Museum International

No 188 (Vol XLVII, n 4, 1995)

Storage

C O N T E N T S
Editorial

No. 4, October - December 1995

Dossier: Storage
Front cover The SmithsonianInstitutions Museum Support Center:the street serves as the backbone of the f a c i l i t y ,providing circulation space for people, collections and the main u t i l i t y systems. Photo:Q Smithsonian Institution
Back cover

4
8
13 18

Why reserve collections? MaiTineJaoul Storing museum collections:an unresolved problem YaniHeweman V i s i b l e storage:the Glenbow experiment Dennis S l a t e r Detached storage:the Smithsonian I n s t i t u t i o n s i n c e n t Wilcox Museum Support Center U.V Temporary storage:a challenge t o the National Museum o f Denmark Torben Limdbaek
New directions i n Africa Mu,biana L u b i l a , L y d i a A.K o r a i z t e n g ,A l a i n Godonou

A basement storage section i n the new h a l l of the Deutsches Museum i n Munich. Photo:Q Deutsches Museum, Munich Editor-in-Chief: Marcia Lord E d i t o r i a l Assistant:Christine Wilkinson Iconography: Carole Pajot-Font Editor,Arabic edition: Mahmoud El-Sheniti Editor,Russian edition: Tatiana Telegina
Advisory Board

23

28
35
P r o f i l e

Museum Reserve Collections:An International e r r i o t Symposium DominiqueF

Gael de Guichen,ICCROM Yani Herreman,Mexico Nancy Hushion,Canada Jean-Pierre Mohen,France S t e l i o s Papadopolous, Greece Elisabeth des Portes,SecretaryGeneral,ICOM, ex o f f i c i o Roland de Silva,President, ICOMOS,ex o f f i c i o Tomislav 3ola,Croatia Shaje Tshiluila,Zaire
O UNESCO 1775
Published f o r the United Nations Educational, S c i e n t i f i c and C u l t u r a l Organizationby Blackwell Publishers. Authors a r e responsible f o rt h e ft h e choice and the presentation o f a c t s contained i n signed articles and f o rt h e opinions expressed therein,which are not necessarily those o f UNESCO and do not commit t h e Organization.The designationsemployed and t h e f material i nM z r s e i m i presentation o I?rlenzationaldo not imply t h e expression of any opinion a r t of UNESCO whatsoever on the p f any concerning the l e g a l status o f county,t e r r i t o r y , c i t y or area or o its authorities, or concerning t h e f its frontiers or delimitation o boundaries.

40

A WorkersMuseum i n Copenhagen Peter L u d u i g s e n

Looking a t Rembrandt:the view from Amsterdam, B e r l i n and London K e e s Bruin

Exhibit

4 4
48

Event

The Beirut Museum opens i t s doors B t v g i t t e Colin

Viewpoifzt

51 55 57 59
61

S c i e n t i f i ci l l i t e r a c y :a challenge t o natural h i s t o r y t e i g e n museums Andreas L.S

Features

Books
I l l i c i t traffic

Professional news

ISSN 130-0775, Mzrseum Iiztenrational (UNESCO,P a r i s ) , No. 188 (Vol. 47, No.4,1975) O UNESCO 1775 Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road,Oxford,OX4 1JF (UK) and 2 3 8M a i n Street,Cambridge, MA 02142 (USA)

STOLEN
Drawing in Indian ink onpaper by Rembrandt:standing woman seen) i l l l e n g t h i nl e f tprofile, wearing a l o n gd r e s s and a shawl ouer her shoulder,her head t i l t e ds l i g h t l y to the f i g h t ;brown backgrbzmd.Figure 744 i n lower right-handcorne? roiind stamp bearing the words Brenaen Kiinsthalle ita lower left-hand corner and the word Rembrandt on the back.S t o l e nfrom a museLcm i n Baku,Azerbijan,i nJuly 1993.(Interpol Baku -Reference 35/1-650 and InterpolWiesbaden-Refereiace EA 32-33U-3103494].
ft h eICPO-InterpolGeneralSecretariat,L-yons{France) Photo b y courtesy o

Editorial
Probably more b a m has been done to ?nusezm collectionsthioughinpoperstoragethan by a i z y other nieans.

So begins a handbook on museum storage commfssioned by UNESCO a f t e r the f i r s t International Conference on Museum Storage,held i n Washington,D.C., i n 1976.Both the Conferenceand the handbook were intended t o alert the museum community t o the dangers inherenti n inadequate, ill-conceivedstorage systems.Surprisingly enough, t h i s questionremains as timelytoday as it was nearly twentyyears ago, as museums facenew challenges t h a t threaten collections as surely as f i r e and flood.

