I can imagine how this happened; the excitment of having a popular show
interested in your museum must be distracting. It would be easy to focus
only on the attention and what it may generate (as in more funding
maybe?) than on the rulebook. It's not Bob's fault - hey, he's a hands on
type fella. Someone at the museum should have sat him down for a little
educational session, and made his visit more conditional.

On Mon, 12 Feb 1996, Ivy Strickler wrote:

> Hats off to Byron Johnson for injecting a reasonable couple of paragraphs
> into an otherwise emotional issue.
>
> Flaming Bob Vila is kind of like shooting the messenger. Although I have
> not been involved in this sort of filming, I can't imagine that it is done
> on the spur of the moment; *somebody* sat down and went through the script
> and the rehearsal, etc., and gave permission for whatever was said and
> done.
>
> On another note, I think we need to recognize that historic houses,
> furniture, and other decorative arts are priceless to us because they carry
> the touch of those who lived there. They change, and mellow, and develop a
> patina over time that can never be duplicated. Obviously, careless handling
> is never acceptable, and making whole rooms of objects off-limits to the
> general public is probably a fine idea, but the stroke of a hand on a wood
> surface doesn't seem to call for the kind of general alarm raised in some
> of these recent postings.
>
> Just my 2c
> Ivy Fleck Strickler                     Phone 215-895-1637
> Drexel University                       Fax 215-895-4917
> Nesbitt College of Design Arts          [log in to unmask]
> Philadelphia, PA 19104
>
> "Never forget that life is like a Fellini movie, and you're getting to see
> it for free."
>