Let me preface my comments by disclosing that I am a
conservator and have spent my entire career fostering maximum preservation of
objects. All museum objects are essentially held for educational
purposes. Each one has what I will call an "educational life" for purposes
of this discussion, which is the product of their length of survival and their
educational value. That educational life may be over the very
long term, such as rare books held in a library that are "used" only once or
twice a century, and the remainder of the time are held in preservation
conditions. This would be considered "long and low" - long length of
survival and low educational value. Another object may be used daily
on tours of schoolchildren. This object will deteriorate more quickly and
likely will have a much shorter life. This object would be "short and
high" - short length of survival and high educational
value. All objects fit somewhere in this spectrum of length of survival
and educational value. With a few exceptions, it is generally not possible
to have "long and high" - long length of survival and high educational
value. From this perspective, it is not unethical or irresponsible to
choose high educational value over long length of survival. The key word
here is CHOOSE. The decision must be made consciously upon careful
consideration of all the factors, including but not limited to rarity,
condition, likely rate of deterioration, the presence of a duplicate object, and
the philosophy of the institution. To NOT make a carefully reasoned choice
is irresponsible and unethical in my opinion. To make a thoughtful choice
to have a short life and high educational value IS responsible and
ethical. Of course, the institution is still under obligation to provide
reasonable preservation efforts for high educational value objects - they should
not simply be abandoned to deterioration. Perhaps thinking of objects in
terms of their educational life will remove some of the conflict and guilt
that many people in the museum profession feel?
Marc
American Conservation Consortium,
Ltd.
4 Rockville Road
Broad Brook, CT 06016
www.conservator.com
860-386-6058
*Collections Preservation Consultation
*Conservation Assessments &
Surveys
*Environmental Monitoring & Low-Tech Control
*Moisture
Management Solutions
*Collections in Historic Structures
*Collections Care
Grant Preparation
*Conservation Treatment of:
Furniture
Painted Wood
Horse-Drawn Vehicles
Architectural Interiors
Decorative Objects & Folk Art
Marc A. Williams, President
MS in Art
Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program
Former Chief
Wooden Object Conservator, Smithsonian Institution
Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 12:28
AM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Accessioning
Historic Buildings
Please post your responses on this topic to the list, I'm
interested in this as well. I have four accessioned historic structures
on my site and two of them along with their artifacts, which includes school
desks are used on a daily basis for much of the year as a part of our
education programs. I continually struggle over the issue of use vs.
preservation and conservation.
Thanks,
Julie Blood
Collections
& Exhibits Manager
San Joaquin County Historical Society &
Museum
Lodi,
CA
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