My take on it... After the care taken to transport them, being told what delicate shape they're in and being asked to put on curatorial gloves, Oprah SHOULD have had the sense to know that they shouldn't be flung around! Having said that I can only provide you with my experience that despite how you prep them, people will do whatever they want once the camera is on. I once accompanied a rare pair of basketball shoes to a 20/20 taping. They were carefully packed in an archival box and were obviously handled with care. I explained to them how to handle the shoe. As soon as I took them out of the box the producers were tossing them around and kept placing them down on the desk next to a carafe of coffee and the talent's breakfast. I repeatedly had to ask them to NOT place them next to scolding hot staining beverages. As soon as the camera came on the talent picked them up and tossed them around and mocked threw them to someone off camera. You either don't let them directly touch them (handle them yourself for them) or you grin and bear it for all of the publicity it's bringing to your institution. Karen On Jan 24, 2008 1:55 PM, Matthew White <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Speaking as a 20 year museum veteran who has recently made the switch > directly from the Smithsonian to academia which is not exactly the "general > public" but is fairly close, I'd like implore my once and future colleagues > to perhaps take a breath for a few minutes. > > > 1. Everything people are saying about Oprah and how badly she handled the > Ruby Slippers is true enough. For whatever reason, for those few seconds a > National Treasure may have been in danger of damage or destruction. That > shouldn't have happened. Discussion on how to work with the media, > especially the star egos involved in big media would be a useful discussion. > > That being said. > > 2. How any of you can speak authoritatively about how the Smithsonian > staff SHOULD have acted without knowing how they actually did act is beyond > me. The quickness with which museum professionals are willing to pass > judgement on each other with no actual information is something I do not > miss. This happened less than 24 hours ago, and you saw the results of what > happened, but you cannot speak to the cause without someone who was there > and/or participated adding some information. Absent that you seem to be > perfectly willing to throw your colleagues at the Smithsonian under a bus. > It could turn out that they were completely culpable by their actions or > inactions in this situation, but is it too much to ask to wait until you > know what those actions were? > > I hope your colleagues treat you with more consideration when (not if) you > get some bad publicity or a decision you make is misrepresented in the > press. > > 3. Mark Jansen said, "Unfortunately the planners of the event, including > the Smithsonian handlers, are equally responsible for setting collection > care in the eyes of the public back a decade or two." Really? What is the > view of collection care among the public now? What was it like a decade or > two ago? My purely anecdotal evidence is that the few minutes the Ruby > Slippers were on Oprah did more to humanize the profession than anything and > move it away from stereotypes gained from movies (Indiana Jones, National > Treasure, Mr. Bean) and TV (Ross Geller on Friends) and that assumes the > public HAS an identifiable view of collections care. > > 4. Do you really think a letter to Oprah would matter one whit? What would > be your preferred outcome? A retraction? Apology from Oprah? My guess would > be any letter or letters would be met with eye-rolling and comments > concerning museum curators living up to their fussbudgetty stereotypes. See > point 3. (And yes I know those letters would likely come from registrars and > conservators, but the public doesn't know what they do.) I'm going out on a > limb here but Oprah, her staff, and the majority of her audience don't care > what a few museum professionals think about a few minutes of her show. > > Right now the unmet structural repairs to the Smithsonian are estimated in > the Billions (with a "B!") and much of that is for buildings that store some > of this nation's most valuable treasures. Read any number of Washington > Post articles in the last year to read about leaks, floods, and other > problems directly facing Smithsonian collections. If you were to choose to > write a letter, or encourage others to do the same, to have a positive > impact on the well being of historic and artistic treasures of this nation, > don't you think writing to your elected representatives to do something > about THOSE problems would be time better spent? > > Again, it is not that anyone is technically wrong about the possible harm > Oprah may have done, but come on people. Show at least a hint of > perspective. > > Matt White > > > > On Thursday, January 24, 2008, at 09:41AM, "Jennifer Holt" < > [log in to unmask]> wrote: > >If you saw the incident you would have seen that they did provide her > with > >gloves. Unfortunately that seemed to translate for her as okay to grab > and > >wave around the objects as long as she had the gloves on. I agree that > >there should have been some object handling discussion/training prior to > the > >segment--but do you think the Oprah organization actually provided the > >Smithsonian staff with the opportunity to do that? I wouldn't be > surprised > >if the Smithsonian staff hadn't had the opportunity to speak in person > with > >Ms. Winfrey until they were "on" and it was too late to stop her at that > >point. These things should have been discussed and planned for before > the > >shoes ever left the museum. Maybe gloves should NOT have been provided > to > >non-staff members because it only encourages handling? Maybe the shoes > >should have been kept in a plexi container so they could be seen but not > >touched? > > > >Jennifer > > > > > >Jennifer Holt > >Curator > >Will Rogers Memorial Museums > >P.O. Box 157 > >1720 West Will Rogers Boulevard > >Claremore, Oklahoma 74018 > >t: 918.343.8124 > >f. 918.343.8119 > >www.willrogers.com > > > > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On > Behalf > >Of Janzen, Mark > >Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 11:00 AM > >To: [log in to unmask] > >Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] The Ruby Slipper incident > > > >Although I agree her actions were inappropriate, I would not jump to > blame > >her quite so quickly. According to the transcript, she was definitely > pushy > >and presumptuous, as well as rude, but she IS Oprah after all. > > > >Surely, after couriering the objects and being so careful with their > >planning, they were aware that she might want to touch them. It was her > >show, and to be honest(even though I do not like her much) she is a pop > icon > >as well. If it is not already, some of her stuff will end up in the > >Smithsonian alongside the shoes, gloves, and jacket. > > > >Should she have insisted on touching them? Absolutely not. > >Should they have planned ahead and told her why she should not touch > BEFORE > >the interview segment? Absolutely yes. > > > >They should have prepared better, provided her with gloves, then asked > her > >if she would like to touch them properly. That way the extreme honor of > the > >action would have been conveyed. Instead they chose to let her act like a > >child, touch them anyway(improperly), and get away with acting the fool > >while doing it. > > > >Unfortunately the planners of the event, including the Smithsonian > handlers, > >are equally responsible for setting collection care in the eyes of the > >public back a decade or two. I suspect it was the horrified collection > >manger watching from the sidelines that Dr. Glass was looking to for > >confirmation. It should have been the other way around. > > > >Mark Janzen > >Registrar/Collections Manager > >Ulrich Museum of Art > >Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection > >316-978-5850 > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On > Behalf > >Of Kevin Schlesier > >Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 10:19 AM > >To: [log in to unmask] > >Subject: The Ruby Slipper incident > > > >Any Registrars out there going to write a letter to our friend Oprah > >explaining why her actions were inappropriate: > > > >http://www.originalprop.com/blog/?p=1496 > > > >"Do not arouse the wrath of the great and powerful Oz." > > > >Kevin > > > >-- > >Kevin P. Schlesier > >Exhibits and Outreach Librarian > >Special Collections Research Center > >North Carolina State University Libraries > >2205 Hillsborough Street > >Campus Box 7111 > >Raleigh, NC 27695-7111 > > > >919-513-8087 (phone) > >[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). > > > >========================================================= > >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). > > -- karen eckhaus 574 9th avenue, apt 1 new york, new york 10036 646.429.9180 917.756.6244 ========================================================= 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).