Hi Everyone,

I heard this story on NPR this morning about the auction of a collection
owned by Harrisburg PA to make up for budget problems.

http://n.pr/1dHg1im

I think this hits on larger points of city and county collections and
museums - especially in light of yesterday's bankrupcy filing by the City
of Detroit.

It is always enticing for those outside the museum and preservation world
to view art and historic collections as cash cows and disposable - and it
is reinforced by mass media with all the appraisal / pawn tv shows and
prominent reporting of auction sales.

I know we all would hope that collections are not used as an income line
for a failing museum or city. Do city museums and collections have any
legal protections?

Does anyone know if the collections and museums of Detroit will be safe?
Are any other cities in danger?

What do you all think of this?

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator and Museum Consultant
Los Angeles CA
www.cityofangelsconservation.weebly.com

=========================================================
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).