Responding to Gary Edson (29 October 2003): Thank you, Gary, for the message indicating how you see the discussion has evolved. I endorse strongly the effort to include more colleagues through incorporating whatever you can accomplish now by way of summary translation into French and Spanish. I have taken time to reflect on the responses of colleagues, and to consider their different perspectives. I also paid attention again to Geoffrey Lewis's suggestions - for his insightful comments on behalf of the work of the Ethics Committee (which he has chaired through the detailed process of revising the ICOM Code of Ethics). I strongly endorse his point that we should be thinking of a definition that advances the interests of 'the museum profession' in its largest scope, not simply museums or museum professionals, or even ICOM members. Concerning one of the definitions you are keeping in circulation (the one I proposed some weeks past), I would prefer to substitute this (revised) version: "Museums are institutions that serve society by promoting knowledge, appreciation and conservation of the natural world and the cultural heritage of humanity through collections, memories, sites and processes they care for, research and interpret for public benefit." In response to Gary's query: to my mind 'memories, images' are not necessarily part of 'collections', but carry a movement towards acknowledging the living, the virtual, the oral or literary image, and the intangible aspects of culture. I have retained 'memories', surrendered 'images' but included 'processes' this time (which could be both scientific and cultural). The important issue about a museum being presumed to be a permanent institution (and some other details) could be added in the points of application that would follow whatever revised definition is finally adopted in the ICOM Statutes. (For clarity, my previous suggestion - now withdrawn - was: Museums are permanent institutions that conserve and communicate knowledge of the natural world and the cultural inheritance of humanity through collections, records, memories, images, and sites they care for, research and interpret, in public trust, for present and future generations." ) Bernice Murphy =============== - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Change ICOM-L subscription options, unsubscribe, and search the archives at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/icom-l.html