My personal favorite was a catalog card that simply stated, "Skull of an
unknown sea monster, found in Edgartown Harbor". Needless to say, we
have yet to find it in the collections. One other that gave us a laugh
was a tusk that came with a label reading "_Petrified Walrus Tusk_:
found in the Arctic -probably from Mastodon, about 10,000 years old."
-Anna
Anna Carringer
Assistant Curator
Martha's Vineyard Museum
www.mvmuseum.org
Sarah Griswold wrote:
> My predecessor at a small local history museum threw out a piece of
> 150 year old wedding cake - but it's too bad, in a way. I kept
> thinking a scientific analysis of it might have yielded some
> interesting information - the way archeologists can learn about htings
> from the pollen in soils.
> Sarah Griswold
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* "Sarah M. Allen Sarah Allen Museum Technician Knife River
> Indian Villages NHS Stanton, ND 58571-0009 " <[log in to unmask]>
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 3, 2009 2:29:38 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [MUSEUM-L] Bizarre Accesssions (was Outreach & artifacts)
>
> Well sadly, that was not my strangest accession by a long shot. I once
> went
> to help inventory a collection after a break in and theft. While perusing
> their social history records, I found this gem of an entry:
>
> Manure, buffalo
> Historic
> Found on property
>
> Thinking this had to be a prank go awry, I looked it up on the collections
> database. There the object had been weighted, measured, described in
> minute
> detail and carefully photographed from all angles. I went into their vault
> and found nested in tissue in an acid free box, a buffalo chip, the dried
> prairie grass still stuck to the bottom.
>
> What I found even more amusing was the collection also housed a rare, well
> provenanced Ghost Shirt that had come in the collection at about the same
> time. It was simply described as a Decorative shirt, Indian. No
> measurements, no photographs, nothing more for a description in the
> database. Hmmmm....
>
> Sarah Allen
>
>
>
>
> Dan Bartlett
> <[log in to unmask]
> EDU> To
> Sent by: Museum [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> discussion list cc
> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> SE.LSOFT.COM <http://SE.LSOFT.COM>>
> Subject
> [MUSEUM-L] Bizarre Accesssions (was
> Outreach & artifacts)
> 02/03/2009 10:10
> AM
>
>
> Please respond to
> Museum discussion
> list
> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> SE.LSOFT.COM>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Kind of like the coffee-making equipment accessioned in the 1980s by well
> meaning volunteer collections folks at my last museum...
>
> Sarah's post got me thinking, what are some of the other strange objects
> people have found accessioned into their collections?
>
> Dan
>
> Dan Bartlett
> Curator of Exhibits and Education
> Instructor of Museum Studies
> Logan Museum of Anthropology
> Beloit College
> (608) 363-2678
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>] On
> Behalf
> Of Sarah M. Allen Sarah Allen Museum Technician Knife River Indian
> Villages
> NHS Stanton, ND 58571-0009 701.745.3300
> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 10:12 AM
> To: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Outreach & artifacts
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> Be sure they are actually "artifacts", I know that sounds dumb, but bear
> with me. Once, I was doing an inventory of American Indian artifacts in a
> collection and could not find a pair of moccasins the computer said we
> had,
> with no description... I got out the accession book and found who had
> donated them and when, but nothing for a description there either. I about
> pulled my hair out looking for these things, as the museum was small and
> mostly archeological items, the moccasins should have stuck out like a
> sore
> thumb.
>
> One afternoon, I had an epiphany. I shared my office space with the
> education specialist. I got in his traveling discovery trunk and behold,
> there were the moccasins, numbered and all. It did not take me long to
> realise looking at them that they were not authentic. but why catalog
> them?
> I found an employee who had been there for ages. she told me that some
> people a few years back had started cataloging everything that came thru
> the door as artifacts, regardless of origin. They were quickly told to
> stop, but several items were never "fixed". The moccasins had been made by
> a vendor specifically for the use they now had. they were not gifts, but a
> commissioned and paid for prop for the interpretive staff, over 15 years
> prior.
>
> Sarah Allen
>
>
>
>
> Julie Blood
> <julieblood@SANJO
> AQUINHISTORY.ORG <http://AQUINHISTORY.ORG>>
> To
> Sent by: Museum [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> discussion list cc
> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> SE.LSOFT.COM> Subject
> [MUSEUM-L] Outreach & artifacts
>
> 02/02/2009 01:00
> PM
>
>
> Please respond to
> Museum discussion
> list
> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> SE.LSOFT.COM>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> We have traveling trunks that docents take to outreach programs for
> schools. Recently I found out that there are actual artifacts in these
> trunks. I am thinking that these should not be the actual artifacts, but
> reproduction items or objects taken strictly for education purposes only.
> Has anybody else experienced this before, if so how did you handle it with
> your education coordinator?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Julie Blood
> Collections and Exhibit Manager
> San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum
> P.O. Box 30, Lodi, CA 95241
> (209) 331-2055
> (209) 953-3460
> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> www.sanjoaquinhistory.org <http://www.sanjoaquinhistory.org>
>
>
>
> ========================================================= 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]
> <mailto:[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] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> .
> The body of the message should read "Signoff
> Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
> =========================================================
> 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] <mailto:[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] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> .
> The body of the message should read "Signoff
> Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
> =========================================================
> 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]
> <mailto:[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] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> .
> The body of the message should read "Signoff
> Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
> =========================================================
> 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]
> <mailto:[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] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the
> quotes).
> ========================================================= 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).
>
=========================================================
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).
|