F i r s t and foremost are the demands of an increasingly sophisticatedpublic accustomed t o blockbuster exhibitions replete with hi-tech, i n t e r a c t i v e media and theme-park-type displays.The search f o r novelty and change very often takes precedence over the time consumingand far l e s s glamorous t a s k of caring f o r the objects i n store.And a s success i sa l l too often measured i n the number ofv i s i t o r s ,financing becomes far easier t o obtain f o r temporary or permanent displays than f o r the storage of museum collections.

olong Compounding t h i sproblem i sthe dramaticevolutioni nmuseum presentation: not s ago a much higherproportion o fthe collectionwason publicview thani snow considered acceptable; v i s i t o r s may have been bored by case a f t e r case of arrowheadsand pots,but researchers could carry out much of t h e i r work i n the g a l l e r y itself.As new ideas f o r didactic interpretation,coupled with expanded acquisition rates,consigned the bulk o f the collectiont o the stores, theneedf o rimprovedstorage conditionsbecame exacerbated with no corresponding increase i n funds. As storage i s not v i s i b l e ,it tendst o be neglected i n planning and investment, where p r i o r i t yi s given t o spaces open t o the publicz
And yet,t h e hidden objects and artefacts t h a t make up t h e bulk of the collectionof many a museum are oftenits t r u e razkoiz dt3they a r e theheart and lungsthat-drive the museum machine, t h a tkeep it a l i v e and well and able t o adapt t o the needs o fseriousscholarsand Sunday s t r o l l e r s alike.As a respected conservator put it: Whetheror not an object w i l l be preserved f o rt h e futurei s most dependenton t h e kind ofstorageprovided f o rit. Costly and complicatedconservationtreatments are ofl i t t l euse ifthe objectst r e a t e da r e subsequently returned t o damaging environments.By providing the b e s t storage possible,w e are taking the f i r s t and most importantstep toward preserving our c u l t u r a l heritage.3 The need t o take a freshlook at storagei n todays museum contextwas suggested by Gal de Guichen, head of Museums and Collections a t the International Centre f o r the Study ofthe Preservationand the Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), and a member o f Museum InternationaisAdvisory Board.H i s long professional experience and genuine concern f o r the cause of preventive conservation have made him an internationally recognized spokesman on t h i s question.His advice and guidance were invaluable i n planning t h i s issue. M.L.

Notes
1. E.Verner Johnson and Joanne C. Horgan, Museum CollectionStorage,Paris, U N E S C O , 1979.

2. See Michael Corfield, TheStorage of Museum Collections:An Overview,Storage,London, United Kingdom Institute f o r Conservation, 1991.

3. Konstanze Bachmann, Principlesof Storage,CoilsematioiaConcerns,Washington,D.C.,

Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. ISSN 1350-0775, Musezon kztenzationnl (UNESCO,P a r i s ) , No. 188 (Vol.47,No. 4,1995) O UNESCO 1995 Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road,Oxford,OX4 1JF ( U 0 and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,MA 02142 (USA)

Why reserve collections?

&fartine Jaoul,Director o f theMuse National des Arts e t Traditions Populaires i n Paris, draws upon her considerable f the experience as thefomier director o m z i s e z i m sreserve collections t o set o t r t the main issues confronting tniueutns today as thevgrapple with theproblems o f storcige and the managenient and preservation o f collections.She i sn member o f the Executue Board o f the French National Committee o f ICOM and runs a network o f European ethnographic museums.

When was the ambiguous concept of reserve collections i n museums first formulated?What does it mean i np r a c t i c a l terms at the present time?And whati s the general publicsunderstanding of it? Is the reserve collectionthe museums hidden, inaccessible heart,o r simply i t s dark side:invisible, u n f i tf o rdisplay, forgottenabout?No doubt theseare someofthe questionst h a tled the e d i t o r i a l staff o f Museum International t o devote an e n t i r e issue t ot h i s subject. Going back t ot h eo r i g i n s oft h i si n s t i t u t i o n , whether the cabinetsof c u r i o s i t i e s o f the EuropeanRenaissanceorthemuseum developed i n the Western world as a universal model during the nineteenth century,w e can say,Inthe beginning was the collection, t h e whole ofwhich was accessiblet o v i s i t o r s .But t h ev i s i t o r s came from the very smallsectionofsocietythatwas expected t o be a b l et o appreciate, without a s s i s t a n c e ,t h e significance o ft h e wonders o f nature and artcollectedover t h e years and as opportun i t y offered.W a s not the museum itself, whichshowedeverythmgbutexplainednothing,exactly what i s now understood by the phrase reserve c o l l e c t i o n sopen t ot h epublic?

With the growing concern t o offer an educationaland pleasurable experience t o a broad social spectrum, which forms part o fmuseumsown definition ofthemselves as expressed by ICOM,curators increasingly felt the need f o r careful selection of the objects they put on display. Thus museography came into being, as did i t s logical consequence, the reserve collection. Given t h i s division of the museum into two areas that are not f e l tt o be of equal value,it does seem useful t o give some thought t o the meaning of the term reserve collection (also calledthe stores) and the museum practices associated with the concept.

The visiting public and professionals

Today, many people simply do not r e a l i z e t h a t museums have reserve collections. No indication of t h e i r existencei s given a t the museum entrance,hence the surprise or disappointmentofv i s i t o r swho have come specifically t o see a p a r t i c u l a r object or

Agricultural instruments on display a t the Paris International Fair i n 1900: W a s not the museum, which showed eueything but explained nothing, exactly what is now understood by thephrase reservecollections open to thepublic?

