I would rather buy a book on the subject or watch a documentary instead of
going to the trouble of attending an exhibition of reproductions.  This
trend would be the end of museums, at least for me.  My vote is to display
originals.  They are worth waiting in line for.

The only exception to this is the Japanese museum which only exhibits
porcelain replicas of world masterpieces.  From everything I have heard
about it, it is phenomenal but a novelty.  Will it survive?  Time will
tell.

Maureen Devine
----------
> From: Jennifer Gayman <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Titanic exhibit
> Date: Thursday, October 15, 1998 2:13 PM
>
> >  From: David Haberstich <[log in to unmask]>, on 10/15/98 10:43 AM:
> >   I fully agree with Delecia Huitt that too many artifacts in an
exhibit
> >  interfere with traffic flow. You should see all the people lined up
> >  outside the National Gallery of Art to view the Van Gogh show. If they
> >  had had the common sense to show reproductions instead of original
> >  paintings, the lines undoubtedly would speed up considerably. This is
> >  yet another reason for museums to avoid the use of original artifacts
in
> >  exhibits.
>
> I'm curious to hear other opinions on this topic.  David Haberstich's
statement
> that museums should avoid using original objects in exhibits, in this
case to
> speed things up, does not sit well with me.  I realize that display is
not the
> best things for sensitive objects, but isn't the point of a museum that
it
> preserves and displays for public benefit the objects in its care?  In my
> opinion, if we remove original objects from exhibits, we are defeating
one of
> the basic purposes of a museum.  Any thoughts?
>
> Jennifer Gayman
> MA Museum Studies
> University of Newcastle upon Tyne
> All opinions are mine and not my employer's.