Fri, 11 Apr 1997 15:46:23 EST
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What is sold in the shops has a definite connection with the messages
presented by the institutions which house them. There should be
guidelines established between the institution and the shop before
purchases are made. Parks Canada has numerous outlets run by
"Friends-of" groups which operate under such guidelines.
No museum is immune to this problem. A number of years ago, probably
late 1980s, I found a price catalogue for North American Indian
artifacts on sale in the bookstore of the Smithsonian Institution. I
would suspect, though I can't speak for them, that this was not part
of the policy of the museum operation. It is obviously a difficult
job to keep an eye on all stock purchases.
As far as the Titanic exhibit (there have been a couple now I think),
we should all raise objections to this type of activity for exactly
the same reason - it gives a very mixed message about archaeological
research and the integrity of collections. The Maritime Museum of the
Atlantic here in Halifax, Nova Scotia, joined most of the major
Maritime museums around the world in refusing to play host to the most
recent exhibit. A previous one (I think the one that came with
pieces for sale) was hosted by a local shopping centre. Somethings we
can't control, but we should certainly not allow our cultural
institutions to condone them.
Rob Ferguson
Parks Canada
Halifax, NS
These comments are my own and do not represent the institution for
which I work.
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