ISSN 1350-0775, Mzrseum International (UNESCO,P a r i s ) , No. 188 (Vol. 47, No. 4,1995) O UNESCO 1995 Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road, Oxford. OX4 1JF (UICand 238 Main Street, Cambridge.MA 02142 (USA)

Why reserve collections?

work, which they have read about or seen photographed i n a book or magazine, s not put on display. when it i Some museum v i s i t o r s who do know that reserve collections e x i s t think of them as places of no p a r t i c u l a r interest,i n which works ofl e s s e rqualityare foundalongside old frames and discarded showcases,a l l gathering dust together. But, more and more v i s i t o r s overestimate the importance of the reserve collections (as witness the success o f the open days organized by certain c u r a t o r s ) . It i s a place from which the anonymous, ordinary v i s i t o rt o the museum i s as a ruleexcluded.One must be a professional, a specialist,have an appointment, or be accompanied by a guide. H o w dreams and f r u s t r a t i o n s can feed on such exclusions!Surely the museumsfine s t and most extraordinary treasures must be hidden away i n these places. Here, wandering freely,far from the madding crowd, thec a r t e l sand compulsoryi t i n e r a r h i s or t h a t acquisitionu n t i la ies,i n the silence and the half-light, one thewisdom oft a c q u i s i t i o n scanbe diswould surely discover,i n the company o f later date.Conversely, n advance by the argument t h a t an enthusiastic specialist, the objectwith a couraged i works special message f o r oneself alone!Such i s the reservesare already full.And yet, t h a t a r e sometimes o f mediocre q u a l i t y the savour of forbidden f r u i t . remain on display i nt h e exhibition rooms though over the years the reHowever,as time passes and the youngest indefinitely, museums grow older, the congestionofthe serve collections have been enhanced by reserve collections,t h e downside of a dy- acquisitions that would give the museums i s i t o r s new pleasures.One should a l s o renamic acquisitions policy, i s becoming a v h ed e l i c a t e objectst h a tsometimes leitmotifi n discussions between museum member t u f f e r from extended periods of exposure professionals.It i s oftens a i dt h a ta museum s f equal value i nt h e t h a t has stopped adding t o its collectioni s a when there are others o reserve collection t h a t could replace them. dying museum. Butoneshouldperhapsadd that an acquisitionsp o l i c y without a reserve collectionpolicywillcondemnthe museum Architecture and programming t o death by suffocation. Many curators have a tendency t o acquire new works f o r the simple reason that they have room i nt h e i r reservest o house them, postponing consideration ofthepurpose o r
O UNESCO 1995

des

-e

A t what point i n the general programming of a museum can one begin t o think seriouslyaboutthe reserve collection?Too late,i n most cases, or at any rage long a f t e r

Martine Jaoul

Irbe ceramic stores after reorganization.

decisions have been taken on other sections of the museum.The reserve collection i s then b u i l t up,as an afterthought, i n unused ( o r unusable) premises with the (meagre) l e f t o v e r sfromthe generalbudget. But there have recently been signs t h a t attitudesmight be changing. For example, two national museums i nP a r i s are undergoing major renovation under the s t a t e programme of public works:the Musum d ' H i s t o i r e Naturelle (Natural History Museum) and the Muse des Techniques (Technological Museum). The renovated GrandeGalerie de Zoologie (zoologicalwing) oftheformer, whichwas l i s t e d on the programme of public works f o r 1985,was opened i n June 1994 a f t e r nine years of intense a c t i v i t y by i t s scient i s t s , museologists, architectsand restorers. What i s interestingfrom our point of view i st h a t from 1980 u n t i l 1986 t h e conservation team focused i t se f f o r t s on the construction of a new underground storage f a c i l i t y which i s modem i ns t y l e and functional.In the same way,the inauguration by the National Museum o fTechnology of the new extramural storage f a c i l i t i e si n September 1994 was regarded as the f i r s t stage of i t s renovation work. I n fact,an international symposium on museum reserve collections was organized i n that context (see the a r t i c l e by Dominique Ferriot i nt h i s issue E d . ) .

I ti s now clear t h a t the planning and equipment of reserve collections must form an integral p a r t of the overall programme of the museum. The function and,consequently,s i t i n g of the reserve collection and the equipment it requires can vary considerably from one establishment t o another.They cannot be dissociated from the programmes o f the exhibition rooms,the network of collectionst o which the museum belongs or the type of v i s i t o r it a t t r a c t s .Each conservation team should therefore consider carefully what purpose i t s reserve collections should serve:D o they provide in-depthsupport f o r the exhibition function o ra r e they more a contrast t o what i s on display?D o they r e f l e c t outdated museological approaches of which reminders are preserved as part of the history of the museum? Is it intended t o provide deeper knowledge o fa given s c i e n t i f i cdiscipline, a very specializedsubject,a school or an individual a r t i s t ?O r i s it preferable t o accumulatef o rthefuturecollectionswhose value i s not f u l l y appreciated today,and which the public or the supervising aut h o r i t i e s might not yet be ready t o accept? Towards what main objectives are the reserve collections t o be oriented i n the coming years?What w i l l be kepti n them? For w h o m w i l l thesecollectionsbe primar i l y intended and what means should be employed t o place the items a tt h e i r disposal:consultationi nworkrooms, tempor a r y exhibitions, loans o r storagei n other museums?
Once clear answers have been given t o some o f these questions decisions can be made with regard notonly t o thes i z eo fthe reserve collections, t h e i r location and furniture, but also t ot h e i r immediate surroundings, accesspoints,proximity t o other sections ofthe museum (workshops,laboratories, conservation, documentation), staffing,etc.
Q UNESCO 1995

Why reserve collections?

