Years ago I spoke with the curator of the Vietnam Memorial and from his description it is the National Park Service who keeps items left at the site, not the Smithsonian. Apparently, they were unprepared for the "collection" at first, but have now created a storage area and have even mounted an exhibit of the items. (I believe the exhibit may have been in conjunction with the Smithsonian.) The same story seemed to repeat itself for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, also in Washington DC. Its my understanding that they were not prepared for the numerous donations they received when they opened, having seen their original mission to be a memorial. Now they have storage and use their changing exhibit space not just for outside traveling exhibits, but for their own collection. It appears to me that these two examples blur the lines between museum and memorial. It even calls into question who is really the collector or who is creating the collection. (By the way, I believe the USHM has created a collections policy, but I don't believe the Vietnam Memorial has, beyond tossing perishable items). -Jenny -- Jenny E. Benjamin, MA Director, Museum of Vision EyeCare America (415) 561-8502 (415) 561-8533 FAX [log in to unmask] www.museumofvision.org -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Carol Reid Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 5:53 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: memorials when it comes to memorials and items left at it there is always the problem of who is going to clean it up? and what do you do with the stuff?. One cannot just leave flowers etc indefinately as they can pose a health and safety hazard (tripping etc)as well as looking unsightly after a few days when they have begun to rot. The Vietnam Memorial and the Smithsonian have some sort of agreement, everyday (every 24 hours) the items are collected from the Vietnam and sent off to the Smithsonian and I believe everything (flowers excepted) is kept - if anyone out there is from the Smithsonian maybe they could confirm it. But there is also a policy in place to keep these memorial offerings and that is the important thing. Here in Ottawa Canada, we recently had a "Tomb of the unknown soldier" erected, an unknown canadian soldier of the first world war who died in France was brought back and interned in front of our National War Memorial. We too had spontaneous offering left on the tomb. This is also in front of the National War Memorial where dozens of services of remembrance and honour take place through out the year. There is a policy in place that allows all floral tributes and wreaths to stay in place for 24hrs before they are gathered up and tossed, as for the objects - the money that is left goes to one of the local charities, and some (not all) of the objects are sent to us at the Canadian War Museum. But we do not have to keep everything, it is on an item by item basis. Keeping of memorial tributes can leave you with headaches and nightmares you never knew where coming your way. So I can sympathise with the Chicago Museum for not allowing any to be left. Carol Reid Collections Manager, Archives Canadian War Museum [log in to unmask] ========================================================= 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). ========================================================= 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).