> I am reminded of my "Fourth Law of Museum Work": You can't save everything > > Not every piece of material culture can go into a museum or be preserved, > and certainly not forever. Choices -- and often difficult ones -- need to > be made about what is kept. And even once in museums choices need to be > made about level of use ("total" preservation, exhibit, research, > destructive analysis). And those choices may change over time: what was > once common may become rare and need more preservation and less use. > ....leading to my long held contention that decision makers in historical museums need to be futurists as well as historians. Projecting the ramification of current trends into the future, we can have some sense of what of our own time is likely to be important to those working 25 to 50 or more years after us. Having been lucky enough to have worked at a museum with quite 'old' collections, many times I've blessed (or occasionally cursed) the foresight of curators who were working 20 - 60 years before me. Those working in newer museums may not realize how quickly what they are working with will have that time depth. Of course we can't be right on all the time, thus the need to perhaps over save a bit at the front end, then weed regularly and routinely, but oh so carefully, perhaps 20 - 25 years out. Of great frustration to me are those who say, if our museum can't make use of it *now* we won't take it. And, as an additional thought to the non-collecting museum thread, I believe that non-collecting history museums impoverish themselves. Who is taking responsibility for collecting the past of their area -anyone? no one? Do history museums have at least some obligation to collect in their area of mission, as part of a greater obligation to preservation of the nations cultural heritage? Or has the 'me generation' come upon museums as well as individuals? Isn't it wonderful how rather simple questions can evolve into philosophical threads? Lucy Sperlin (formerly L. Skjelstad) Chico, CA ========================================================= 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).