A shared responsibility
The museums reserve collections w i l l then impinge on the a c t i v i t i e s of a large number ofthe museumss t a f fand concern everyone i n one way o r another,even if managers or storekeepers are the ones most d i r e c t l y involved. Curators and s p e c i a l i s t staff should know what the reserve collections contain, keep up-to-date f i l e s , undertakeand publish the r e s u l t s of research on the collections.An evaluation ofthe contentsofthe reserveby type of collection i s a good way of rationa l i z i n g acquisitions,especially if one can networkwith other museums with the same approach, organizing complement a r y programmes or even exchanges of collections and shared storage f a c i l i t i e s . Restorersmust superviseconditionsi nboth t h e exhibitionroomsand the storageareas, recommending appropriate storage furnit u r e and stands and,above all, regularly checking the s t a t e of conservation of the collections. Security s t a f f are also responsi b l ef o r the safe keeping of works held i n the reserves and should control comings and goings i n the storage area. For the administrative staff,the management ofthe reservecollectionshas considerablefinancialimplicationsinvolvingrunning costs and forward-looking investment. A large number of the museums a c t i v i t i e s converge on the reserve collection, which should therefore be given constant attention i n the allocation and organizationof day-to-daytasks. It would be i n the i n t e r e s t of the staffofthe museumsc u l t u r a la c t i v i t i e s section t o bear t h e reserve collectionsi n mind,above a l lt o makepeopleawareofCern. Thecollections couldbe usedwhenevermored i r e c tcontact w i t h objectsi sneeded, f o rexample, specialO UNESCO 1995

me disiizfection enclosure.
ized conferencesand museum visits f o r the blind.Someitemscoulda l s o be takenoutof the reserve c o l l e c t i o n sf o r use outside the museum, say,i n museum-buses and f o r v i s i t st o schoolsand hospitals.For teachers, the reserve c o l l e c t i o n s mirror the l i f e of a museum and are an i d e a l place f o r vocat i o n a lt r a i n i n g and teaching a c t i v i t i e s . The a r t i c l e si nt h i s issue are so many indications t h a t sound management of reserve collections i s closely associated with all the other activities of a museum. The contributors are a l l concerned t o prevent our reserve collections from being simply a reflection of our consumer societystendency t o accumulate without discrimination and t o waste.They could well lead the reader t o conclude t h a t the problem ofreservecollectionsw i l lbe one ofthe key issuesofmuseologyi nthe years t o come. rn

Storing museum c o l l e c t i o n s an : unresolved problem

Yani Hen-eman
Regardless o f thegreat strides in recent miLseicwi architecture andplanniizg, storage areas continare to be seriously neglected, according to Yani Herreman, n well-knownMexican architect.She has been involved i n a niinaber o f inuseum n her o w n county niad abroad projects i and is a member ofMuseum Internationals Adviso y Board.

Despite the f a c tt h a t collectionshave been stored i n museums ever since museums were f i r s t conceived,it seems that among architects, planners and even curatorsand conservators ignorance of the f i e l d has prevailed at a l l times and i na l l places. Today storage space f o r collectionsi ss t i l l waging a losing b a t t l e with other uses of spacei n museum buildings despite current advancesi n architecture, conservationand planning, j u s ta s it did twenty-fiveyears ago,when specialization i n the various f i e l d s of museology began.

museographical r e f i t s ,such as the Museo de l aReina Sofia(Madrid, S p a i n ) . There are a t the moment overf i f t yknown p r o j e c t sa t f completion throughout various stages o the world.

Traditionally museums have been a real design challenge:first, as buildings,because of the complexity o ft h e i r purpose; second,as works of architecture because of the importance of t h e i r function as the s e t t i n gf o r collections; and,third,as a r t i s t i c creations because of the great c r e a t i v i t y public buildings of t h i s type deserve.Paul The twentieth centuryhas been character- Winkler has called the museum a highly o rthese ized by a huge boom i n museums,a boom sophisticated mechanism.Maybe f f t h a thas not yetf a l l e no f f .By the mid-1970s very reasons the museum as a work o e s t archimany people believed that the museum architecture has won over the b f our time,who have made forays explosion was already over. The major tects o n t ot h i sd i f f i c u l tf i e l d and l e f t us with museums had been b u i l t ,and the s i t u a t i o n i i n the world was s t a r t i n gt o change,lead- wonderful examples of expressive and h e less, ing t o the b e l i e ft h a t the planning r a t ef o r well-constructed works. None t n archimuseums would be much slower than i n despite the great progress made i the previous decade. To everyonessur- tectural planning and programming and ff i e l d s prise,however,the culture boom,i n par- improved technical knowledge o h a t are a s important t o museums as cont i c u l a r as regards museums, continued t f undiminished.The exhibition held at the servation,the overwhelming majority o nt h e i r funcWhitney Museum ofAmerican A r ti n 1982 them are not veiy successfuli t i l l areas that are serion new American art museums showed tioning.There are s h e i rs i g n i f i t h a t a great number ofbuildingshad been ously neglected even though t s beyond question,and one such i s b u i l to r refurbished i n those years,and a cance i quick glance at the world situationbacked the storage of collections. up what the exhibition was saying.More than ten years have passed since then,and An Achlesheel the construction,renovation and expansion of museums i ss t i l l even now a boom h i sa r t i c l e may think t h a ti t s industry.Every day sees the opening of Readers of t r r on the side o fexaggeration, new museums devoted t oparticularthemes: arguments e i f f i c u l t y children( E l Papalote, Museum oftheChild, but they can be assured that the d o f finding an appropriate solution t o the Mexico City,1 9 9 3 ) ; the Olympic Games t i l l represents a (Lausanne, Switzerland, 1 9 9 3 ) ; history, such problem of storage areas s considerable Achilles heel i n architectural as t h a to fthe history ofthe Federal Repubprojects and a r e a l headache f o r those l i c of Germany (Bonn, Germany,1 9 9 4 ) ; responsible f o r collections. and specificperiods ofhistory,such a s the Holocaust Museum (Washington, D.C., as f o rmany conserUnited S t a t e s ) ,t o mention but a few exam- For Graeme Gardiner, vators, it i s a frequent occurrence t o find ples. There are also architectural and

