Fwd: Re: Rothschild coup

[Chris J. Durden]

>Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 12:55:00 -0600
>To: Michael Gochfeld <gochfeld at eohsi.rutgers.edu>
>From: "Chris J. Durden" <drdn at mail.utexas.edu>
>Subject: Re: Rothschild coup
>
>Of course specimen conservation is of ultimate importance - repair the 
>roof at Oxford - get the Elgin Marbles out of the acid rain - - -
>    But! Too often I have seen the lifetime work of one or a string of 
> collectors shot down by a subsequent administration under the political 
> pressure of a rival curator bent on self aggrandizement through his 
> special collection. As long as we countenance and even encourage this 
> kind of curatorial "Monopoly" (the board game) we loose our moral stance 
> when attempting to block repatriation of collections to countries that 
> are not equipped to conserve them either technologically or culturally.
>    Better to fund a museum properly than see its collections wither 
> through the selfish or fashionable special interests of individual 
> curators and administrators. We do not have enough museum collections as 
> it is. If most of the objects of a particular specialty are kept in one 
> place they will sooner or later be subject to earthquake (Cal.Acad.), 
> fire (Cal. Acad.), flood (TAMU), tornado (Smithsonian at Silver Spring) 
> or underfunded neglect (most other museums).
>................................Chris Durden
>
>At 01:26 PM 3/28/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>>We should have been around for the great Rothschild collection coup
>>which the American Museum and RC Murphy pulled to get the huge
>>collection of bird skins out of England because the Crown wouldn't
>>forgive some tax debt or something (lots of racy inuendos surround why
>>Baron Rothschild needed the money).
>>
>>Types have floated around before.  The Audubon types housed at small
>>colleges like Vassar have ended up in the custody of other museums which
>>presumably could better curate them.
>>
>>I agree that it makes it harder to track down specimens if they are
>>moved around, but in the end it is probably at least as important if not
>>more important that they be secure and protected [until museum curators
>>become extinct].
>>
>>Mike Gochfeld



 
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