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Re: Museums and documents



Okay, it being Friday and all, I'll risk a feeble attempt at humor in this
thread:

When I was at the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, we were discussing
whether or not the archivist should be considered a curator of archival
collections. We decided that it wasn't possible, since no archivists could
achieve the arrogance level that being a curator required. ("Sorry, we
really CAN'T display Edison's last breath...oh, you mean we have more than
one?")

I have to agree with Mark's comments about the various attitudes that
exist,only I would say that it also seems to go along the line of archivist
having a pre-occupation with the preservation attitude of the curator in
opposition to the librarian's pro-access stance.

Dennis Moser, MILS, Web Librarian
John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center
Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library
1133 M. D. Anderson Blvd, Houston, TX 77030-2809
dennism@library.tmc.edu

"That so few now dare to be eccentric,
marks the chief danger of the time."
~~~ John Stuart Mill


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Walsh <gmw@EXECULINK.COM>
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Date: Friday, March 03, 2000 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: Museums and documents


>Lee et al. -
>
>Here in Ontario we realized long ago that many community museums AND public


{SNIP!}

>One of the interesting observations which has come to me over the years in
>dealing with both public library librarians and community museum curators
>on archival matters is that the librarians have tended to be very
>interested in access, to the detriment occasionally of preservation, while
>the curators seem to be exactly the reverse.


{SNIP!}

>Mark

{SNIP!}

>>about documents versus artifacts? As an archivist, I try very hard not to
>>get into the museum business. Are museum curators likewise taught not to
>>dabble in documents?
>>Leon C. Miller, Manuscripts Librarian

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