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Date: | Wed, 28 Sep 1994 16:05:06 -0500 |
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First, I of course could not agree more with both Jay Stottman and
Tom Langhorne about the importance of the total historical/cultural context
in which bottles might be found, and there is absolutely no question that such
a concern should be part of one's attempts to "educate" the interested public.
Perhaps the NB Museum's editorial note in connection with the Listerine bottle
hunt could/should have gone a step further, but in any case it goes further
than any other bottle interest group that I have encountered. I would
therefore commend them rather than berate them. As far as Jay's suggestion
that we should "...educate collectors about information that would be useful
for archaeologists to use in research, that's fine as far as you can take it.
What might be equally important is to politely point out to collectors why
such information should be of use/interest to THEM.
Educating the public as to our views of past cultural remains is more
often than not a slow and tedious process. My own bottle research has brought
me in contact with dozens of bottle collectors, and many a time I have had to
carefully explain why I don't "dig for bottles," as some of them do. And I
am often amazed and delighted at the interest and willingness-to-learn response
of many of these individuals. I am convinced that tact and patience are very
effective considerations in dealing with this group of collectors.
The academic/research value of bottle (or any other) collections in
private or public hands, and how such value can be realized, is perhaps the
subject of another discussion, and I would be pleased to see it addressed
by the HISTARCH membership.
Gordon Pollard
Anthropology Department
SUNY Plattsburgh, N.Y. 12901
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