I think it is very responsible for a museum to take into account not only knowledgeable visitors and passionate amateurs, but also the ordinary person for whom these objects have a meaning vastly different from the "official" position.  These are people for whom the standard interpretation has no value, and their own interpretation, although it might not be standard, also has value.  For example, a small museum I have worked with has a collection of printed milk bottle top liners from a specific dairy.  These liners might have meaning as relates to the history of the dairy, the changes in graphic style as a product of their times or as a by-product of a manufacturing process that is now out of date and therefore interesting historically. All of which are simply fine interpretations. For this museum, however, these liners are significant socially as well, and not just to indicate the market penetration of the dairy's product.  It is a small house museum interpreting African American life from about 1900-1930 in that particular section of town.  It was not the most prosperous of neighborhoods. If a child collected enough of these liners, s/he could have the opportunity to go swimming for free at a pool on a specific designated day, an opportunity that would not normally be available because of the cost.  Therefore, when excavations are made in the neighborhood and quantities of these bottle top liners are found, it often meant not only that the family took milk from that particular dairy, but that there was a child in the house who was saving the liners for much-needed relief on a hot summer day.  It took someone from the neighborhood, not a specialist, to give this spin on the importance of these artifacts, and one who didn't give a fig about all the other possible meanings, which are not even interpreted in that manner in the museum.

Julia Muney Moore
Public Art Administrator
Blackburn Architects, Indianapolis, IN
(317) 875-5500 x230
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of "Dr. Christian Müller-Straten"
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 1:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] "community curators"

I do have nothing against a a clear cut of object remarks of museum
curators and museum visitors. I have made it clear that I am against an
"instead of". Any visitor has of course the personal right to make up
his/her mind on the content of information spread by classified museum
staff.

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).