down and write something that
needs to be told). So if this research information truly does not have an
official future as a book, exhibit, pamphlet or website for your museum, it
might be valuable to work with this man. But I would encourage your Director
to give the DirEd a month off to write a short book that can be published and
sold in your shop and perhaps in other places.


Pamela Feltus

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