ISSN 1350-0775, Mziseum Intenzntionfil (UNESCO,Paris), No.188 (Vol.47,No.4,1995) O UNESCO 1995 Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road. Oxford,OX4 1JF (UK)and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,M A 02142 (USAi

Storing museum collections:an unresolved problem

t h a t the deterioration o f holdings i s rooted i n the unsuitable way i n which they are stored. Ignorance and negligence i n the management oftemperature and humidity levels,pollutants,dust,insects and other pests and poor cataloguing and document a t i o n r e s u l t even today i n the l o s so f objects kept i n storage.In order t o solve the problem a campaign i s needed t or a i s e awarenesso fit amongmuseum staffand t o educate them.Conservators,curators,administrators,directorsand otherswho have anything t o do with museums must be persuaded o f the importance of keeping storage areas i n good condition and functioning correctly.If a collection i st o be remodelled or rehoused the appropriate s p e c i a l i s t smustbe consulted, which means conservatorstrained i n preventive maintenance,collection administrators,speciali s t si n the application o f informationtechnology t o the cataloguing o f collections, planning architects and so on,who w i l l advise those involved on the best way o f carrying out the task.

i n g of the need f o r museologists t o have some knowledge of administration and management,togetherwith s p e c i f i c information on the collections f o r which they are responsible.

Oldfimziturei s carefidlypyotected in the Muse de l a Civilisation in Quebec, Canada.

It must be admitted,though,t h a t there has fortunately been a significant advance i n the way museologists, architects and planning and programming specialists see the issue. Unquestionably t h i s increased awareness has come from a better understanding of techrniques of conservation, Cataloguing, documentation,planning, programming, security and administration.Awareness of the immense possibilities offered by information technology i n the f i e l d of museology i n general, and of documentation,administration o f collections and planning i n particular, has also been crucial in improving storage area management.

Despite the spread of contemporary programming and planning practices,when Sinceas long ago as 1980Galde Guichen, dealing with storage it cannot be over the principal advocate of the study and stressed t h a t it must be taken i n t o considu t i l i z a t i o n of storage areas,has been w r i t - eration when a museum i s being designed
O UNESCO I995

Yani Herreman

or remodelled.It i s highly desirable f o r curators, conservatorsand plannerst owork together. The formationofan i n t e r d i s c i p l i nary team would go a long way towards ensuring eventual success. The current state of knowledge regarding the conservation of collections i n storage enables solutions t o be found which must be considered i n the overall design of the museum r i g h t from the very beginning, and i n analysing the way i n which the pieces are used and t h e i r characteristics. Acquisition policies and the museum's objectives are a l s o determining factors.

with the architect.It a l s o seemst o me t o be of p a r t i c u l a ri n t e r e s tt o point out which basic functions of the museum affect and modify the storageareas and should therefore be looked at when the programming study i s initiated.

Registration, catalogtti?ig and documentation o f works

Planning,planning and more

PhMW
According t o JoanneHorgan,s p e c i a l i s ti n architectural planning and programming, there are a s e r i e s of steps t h a t facilitatethe planning ofa storagearea:( a )c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of collections according t o type and use; ( b ) preparation of the programme and the conceptual diagram;( c ) establishment of design c r i t e r i a ; and ( d ) communication

Extraordinary progress has been made i n t h i s field,allowing close monitoring both ofthe history ofan object and o fi t s current s t a t e ofpreservation.It includes the use of computers i n support o f the programme, f o rregisteringand cataloguingworks.Spec i a l i s t si nt h i s discipline must advise the planners or architectsofwhat they need t o do t h e i r job.

Collection management and administration

This importantfunction, only recently recognized as such,involves,together with

m '5
e,

$
d c n
O

3 E

f a ceramic object in the Peatment o restoration laboratory o f the MLlse National des Arts et Traditions Populaires,Paris.
10
O UNESCO 1995

Storing museum collections:an unresolved problem

the curator,controlling and co-ordinating the policy f o rdisplay and rearrangementof s held i n the collection,including what i storage, and drawing up programmes.It i s intimately relatedt oa l l the otherf i e l d sand shouldbe closelyconnectedw i t h thework of the planner and a r c h i t e c t when the storage area i s being designed.

Coilseruation

Therehasbeenconsiderableprogressi nthis f i e l d too,w i t h much greater knowledge o f techniques,materials and substances that canprolong thel i f eo fcollectionsin storage. Conservators must provide guidelines f o r planners and a r c h i t e c t s on the best use of space and on refinementssuch as optimal levels o fl i g h t ,r e l a t i v e humidity and other technical requirements.

Collectionsecurity
Security has gained the attention it deserves i n museum work. The way it i s implemented i s dictated by serious research t h a t makes it possible t ol a y down rules f o ra c t i v i t i e si n the various areas.

