I am not working in this area, but would like to stick my neck out with an opinion: Surely the central purpose of a museum is not to reflect only today's ideas of what is 'proper' but the changing of such ideas over time. Such items form a valuable record of this change and should not only be retained, but can be displayed (suitably interpreted) for this purpose. The changing of displays over time to reflect contemporary knowledge and attitudes is normal (but should be done with self awareness!) - the 'editing' of collections is another matter intirely and would be immoral in itself. Jackie Britton At 07:31 AM 09-11-99 PST, Anne Doss wrote: >I am a graduate student in Tufts Museum Studies program, doing a project on >changing public perceptions and collections management/use. I want to know >what a museum does with artifacts that, due to changing public ideas of what >is "PC", moral, or proper, are no longer considered appropriate. For >example, a museum that has "mammy" or "Sambo" dolls, or a natural history >museum that has ivory or tortoise shell. NOTE NEW TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Jackie Britton Head of Collections Storage and Access Science Museum, London SW7 2DD, UK phone: 0207 942 4155 email: [log in to unmask] Science Museum home page: http://www.nmsi.ac.uk Jackie's Architectural Pages: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4350 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ museum-l.html. 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).