On Thu, 4 Apr 1996 11:56:41 -0500 Matthew L Kocsis wrote: >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1996 11:14:58 -0500 (EST) >From: Matthew L Kocsis <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Outside the Museum > > >As part of a research project for a graduate seminar, I have been looking >at how non-professional, non-historical institutions display and >interpret material culture and American history. While there is a wealth of >commentary on places such as Disney, often overlooked in the literature are >the small, private collector and institutions such as businesses and >universities that have art or artifact collections which are not overseen >by an academically trained curator or conservator. I am hoping for some >responses concerning issues such as: 1)What can museum professionals do >to influence the care and exhibition of such collections, and is it >reasonable to expect professional involvement? 2) Can private individuals >and institutions consistently be appropriate stewards for material culture >and its interpretation? 3) What are the effects of such collections and >displays on museums and their collections and relations with the public? > Of course, I welcome any comments, references, or ancedotes that >may assist me. As always, I rely on your discretion to determine >whether your response should be on or off-list. > > Matthew Kocsis > 703 Second St 4-A > Bowling Green OH 43402 > (419)354-3029 > [log in to unmask] > Too good to pass up. Okay: my favorite, and one I used in a museums-in-israeli-society course I taught for overseas students, is the Elvis Inn, situated in a lovely rural setting, just off the Jeruslaem-Tel Aviv highway, near the old Arab village of Abu Ghosh, across the street from the Golan-Globus movie studios complex, and between a couple of very scenic kibbutzim. The combination of diverse cultural sites is mind-boggling, in the first place. In the second, you can't miss the Inn, as a bigger-than-his-legend glaring white statue of The King, as I believe he is called, and his guitar, stands outside. Inside, the owner, an Elvis maniac (excuse me, an Elvis *fan*), lovingly displays his world-famous collection of Elvis memorabilia, souvenirs, press clippings, posters, records, etc. Needless to say, Elvis is playing on the sound system as well. Now, other than being culturally amusing, the place makes an excellent illustration of one of my favorite issues in museum history/sociology, the collecting instinct, and how it has, throughout history, resulted in these money-swallowing, often government-funded, and of course under-paying places we work in. (The owner of the Elvis Inn makes one hell of a lot more than you or I do...of course most of us don't sell hamburgers and felafel in the middle of our museums. Maybe we should. This guy doesn't spend his time fundraising or dealing with a board of directors... He spends his time telling his visitors about Elvis -- isn't that what museum people are supposed to do?) What I dread is the day he leaves his collection to the State, and another (God help us) museum is created... ------------------------------------- name: amalyah keshet director, visual resources, the israel museum, jerusalem e-mail: [log in to unmask] date: 04/11/96 -------------------------------------