Remember that in history museums, we are often talking about donors who
actually USED the items, or members of their family may have used them. We
are not just talking about collectors who happened to have bought an item at
an auction, later donated it to a museum, and had no other connection with
the object. Christopher Dill stated - "I want to know about the object and
how it relates to the topic of the exhibit." - No argument there, but the
name of the donor is PART of that history, and is sometimes a very
significant part. Saying who donated an item CAN be relevant and interesting
to the visitor. On the other extreme however I am not in favour of putting
brass plaques on items just to honour Mrs. So-and-so who donated it.

Bottom line - I feel it is a choice for each museum to make.

Colin Macgregor Stevens,
Curator,
Burnaby Village Museum,
Burnaby, British Columbia, CANADA

E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Phone:(604) 293-6500
FAX:  (604) 293-6525
Museum web site:
http://www.burnabyparksrec.org/villagemuseum/villagemuseum.html


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
> Behalf Of Christopher Dill
> Sent: September 18, 2000 09:14
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: citations for artifacts
>
>
> David said, in part, "... many people are interested in KNOWING
> that an institution cares enough to credit even obscure donors. "
>  How do you know that piece of information?  Or is it just an opinion?
>
> I usually tell donors in a history museum context that (who used
> the object and how) is more important to the visitor than (who
> gave it).  The pro-donor label folks may be right, though, that
> the investment in label space and "clutter" is worth it in terms
> of encouraging and recognizing donors.  Personally, I find my
> self glossing right over the donors names in museum labels
> because I honestly don't care about that - I want to know about
> the object and how it relates to the topic of the exhibit.
>
> Chris Dill

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