We should not change what
>museums are to conform to society's current value system, but perhaps
>elevate that value system to create a better society.

Unless I'm mistaken, we have changed (quite dramatically in some cases) what
museums are from what they *were* when they began, and those changes have
come about in part from changing social and cultural values. Of course,
those changes have also come about from advances in knowledge and
understanding of the material culture we collect and preserve.  Just as one
example: a natural history museum no longer simply collects and classifies
all the individual items (human, vegetable, animal and mineral alike) of the
natural world.  Rather we have a complex mission involving the
understanding, interpretation, protection and preservation (I'm surely
missing some) of the natural world and its cultures.  And we're not so big
on curiosity cabinets anymore, either.


Robin Wagner
Projects Coordinator
The Field Museum
Chicago, IL 60605-2496
Ph: 312-922-9410 x245