Wesley M. Thorsson wrote:
>
> The question is:  How can the collections management be preserved
> considering the economic importance of paying visitors who do not see
> the important collections of scientific value?
> After reading some of the email on the plight of museum collections, it
occurred to me that, as Wes said, the importance of scientific
collections are largely unrealized by the average visitor, yet these
collections are probably the single most important reason for the
museums' existance.
 
The problem is accesibility.  Museum directors seem to assume that the
average visitor lacks the intelligence to warrent viewing such
collections. But, I submit the following as an example to the contrary.
 
In the main building of the La Brea tar pits, there is a prep lab where
visitors can watch work in progress.  Even when there is no one actually
working in the lab, scores of visitors still stand and stare through the
windows, fascinated by all fossil bones and equipment.  There is even a
mirror situated so that visitors can look into the storage area at all
the racks full of specimens.
 
People come to museums to see the 'Real McCoy', not plastic
reproductions.  They want to know that that object just six inches on the
other side of the glass really IS 50 or 100 million years old and not
something made in a factroy last week. It is their one link with the
past...or in some cases, the present.  Some many wonders of nature are
being removed from public access that it's no wonder museums are losing
funding.  'Out of sight...out of mind.'  How can we stir the interset of
the public when everything we collect in the name of science, we also
hide away from them?
 
In the name of fund-raising, some museums have turned into mini theme
parks without rides. Animatronic dinosaurs, back-lit photos, plastic
replicas, plaques full of reading material...but nothing real. All the
real stuff is hidden in labs and storage cabinets and, of course,
inaccessible. Even the museum gift shops don't carry anything interesting
anymore because of being beaten into submission by the fear of being
labelled 'politically incorrect'. The items they sell can be found at any
Toys-R-Us...at better prices.  What a serile, mind-numbing experience. If
museums want to be assured of losing state and federal funding, that's a
good way to do it.
 
On my last visit to the Paleo department of the San Diego Natural History
Museum, I couldn't believe the amount of material hidden away behind
those walls. Stacks and stacks of cabinets and stacks of fossils
everywhere! The amount of material on display compared to what was laying
around in the department was, for lack of a better word, pathetic.  It's
understandable that setting up displays for the public in the main
viewing areas takes time, money, staff, effort, etc. There's no argument
there. But if museums had viewing windows into these areas, there would
be much less need for rotating material in and out of displays.
 
Yes, funding is a problem.  Staffing is a problem.  Space is a problem.
Getting the public's attention (and support) is a problem. I can't stess
enough the importance of letting the public SEE the collections. That
doesn't mean turning the public loose to rummage through draws, but the
lesson to be learned from La Brea should be clear.
 
Maybe this is all too simple-minded of an approach, but if the museums
want the general public to understand (and support) something which
ultimately belongs to them...open a window and let them see it.
 
I hope I haven't offened anyone's sensibilities.  That wasn't my intent.
But, then, you asked for it and in the words of the irreverent Dennis
Miller, "But, that's just my opinion...I could be wrong."
 
K. Hutsell