Research

The type and frequency of research programmesdetermine not only t h es i z e ofthe collection,and thus the storage area, but also i t s location and i n t e r n a l arrangement, f o rwhichs p e c i a l i s tadvicei se s s e n t i a l . Among the currenttrendsf o rresolvingthe problem o f storing very large collections there i s consensus about the d e s i r a b i l i t y of cons t r u c t i n g buildings exclusivelyf o r that purpose,suchas,f o rexample, thestoresf o rthe J u l i t a Museum in Sweden and the Smithsonian I n s t i t u t i o nin the United States, both ofwhich are located some kilometresfrom
O UNESCO I995

t h e i r museums and serve t o house the m i i l i o n sofobjectst h a tmake up the collections.

Exhibitions

There i sa d i r e c tr e l a t i o n between the storage area and the exhibition area;it i s advisable t o have an intermediary t r a n s i t and setting-uparea, used a l s of o r work and/orr e g i s t r a t i o nand control. Thenumber of exhibitions and the usage policy f o r exhibitsw i l l affect the internalplanning of the storage area.

11

Fani Heweman

Education

Industria,Comrcio e Tecnologia de %O Paulo,1980. (Museu e Tecnicas s e r i e s . )

Although less'obvious than what has been l i s t e d above,education must a l s o shape planning c r i t e r i a .In some cases, too,it can be a determining factor,as i n stores open t o the public.The museum'spolicy and i t s objectivess e tthe standarf o rt h i s relation. To conclude, I should l i k et o point out t h a t at present architects and planners have more resourcesf o r designing good collection storage areas.The work of interdisciplinary teams,which are now more capab l e of advising and informing and have a clearer idea of the importance of t h i s c r u c i a lp a r t of the museum, w i l l enable collections and heritage i n storage t o be keptsecureand well looked afterf o r many more years t o come.

BACHMANN, Konstanze.( e d . ) . Conservation Concerns. A Guide for Collectors and Curators. Washington,D.C., Smithsonian InstitutionPress,1992. HORGAN, Joanne C.Planning Good Collection Facilities. Course Notes i n Collection Storage. Mexico City,Museo de Historia Natural,1990.

DARKAGH, Joan;SNYDER, S.James. MifieLinz Design. Planning and Building for A t ? N e w York,Oxford University Press,1994.
JOHNSON,

E Verner; HORGAN, Joanne C. Mifiema CollectionStorage.Paris, UNESCO, 1970.(TechnicalHandbooks f o r Museums and Monuments,2.)
GARDINER, Graeme.Prevention Rather than Cure: Preservation versus Conservation. Museum International,No. 183 (Vol.46, No.3, 1994).

Bibliography

DE GUICHEN, Gal. Musens: adequados a abrigar ColecOes? Sao Paulo,Museu da

12

O UNESCO 1995

Visible storage:the Glenbow experiment

Deimis Slater
A 1 7 tll7USLlal eqDerinaent for opening inuserint reserves to tt!!epublicwas attempted by the Glenbow Museum il7 Calgaiy (Alberta), Canada. n e successes and failures o f thispilotproject m e described ~ J Dennis J Slater, ethitology curator in the m~l~euiii spublicationand research division.H e has recently cwated one o f Gle~bows neulest permanent exlJibits, Where Symbols Meet:A Celebration o f West African Achievementfeaturiiig artefactsfion?the inuseurnsextemite West African collectiou.

Between 1978 and 1981, the Glenbow Museum i n Calgary, Canada, planned, prepared, and constructed a storage/exhibit system c a l l e dV i s i b l e Storage. The premise f o r most ifnot a l l such system i st o allow the public t o t a lv i s u a l access t o museum collections. This formula assumes that the public has the r i g h tt o complete access t o its c u l t u r a l heritage,and t h a t the public i s interestedi n seeinglargenumbers ofobjectsnormally held i nr e s t r i c t e dcollect i o n s areas. Glenbows design and f i n a l product were b u i l t on these assumptions, but as a prototype, it featured only one area ofourcollections. W e targetedethnographic material,s p e c i f i c a l l y our Cree artefacts. The Glenbowexperimentwas notwithout precedent. It was based on a s i m i l a r experiment i n 1976at the University o fB r i t i s h ColumbiasMuseum of Anthropology i n Vancouver. Unlike it, Glenbowsproject featured a discrete collection,used ondemand lighting, grouped objects according t o culture and type,and included an education area. As with the UBC project, Glenbows public was offered a large number of similar objects with minimal labelling, and f e w of the objects were t e x t i l e s or clothing. In the UBC example,v i s i b l e storage was one p a r t of a three-pointsystem of information and objects. AsMichael Ames wrote:
Visible storagebecame one o f the three types of displays available to students and the public alike. Each o f the displays is based on a separate exhibit policy suited to i t s ownparticularneeds, and the combination of the three make a total picture f o r the m u s e u m visitor.

