Matthew L Kocsis wrote:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1996 11:14:58 -0500 (EST)
> From: Matthew L Kocsis <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Outside the Museum
>
> As part of a research project for a graduate seminar, I have been looking
> at how non-professional, non-historical institutions display and interpret mat
erial culture > and American history.  (snip)

The Burger King at Kayenta, AZ (in the middle of the Navajo Nation) has a pretty
extensive exhibit on the Navajo Code Talkers.  It consists of three or four case
 panels of
objects and text.  It's been a while since I saw it, but I recall newspapers, ph
otographs, and
swords, maybe other small, flat objects.  (I gather it startles Japanese tourist
s stopping
through on their way to or from Grand Canyon!)

Why Burger King?  My guess is that the owner of the franchise was, or is related
 to, a Code
Talker in WWII and wants the world to know what this little group of people did
for their
country in that war.  I would also guess the objects on exhibit are all privatel
y owned and
that none of them received review and/or treatment by conservators before instal
lation.  As
an exhibit, I think it's a little busy, but I've seen worse exhibits in many a c
ounty museum
and a few state museums.

I thought it might be interesting to apply your questions to this exhibit.

>1)What can museum professionals do to influence the care and exhibition of such
 >collections, and is it reasonable to expect professional involvement?

I don't know anything about the origins of the exhibit, but I think museum profe
ssionals
would have to "sell" their involvement at this time (after the fact) by convinci
ng the owner
that his cherished objects are suffering serious deterioration and will be no mo
re if
something isn't done.  As far as I know, it's his place, his exhibit, his stuff,
 and his story; he
can do as he pleases with it, subject to a convincing argument persuading him th
at what he
is doing is contrary to his own purposes.  "Should-ing" him on professional prin
ciples will, I
suspect, fall on deaf ears.  After all, his "visitation" figures for that exhibi
t probably exceed
the number who view most other exhibits in this country, and people like it!"

>2) Can private individuals and institutions consistently be appropriate steward
s for >material culture and its interpretation?

"Appropriate" is the key word here, isn't it, and doesn't "consistently" equate
with "always?"
If the question is asked within the context of the museum profession, the answer
 will
"consistently" be "No."  There are too many exceptions to point to and say "Look
 how this
person destroyed/misrepresented such-and-such material!"  But if you ask the guy
 in
Kayenta, or the average collector (and I live in an area rife with private colle
ctions of
prehistoric Pueblo pottery and other artifacts, many of them quite legally obtai
ned),  the
same question, it's elitist implications would instantly cause resentment and de
fensiveness
and the answer would be something like "It's mine, to do with as I wish."  And w
ithin
THAT frame of reference, he's right.

If the discussion stops there, as it so often has in the past, we will again go
nowhere and
depart each other's company with freshly renewed resentment and hostility toward
 each
other.  I would hope our professional commitment to "appropriate stewardship for
 material
culture and its interpretation" would lead us to offer nonjudgemental ways in wh
ich
members of the public could be acquainted with the agents of deterioration and l
earn
simple and effective ways to mitigate them.  The Anasazi Heritage Center mounted
 an
extensive exhibit a few years ago, "Our Fragile Legacy," which not only showcase
d some
interesting items from the BLM archeology museum's collection, but showed how th
e same
forces that destroy prehistoric artifacts are sending our personal keepsakes to
oblivion.  It
included numerous, free, practical handouts on object care and there were severa
l practically
oriented talks and workshops conducted with the exhibit.  I think the exhibit di
d more to
protect objects in our area in its one year run than all the railing done by all
 the "experts" in
the last half-century!

>3) What are the effects of such collections and displays on museums and their c
ollections >and relations with the public?

Good question!  I think there IS an effect, a negative one, and that is the key
to our needing
to be proactive, positive, and unfailingly generous in our efforts to reach out
to private
collectors in the ways noted above.

In our area, the fact that collectors have LEGAL means to acquire, display, and
sell
prehistoric pottery is generally thought to contribute to the ILLEGAL acquisitio
n of
pottery through looting public resources.  Those of us who care about the inform
ation value
of objects in their original contexts will always mourn the loss associated with
 every object
ripped out of the ground solely for the sake of possessing and showing the artif
act.  In that
sense, even the legal acquisition is a loss to the community of scholars.

In the case of the Kayenta Burger King exhibit, however, the effect may be much
more
positive.  I think that exhibit went up on private initiative before the recent
traveling exhibit
and spate of publications on the Code Talkers came out.  In any case, the owner
has clearly
been a leader in honoring and letting people know about an element of modern Nav
ajo
history that is an object of intense pride for the Navajo people.  The exhibit p
resents a
little-known aspect of community pride to the traveling public.  To my mind, tha
t ain't all
bad!

I hope this example is useful in exploring the implications of your questions, a
nd perhaps in
stimulating discussion among others on the list that will enlighten all of us.
My personal
hope has long been and will always be for more partnerships between the museum
profession and members of the public who have material culture we'd all like to
see last a
little longer.

(PS:  Museum-L friends have posted me about formatting problems in my offerings.
  I
test-posted this reply to myself before sending it to the list and it returned t
o me looking
fine.  IF the formatting of this reply to the list comes through to you screwed
up (looking
like the margin settings are awry), and if you put up with it long enough to get
 this far,
please let me know off-list and I will try something else.  I downloaded another
 program
that appears to be interacting with Netscape 2.0, and the problem may lie there.
  Thanks
for your patience!)

--

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