"As you might imagine, we in ...  are constantly faced with the question 
of controversial exhibits. Our policy has been to let people on both (or 
all) sides tell their own stories. Their experiences are the history. "

Hi all,

the writer is probably grown up in a surrounding which suggests this 
policy. Let me say it frankly:  I have to throw a stone into the water.

For a Central European accustomed to the terms "truth", "science", 
"epistemology" and "museology", your policy is not only a sign of 
political correctness, it  is a Wikipedia-horror.  Such a relativly 
simple approach will, in a long term, destroy all jobs of museum 
curators and interpreters and the institution of museums itself (as 
Wikipedia has ruined the Encyclopaedia Britannica). It is not a sign of 
strength, it is a sign of weakness. I dont not want to bore you with a 
treatise on the roots of this approach, but it seems to be based in an 
old deflational philosophy of truth.

In our eyes the museum museum staff does not only have the right of 
interpretation, it is their obligation. They have to have a standpoint. 
This does not mean an interpretation monopol, but a museum has the duty 
to explain their museum objects.  Museum professionals should have 
knowledge on they highest level, they are the experts, they are (as 
their colleagues at Universities), using museum objects, the scouts of 
truth.
In our eyes any museum have to *teach *history. If  you leave 
interpretation up to the visitors: what have you studied for? To do some 
administrational work?
Do you really think that any approach by anybody is as important as the 
other?
What people say and remember is only one source, the truth - or history 
- is not a mixture of all experiences or remembrances. The 
reconstruction of history, of course, is a long lasting process; 
sometime we get near to it faster, sometimes slower. Remembrances can be 
wrong, experiences of subjects can be filtered by ideological positions. 
Between experiences and oral reflection there is a lot of right or wrong 
analysis.
We have learned not to take any oral reflection for granted and 
developed a method called Source Criticism which takes the various 
sources on a critical testbed.

Hope not offend anybody


Christian


-- 
Der Verlag Dr. C. Müller-Straten ist spezialisiert auf Museums- und Restaurierungsfragen. Er gibt die leserorientierte monatliche Fachzeitschrift MUSEUM AKTUELL und Bücher (beides auch online) in Deutsch und Englisch heraus und betreibt ein grosses Internetportal für Museumsprofis und Museumsbesucher. Ansprechpartner für inhaltliche Fragen: Dr. Adelheid Straten, Dr. Christian Müller-Straten;  für kaufmännische Fragen: Dr. Christian Müller-Straten; für Anzeigen Dr. Berthold Schmitt (http://www.museum-aktuell.de/preise/AZPL2010.pdf).
T. +49-(0)89 839 690-43, Fax -44, [log in to unmask] http://www.museum-aktuell.de

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