l u s t r a t e storylines ( d i d a c t i c ) , or featured them i nv i s i b l e storage. Glenbows prototype was composed ofan interpretive/programmes space, a large crescent-shapeddidactic area,and an adjacentserieso f drawer units.The interpretive/programmes area featured storage cupboards f o r school programmes paraphernalia,chairs and tablesf o r discussion groups/presentations, and audiovisualfac i l i t i e s .The d i d a c t i c area was a long crescent-shapeddisplay case composed of a wooden base and frame faced with large sheets o f heavy glass, and topped by independentfluorescentl i g h tsources.Lab e l s and informationpanels i n the didactic area were standard f o r our exhibits,and photographs and i l l u s t r a t i o n s were featured on the back wall of the case.The banks of drawer u n i t s were composed of largesteelframesf i t t e df o rs l i d i n g horizontal or v e r t i c a l drawers.All large cases and independent drawers were faced with plexiglass.The exteriors of all the drawer u n i t s were painted with a m e t a l l i c grey finish, the f l a t sides and fronts interrupted only by on-demandl i g h t buttons and recessed drawer handles. No t e x t or labels were attached t o the outside of the units. Objects were arranged according t o type and culture, and chosen as examplesofthe d i v e r s i t yi n our collections.Labels were minimal,placed beside or below the artefacts,identifying culture,name,and artefact number.A computerwas located near by t o provide v i s i t o r s with additionalinformation. Combined, thedidacticand drawer u n i t s housed approximately 90per cent of GlenbowsCree collection.It featured a wide range of the artefacts, such as clothing, containers, weapons, implements, and musicalinstruments. I nthecaseand drawer units,l i g h t sources were r e s t r i c t e dt o ondemand systems, illuminatingthe contents f o r short periods. 13

According t oD r Ames, each u n i t emphasized thev i s u a l qualityof artefacts, orused a r t e f a c t st o communicate messages or il-

ISSN 1350-0775, M t l s e t r m Intmzfltio?ml (UNESCO,Paris), No. 188 (Vol.47,No. 4,1995) O UNESCO 1995 Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road,Oxford, OX4 1JF (UK) and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,MA 02142 (USA)

Dennis Slater

f the draiiler unitfacility shoioing View o the coniputer station and vertical and horizontal storage drawers.

personnel,but the design and layout do not necessarily achieve the goal of greater o rv i s i t o r s .Opponents o f the sysA f t e ri t s completion,v i s i b l e storage was access f h a t minimal labels and high closely monitored f o r public reaction and tem contend t o fa r t e f a c t sdiscouragelearnmaintenance needs.Monitoring included concentrations n museum v i s i t o r s .Defenders argue staff observations (e.g.regular checks o f ing i h a tt h i s assumes t h a tv i s i b l e storage u n i t s mounts, drawer mechanism, computers, t o achieve the samegoals as exhibits. labels, e t c . ) , and questioningv i s i t o r st o the want t f a c i l i t y .Soon after the opening, a basic i s i b l e storage unit i s not a display,nor d i f f i c u l t yappeared:public reaction t o the A v s it intendedasone.Certainlythe Glenbow drawer units was negligible.For the most i o meet t h a t part, v i s i t o r s did not go into t h i s area, example was not designed t preferring t o concentrate i n the didactic requirement. It had three components: didacticdisdisplay area.If they did enter,they tested interpretiveprogrammesarea, these the on-demandlightingsystem o r the s l i d - play area and drawerunits.Together, discrete spaces offered v i s i t o r s ad i f f e r e n t ing action of the drawer units. museum experience;separately,they ofn volume,and participation V i s i t o r s did not enter or use the v i s i b l e fered objects i n programmes and special events. storage area because they did not under- i stand its intention.It was unlike anything r i s e s when visible storage they had encountered before,e i t h e ri n the The problem a n isolation.They are not accompanying didactic area or i n the rest units are seen i of the museum. Visible storage systems displays,they are not conventional stori s i t o r s are unprepared and perwere r a d i c a l l y new t o the museum public. age,and v o use them. When Their intention may be c l e a rt o museum haps not inclined t
Mixed reactions
O UNESCO I995

14

V i s i b l e storage:the Glenbow experiment

questioned,most said they didntknow i d not understand what the area was,and d why it was created or how they were supposed t o use it. They were interested i n the objects but they were intimidated by the areasimposing box-like design, and they were frustrated by the minimal labels.It was an unexpected space,not providing conventional exhibit information o r context.

normal interpretive context. These a l s o Entyance o f the cl-escent-shaped didactic address one of the most crucial character- display. h e i r size. i s t i c s of v i s i b l e storage u n i t s t Most v i s i b l e storage systems are large, heavy andvisuallyimposing. TheGlenbow prototype occupied more space than conventional storage cabinets but it contained fewera r t e f a c t s .it was a l s o considerably heavier and placed s i g n i f i c a n t stress on the floor.Because o fi t ss i z e and grey exterior,a number of v i s i t o r s described it Sowhatdoes a v i s i b l e storageu n i t achieve, as uninviting. if it i s not an exhibit? It presents a large number o f objects i n an unconventional Other issues arose as t h e staffand public context,and it a l e r t sv i s i t o r st o the hidden worked with t h i s new system.Since most wealth ofmuseum collections. These c r i t e - o fthe Creecollectionwas housed invisible ria are often cited a s the prime reasons f o r storage the new u n i ta c t u a l l y hampered st h i s kind s t a f faccess t o objects needed f o r detailed any v i s i b l e storage design.But i o f volume displaya c a t a l y s tf o r learning, study or loan t o other museums. Unit o ri s it v i s u a l l y overwhelming? Can such drawers were not e a s i l y removed o r h a t objects could be reunits stand alone,or are they more appro- dismantled so t p r i a t ea s accentsi nal a r g e r display?As the moved. Furthermore,the units were depublic and s t a f fused v i s i b l e storage, these signed f o r a specific type and number o f o questions assumed greater importance. objects: they did not lend themselves t I n i t i a imonitoringsuggestedsomeanswers: substitutions or additions. Although the perhaps the units were too large, and drawers were designedf o r ease of access, reduced versions might be an accent f o r t h e i r height,weight and perspective were conventional exhibits;volume i s useful, d i f f i c u l tf o r childrenor people confined t o but it i s most e f f e c t i v e if it i s nested i n a wheelchairs.

