To Preserve Or Display, That Is The Question (And I Know My Answer)
08.23.07By Deanna DahlsadDerek’s review of Saving Stuff got me thinking…
The book is mainly about how to properly store items for centuries of survival, which is all well and good — except I wanna see my stuff!
Sure, it’s better for the photograph if I scan it, then properly put it away and use the digital scan to get copies for display. But is that better for me?
Call me crazy, but that photo of Aunt Meda Mae (who, by the way, is neither my aunt nor the aunt of anyone I know — I only know she’s Meda Mae because her name’s scrawled on the back, and, as I don’t know her very well, the title of ‘Aunt’ seems both the most respectful and friendly), that photo is imbued with magic.
In any old photo the magic lies in the fact that a person posed for this specific piece of paper. As noted before, my love of old photographs tells me that there’s something of the person’s spirit in that paper — or maybe it’s the other way around, and I love old photos because I feel spirit in that paper… Heck, I don’t know which is the chicken or the egg there, let alone which one came first.
Suggesting that I settle for a copy rather than the original makes me reply, “Why bother?”
Why own it to perserve hide it? That seems like cheating. I definitely feel ripped-off at the idea of putting the vintage photo of Aunt Meda Mae away for centuries, displaying the copy instead.
You know who should worry about preserving things? Museums. That’s their job. Well, that and displaying stuff; and I love museums for doing both.
Folks who work in museums are very much like the History Detectives, though most of them are far less well-known. But they should be. Their work and their dedication to it makes them some of the most fascinating people.
This is why I enjoy finding and reading good blogs by these folks. Like this post by Leslie Madsen Brooks. (It covers, among other things, Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 145 cans of 100-year-old Captain Cookesley’s Consolidated Pea Soup and Custer’s dumbbell, so go read it.)
My point today, if I must have one, is that while I’m an excellent curator of my own personal collections I’d likely make a terrible museum worker. Not only would I want to keep everything (as in, “keep it in my home”), but I’d have a terrible time taking things off display and putting them into the archives (storage). If I can’t decide what one item of mine to take along for appraisal, what do you think it would be like for me to choose which things to favor with display? Or is it showing more favoritism to properly preserve it?
See what I mean.
While I’m certain that things must be preserved least they go the way of the dodo, I am equally certain that I am not the person for the job.
PS Leslie also has another blog where she’s just concluded post five on Museums and Social Networking Sites — sadly, Collectors’ Quest & its Community is not on her list (dare we pray for part six?).
