--Boundary (ID kQW/2wC3nQI99XggKozMDQ) Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN --Boundary (ID kQW/2wC3nQI99XggKozMDQ) Content-type: MESSAGE/RFC822 Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 11:55:21 EST From: "Byron A. Johnson (813) 228-0097" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Bob Vila strikes again To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> Message-id: <E1813ZWDYI54L1*/R=FIRNVX/R=A1/U=JOHNSOB2/@MHS> Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN Delivery-date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 12:42:00 EST Posting-date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 12:41:00 EST Importance: normal A1-type: MAIL The responses to this program are interesting -- and puzzling. First off, one cannot ASSUME anyone outside of a museum professional or an antiques specialist would have a vague idea of how to pick up (or not)or touch (or not) an artifact. Had I not had a Winterthur alum as a professor in museum graduate school I might never have known the right and wrong way to pick up a chair. Just because someone has a home improvement show does not mean they know a thing about conservation or materials handling. Also, anyone who has worked around a camera crew knows that they bathe anything that is shot in high intensity light, knock lights around with abandon, usually work like a 6 o'clock evening news crew on deadline, and know nothing about museum objects. At X-hundred-dollars an hour most of them just want to get in, shoot and get out. Allowing unsupervised or unrestricted access, then criticising, is like handing a 6-year-old a pistol and then crying with grief when he/she shoots someone. Secondarily, sorry, but historic house or no historic house, irreplaceable materials should not be placed in a situation of jeopardy or handling. Many historic houses display one-of-a-kind items in period rooms and try to keep people out -- sort of a contradiction in terms. Others use replicas and put the real items in adjacent display areas. Frankly, I think irreplaceable items should not be on open display, and it should be ACCEPTED that items in period settings will be subject to limited use and handling under supervision. Placing anything in an historic house setting enhances visitor appreciation but raises the risk factor considerably. And this risk does not always come from humans. I know of several historic houses that lost irreplaceable table settings, furniture and other dec arts when chandeliers or plaster lath fell down, when earthquakes hit, when rivers overflowed their banks, when fires happened (and no supression systems were in place because it would have interefered with the period ambiance). Let's face it, the Declaration of Independence is not kept on the writing table in Independence Hall. Another question is whether allowing Bob Vila to wander (or bumble, as some have implied) through was worth it. Did it increase attendance, revenue and visibility? Was an extra 2,500 visitors worth the touching of the Wooten Desk or the furniture? Was a University President touching and emoting about the antique glass goblet worth the $25,000 check the donor wrote that night? Especially if it saved someone's job. Is the President of the United States told, "you can have that Lincoln chair in your office (or Roosevelt desk), but don't touch or use it." How many historic houses, struggling for visitors and funding, could say "I'm sorry, we don't allow filming in our rooms," or, "stop the cameras! you can't touch anything! In my experience, preparation is everything. Having a museum employee play "Vana White" and open drawers for the "personality" works, as does handing them gloves BEFORE the walk through. MOST important is a talk with the crew before setup -- I have seen more crew-inflicted damage than "personality" damage. ---------------------------- The Tampa Bay History Center E-Mail: [log in to unmask] after 2/26 The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum --Boundary (ID kQW/2wC3nQI99XggKozMDQ)--