Jessica Johnson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ..."we" conservators are the spokesman for the artifact, that our main
> responsibility lies with the artifact and it's long-term preservation.
> If you follow this line of reasoning far enough it means that you put
> everything into dark, environmentally controlled storage and never use
> it in any way. Of course this is not very socially responsible if you
> consider that museums are generally public institutions and the"public"
> has a right to access to the stuff.
 
I agree that this captures the ethical tension that must be part of all
collections/exhibit decisions. My experience was with an historic house
and museum. In that setting, preservation/exhibition has an additional
wrinkle. The conditions that are best for the house itself - don't heat
the interior - are not good for either period furniture or visitors.
The visitor problem can be taken care of by a separate, modern museum
building which is heated. Winter tours of the unheated house are brief,
but it provides a great opportunity to educate the public about the
difficulties of preservation. The furniture problem is more difficult
due to the concerns we recently discussed in the thread about repro-
ductions. Ideally only well-done but expendable repros ought to furnish
that unheated house, while the authenic period furniture is preserved
in the environmentally controlled museum. Unfortunately this raises all
those issues we recently batted around, and it is a much harder sell.
I've been away from the field for a while so I'd be very interested
to hear how people in historic house museums have dealt with these
issues. Another point in the discussion that interested me:
 
Terry Vidal <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>...  an integrated museum, no matter its size, serves the community via
> preservation for exhibition... and education... and research and, let's
> not forget - Posterity.  Thus our audience is not only in the present,
> but we must consider the future.  This is the obligation of the museum.
> This is often difficult because our money comes from the here and now!
 
Terry expresses this point quite well, but remember, if any of that money
is coming from government sources, in a very real sense, those people in
"The Future" are already paying their share - thanks to deficit finance.
 
     Dave Carroll
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