I recently visited the Imperial War Museum in London.  This is an
exceptionally fine museum which is creating an oasis for visitors in its
local with the addition of a cafe and a quite large gift shop.  The gift
shop had on hand a number of patterns and other information for 1940's
ladies' fashions which goes nicely with their current exhibit of that
material.  I was, however, distressed to find reproductions of pilot's wings
and other insignia not marked as reproductions.  Finding very good
reproductions not identified as such or finding original material related to
the museum's collection is something I find regrettable.  This may have more
of a social stigma attached for military history and art museums where
forgaries have been a problem over the years.

Wayne Hart, Director
Museum of Valor


At 10:15 AM 4/10/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I have a query to ponder for all you folks out there who work in museums
that also maintain gift shops.
>
>I recently visited a small county museum in which there was a special
exhibit on Spanish shipwrecks and underwater archaeology.  The exhibit
focused on the technology of underwater archaeology, was full of gizmos, and
appeared to be appreciated by the other visitors.  They looked at the
artifacts on display, and I overheard more than one conversation about what
life must have been like for the people on board.  In this element, I
consider the exhibit to be a success.
>
>In the museum gift shop, majolica potsherds and silver coin pendants made
from silver salvaged from shipwreck sites were on sale.  There also were
some whole ceramic vessels "of the types found on the ships" for sale.  The
store managers had used the exhibit as a tie-in for the merchandise display,
and emphasized their authenticity.
>
>Now, the potsherds were fragmentary and unprovenienced, everything was
collected legally and with the proper permits.  However, I had some question
about the message being given the interested public.  I had an interesting
chat with the director of the museum.  I asked whether he thought that the
sale of such items might be confusing for visitors, and if, perhaps, a small
informational notecard might be placed in the gift shop, stating the
museum's stance on artifacts for sale, pothunters, and why this merchandise
was okay to sell.  It could be done in three or four sentences, providing
the museum staff had a unified stance.  His response was that you can never
know where the items come from, heck, even the t-shirts for sale could have
been stolen off the back of a truck last night, he wasn't an archaeologist,
he didn't know, didn't care, and, anyway, the museum's "friends of" group
ran the store, and it wasn't his responsibility.  (Really, he said this.)
>
>Never having been the one to manage a museum store or make policy
decisions, I am curious to hear responses from those of you who have these
responsibilities.  Is there an acknowledged connection between the messages
presented in your exhibits and the types of merchandise offered for sale in
your store?  Do you consider the shop to be a part of the educational
component of your museum?  I haven't much exprertise on this, but am very
interested to hear what others think.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Robin Shtulman
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>