Hello to museum-l subscribers! Wow! What a vocal group!
Here's my 2 cents on the "Thrill of the original"...
 
The role of the museum is to protect, preserve, and maintain its
collections of artifacts and specimens for the future needs of the public
and private researchers. Its job is to report information, objectively and
thoroughly, but museum professionals often find themselves between a rock
a hard place attempting to do just that.
In natural history collections, we maintain *type* specimens, and for this
argument I will equate them to an art's collections' *originals*. Type
specimens are designated by their collectors to become **THE** specimen
for which all others like it (duplicates/copies if you will) are to be
based. Yes, there are copies like types all over the world! Yet no two are
the same. Natural specimens have differing genes, diets and habitats, just
as art objects have their own unique qualities, whatever the medium.
What is it we learn from originals? Depends on what you, as the
interpreter, public or private, are looking for. Therefore, we, as museum
professionals must *never* interpret...we must report. Then again...
we must do as much as we can to make the museum experience as complete
as possible for our visitors, which may mean that due to geographical
limitations, the Constitution will not be finding it's way to Hawaii
any time soon, so we must make concessions to display a reproduction. It's a
very fine line that must be walked.
I have seen the Mona Lisa, the Sistine Chapel, and the Grand Canyon in
photos... but there ain't nothin' like the real thing. However, living in
Hawaii (or wherever you may live), I've realized that there isn't enough
time or resources in the world for me see everything I'd like to, and I
understand (as most museum visitors do or will if explained well enough) that
some pieces of our human history are simply too fragile or too sacred to be
viewed publicly. I, for one, would rather leave a museum having learned
something new and eager to share my experience after seeing a copy of the
Constitution, or any other work, than to have the *thrill* of seeing
the original, but not to have *learned* a damn thing!
"The original vs. the copy" argument and is valid, but you must first ask
yourself what is the goal of asking the question? To set policy for all
museums based on a collective integrity or meet your institutions goals
and the educational needs of your public as thoroughly as possible?
 
 
Karen J. Kroslowitz                     phone: 808-848-4118
Natural Sciences, Malacology            fax:   808-841-8968
Bernice P. Bishop Museum                [log in to unmask]