Audra,

When including a donor or lender name in our text, I do not think we should
consider what is most convenient for us.  There are many people that donate
or loan an item because they know they will be recognized in the text when
that object is on display.  When done correctly, this credit line should
rarely disturb the flow of the exhibit text.

This year at the Derby Museum, the great grandchildren of a Derby winning
owner had a replica of the 1924 Kentucky Derby trophy made.  The original
was stolen in the 1930's and never recovered.  This family gave this trophy
to their father (the owner's grandson) this summer at the museum.  He was
overcome with emotion, thanking his children and the museum profusely for
this wonderful gift.  We are going to display this replica trophy in a
temporary exhibit, and we would be doing a great diservice to our visitors
if we didn't tell this story.

The stories of how a lender or donor decided to place their artifacts in our
custody are sometimes just as exciting as the story of the object itself.

Chris Goodlett
Curator of Collections
Kentucky Derby Museum


>From: Audra Oliver <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: citations for artifacts
>Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 04:36:30 -0600
>
>Donor information may be the standard in art museums but I find it very
>distracting when included in history museum labels.  We recently installed
>a
>wonderful traveling exhibit.  It's a delight in many respects but every
>artifact is attributed.  These lent by, donated by words truly get in the
>way.  They interrupt the flow and add information that is uninteresting for
>most of your audience.
>In graduate school, the discussion also included the idea that it also
>alerted thieves to the idea that certain individuals might hold collections
>worthy of their attention.
>History museums also deal with many more artifacts than art museums.  Often
>these individual items are of far less value than a painting or sculpture
>donated to art museums.  With the quantity of items we deal with in
>history,
>it is far too easy to possibly attribute a gift incorrectly.  Then, too,
>with our donors, we can also inadvertently raise family squabbles and find
>ourselves in the middle of family disputes via, "He didn't have the
>right..."
>My first year at a small history museum, one lady called to ask me to
>"watch" for her relative that they were afraid might be donating things to
>the museum.  Another couple debated leaving an item on loan for a longer
>period of time to hide it from a recently divorced spouse of one of them.
>Throughout my career I've been educating people on the idea that we do not
>attribute individual items directly to a donor in our exhibit text.  I
>would
>hope that we would not go back to the era where most of our exhibit text is
>"belonged to Joe Smith's great grandmother.  donated by Sally Jones."
>After
>all, what does this tell you that you want to remember?
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: David E. Haberstich <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2000 10:38 PM
>Subject: Re: citations for artifacts
>
>
> > In a message dated 00-09-01 10:52:45 EDT, you write:
> >
> > << Is there a standard citation formula when publishing articles about
> >  artifacts?  In other words, when one uses a photograph of an artifact
>in
>an
> >  article, what information should be included in the caption?  Artifact
>name,
> >  where artifact was collected, material, date, museum collection where
> >  presently located, accession #?
> >
> >  Should any or all of the above information be included?  Is there a
>standard
> >  order, like in bibliographic citations and footnotes?
> >
> >  Best,
> >
> >  Nicholas P. Ciotola >>
> >
> > I hadn't noticed any response to this question over the past two weeks,
>so
>I
> > thought I would venture one.  I'm not aware of any official standard,
>but
>I
> > think all the important points have been included above--with one
>exception:
> > name of donor.  I think the latter is a very important detail to include
>in
> > any object caption, whether in an exhibit label, a museum's own
>collection
> > catalog, or when a photograph of the artifact is released for outside
> > publication.  I'll expand on this below.
> >
> > I think many art museums have established a good tradition in this area
>in
> > their own publications, and they usually include most of the above
> > information in their basic exhibit labels and illustration captions (I'm
> > referring to identification rather than interpretive or explanatory
>text).
> > The main exception might be "where collected," as provenance history
>might
>be
> > too complex or not sufficiently relevant with many objects.  Obviously
>it
> > would be more important with certain kinds of artifacts, such as
> > archaeological items.
> >
> > I've always felt that museums should be careful about supplying full
>captions
> > with credit lines when releasing pictures of their artifacts for
>publication.
> >  This is an important aspect of ensuring a scholarly approach.  It also
>helps
> > your colleagues (and often yourself) in the long run when a published
>image
> > attracts new requests and you have to locate the same picture of the
>same
> > object for a new use.  You may find that a negative or other file number
>for
> > the picture will facilitate retrieval and will also be useful in a
>caption
>or
> > credit line (whatever it takes to make your life easier, depending upon
>the
> > way your institution does business).
> >
> > As I write this, I'm looking at a book published by my own institution
>(the
> > Smithsonian) which contains many photographs of our artifacts from a
>variety
> > of collections: none includes adequate identification to facilitate easy
> > access to the photographs for re-use.  Since most Smithsonian curatorial
> > units handle reproduction permissions independently of each other,
>anyone
> > wishing to republish these illustrations will have some degree of
>difficulty
> > in identifying and locating the appropriate individual repositories.
>Since I
> > manage a collection in which original photographs are themselves the
> > artifacts, I often end up redirecting a lot of inquiries for photographs
>OF
> > artifacts.  Just the other day I had to figure out who handles compasses
>so I
> > could refer to that unit an inquiry for a photograph OF a compass which
>was
> > reproduced somewhere with a "Smithsonian Institution" credit line and no
> > other information.  This is a constant headache for me which can be
> > alleviated only by (a) an integrated database of information about
> > Smithsonian collections, not yet a reality, and/or (b) full disclosure
>and
> > identifcation in captions.  Obviously, less complex institutions will
>not
> > have these same headaches.
> >
> > But that's my problem.  Getting back to the other issue about donor
> > information, I think this is an important aspect of an orderly approach
>to
> > the way a museum ought to do business.  I think a museum should be
>prepared
> > to honor the contributions of donors by insisting that donors always
>receive
> > credit whenever their gifts are exhibited or when photographs of them
>are
> > reproduced.  I think this credit should be provided almost
>automatically.
> > Obviously, this means that it's important to ascertain at the time of a
> > donation whether the donor wants credit in such circumstances, and the
> > catalog and accession records should reflect this for future reference.
> > "Anonymous gift," when the donor wishes to remain anonymous, is also a
>useful
> > credit when appropriate.  Again, I think the standard practices of many
>art
> > museums in this regard provide a useful model.
> >
> > Sorry to go off on such a lengthy tangent, but I thought there were a
>number
> > of important issues embodied in this deceptively simple question.
> >
> > David Haberstich
> >
> > =========================================================
> > 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).
>
>=========================================================
>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).

_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com.

=========================================================
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).