Comments on: Sense of history http://www.redbadge.co.uk/egg/index.php/2006/02/11/sense-of-history/ Parts of it are excellent Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:40:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Cath http://www.redbadge.co.uk/egg/index.php/2006/02/11/sense-of-history/comment-page-1/#comment-1332 Cath Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:37:41 +0000 http://www.redbadge.co.uk/egg/?p=42#comment-1332 ...unless your collection is a public archive, in which case people are welcome to touch (with care). I agree you can't beat the originals... and as your archaeological story suggests, it's even more satisfying to commune with the past if you get that experience as a result of a lot of digging, whether literal or figurative. Thanks for sharing some excellent egg-parts, Cath …unless your collection is a public archive, in which case people are welcome to touch (with care).

I agree you can’t beat the originals… and as your archaeological story suggests, it’s even more satisfying to commune with the past if you get that experience as a result of a lot of digging, whether literal or figurative.

Thanks for sharing some excellent egg-parts,
Cath

]]> By: S.J. Redman http://www.redbadge.co.uk/egg/index.php/2006/02/11/sense-of-history/comment-page-1/#comment-25 S.J. Redman Sun, 19 Mar 2006 02:41:07 +0000 http://www.redbadge.co.uk/egg/?p=42#comment-25 This is a really tough question, and a really great post to explore that question. I would say that the heart of the problem is that not only does handling collections does irreversible damage to them, NOT handling a collection won't totally prevent it from disappearing over time. All matter deteriorates, a museum's job is to keep it from deteriorating as long as possible, yet, not using an object for research or education doesn't really do anyone much good either. Early in my museum career I noticed something about the general public, if they CAN touch it, they WILL touch it. Even if something is behind a metal bar, and someone has to hold out their arm and leaaaaan forward, they will try to touch a fossil, a vase, a mummy, whatever. The sad truth is that objects that can be broken need to be stabilized behind glass. Exhibits designers need to think about this when they put a vase or a statue on top of a nice looking mount. Plain and simple. As far as research collections (objects not on display) we again need to find a balance. Somewhere in between letting anyone and everyone who wants to touch an object (and once again, even when in research collection spaces, I've seen people on tours grab for objects without gloves even though they were warned not to) and never granting access to scholars. In an ideal world, with an unlimited number of available staff hours, museums should let anyone with any sort of vested interest come look at collections. Unfortunately for everyone, however, this isn't an ideal world. Again, great post, thanks for getting my brain going! -S.J. Redman Museum Madness http://www.museum-madness.blogspot.com/ This is a really tough question, and a really great post to explore that question. I would say that the heart of the problem is that not only does handling collections does irreversible damage to them, NOT handling a collection won’t totally prevent it from disappearing over time. All matter deteriorates, a museum’s job is to keep it from deteriorating as long as possible, yet, not using an object for research or education doesn’t really do anyone much good either.

Early in my museum career I noticed something about the general public, if they CAN touch it, they WILL touch it. Even if something is behind a metal bar, and someone has to hold out their arm and leaaaaan forward, they will try to touch a fossil, a vase, a mummy, whatever. The sad truth is that objects that can be broken need to be stabilized behind glass. Exhibits designers need to think about this when they put a vase or a statue on top of a nice looking mount. Plain and simple.

As far as research collections (objects not on display) we again need to find a balance. Somewhere in between letting anyone and everyone who wants to touch an object (and once again, even when in research collection spaces, I’ve seen people on tours grab for objects without gloves even though they were warned not to) and never granting access to scholars.

In an ideal world, with an unlimited number of available staff hours, museums should let anyone with any sort of vested interest come look at collections. Unfortunately for everyone, however, this isn’t an ideal world.

Again, great post, thanks for getting my brain going!

-S.J. Redman
Museum Madness
http://www.museum-madness.blogspot.com/

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