This example (I assume from the address it's Ripon) is just too typical
of small community and institutional museums across the land.  It's easy
for presidents and boards of trustees to wave their wand and say "Let's
have a museum."  It's hard and unending work to make that a reality in a
responsible fashion.

Those who control funding and resource allocation should become
acquainted with a few of the standard volumes on what constitutes a
museum and act accordingly.  Those actions may include dispersal of the
collection to an institution that will properly care for it.

Sometimes selected estimates of value of specific fragile items, linked
with the word "lawsuit," will get attention.  My recollection of the
Ripon area is that you need a DEhumidifier more often than a humidifier
and a little mold on a 150-year-old document might wake people up.

Sorry for the early morning rant; I just see the same well-meaning but
superficial approach to collecting everywhere I go (though thankfully not
in all cases, assuredly).

Tom Vaughan
The Waggin' Tongue