O UNESCO 1995

15

Dennis Slater

Over time,the constantuse ofthe drawers a l s o posed a danger t o the a r t e f a c t s .Des p i t e careful mount designs the drawer movement caused a r t e f a c t deterioration and a gradual loosening of the mounts. This was p a r t i c u l a r l y noticeable i n the shorter v e r t i c a l drawers.

and clothing were either too large or required mounts too complex f o r the unit design.When theywere included, it was i n longf l a tdrawer u n i t s ori n focus casest h a t could accommodate mannequins.Neither option allowed f o r large numbers o f these artefacts,and a l s o limited how they were presented. What about the value o f the unit as a research tool?H o w did it compare with regular storage f a c i l i t i e s ,and how did it a f f e c t research access? Visible storage allows researchers t o view large numbers of artefacts and choose objects of interest.This i s adequate f o r casual research, but d i f f i c u l t for researchers w h o need hands-on access. I n Glenbows prototype,most of the Cree collection was i n visible storage, and effectively unavailable for in-depth research. It was unavailable because it was on a floor separate from the r e s to f storage, and objects could not be easily removed from the didactic or drawer units.

Itwas also obvioust h a t certainshapesand

s i z e s of a r t e f a c t could not be comfortably accommodated by v i s i b l e storage. The prototype worked f o r ethnographic objects but the design would not accommodate the v a r i e t y of weights and shapes common i nac u l t u r a l history collection, p a r t i c u l a r l y the large numbers ofcostumes and t e x t i l e si n the museum.Clothing and mannequins were only accommodated i n l a r g e r unobstructed cases b u i l t into the drawer units.In these,mannequins were smaller than those i n conventional exhibits. Textiles posed an even greater problem, because a t that time there was no v i s i b l e storage system t h a t could safely store t e x t i l e s . With other objects,conservation concernswere addressed, and artef a c t s suffered few problems,but t e x t i l e s

The re-createdsixteenth-century nrrnourers shop in the exhibit,Warriors: A GlobalJourneyThrough Five Centuries.

Lessons learned

What did t h i s experiment prove?Contrary t o most evaluations, v i s i b l e storagewas not a complete failure;it provided valuable informationaboutv i s i t o r s ,collections, exh i b i t s and expectations.Glenbowsprototype was closed i n 1985, mostly f o r design and technical reasons.Shortly after it was dismantled,p a r t s ofit were recycledi n the museum. Drawer units became research and conservationstations, and otherswere converted into storage f a c i l i t i e sf o r rolled t e x t i l e s and animal hides i n the ethnology area. Athoughvisitors were not inclined t o use the computer system designed for the prototype, a l l the computer equipment was salvaged and used i n other exhibits and projects.The prototype taughtuswhat the public expected from a computersup-

16

O UNESCO 1995

V i s i b l e storage:the Glenbow experiment

plement, and what l e v e l of information was comfortable f o r casual and serious researchers. Less obvious were the philosophical changesprompted by the visible storage experiment. Visible storagedemonstrated the value of an area designated for interpretationand programmes, and as a result, programme space has been a standard fixture on the exhibit floors since 1985. These areas are discrete spaces versatile enough t o accommodate a range of programmes and school activities. Since the mid-1980s,numerous exhibits have featured small drawer units as display-caseoptions,o r as independentu n i t s f o r special collections.Both versions increase the volume of a r t e f a c t s on display and accesst o awiderv a r i e t yo fcollections. Independentunits a l s o allow f o r concent r a t i o n s of a r t e f a c t s pertinent t o an exhibit theme. I n many cases, these have been small objects (e.g.m i l i t a r y medals and i n s i g n i a )i n shallow drawers such a s the unit i n the recentGlenbow exhibit Warn'om:A GlobalJozirizey h-ougbFive Centuries. This exhibit a l s o displays many obj e c t s with another method diorama.The Warriorsexhibitfeaturesa dioramarecreationo fa sixteenth-century armourer'sshop similar t o the type found i n a castle i n southern Germany.The diorama contains many pieces o farmour, weaponsand tools from the Glenbow collection. Int h i sexample,artefactsare displayed i n volume but the diorama provides an interpretive context.

a research area with objects i n large drawer units may be cumbersome,but the public i s still interested i n the information.The resultwas a change i n what our exhibits offered,and the inclusion o f reading/resource areas with books, pamphlets and computer stations. A t Glenbow,resource areas seem t o be i n part a product of the intellectual s h i f t prompted by the v i s i b l e storage experiment. Today, resource areas are standard i n Glenbow exhibits and are used with enthusiasm by the public.

V i s i b l e storage was and i s a hotly contentious issue.But with t h e UBC experiment and the Glenbow prototype,c r u c i a l lessons were learned.'The r e s u l t s of the Glenbow experiment have deeply inluenced how new temporaryand permanent exhibitions are designed. Consequently, philosophy, design, and public needswere more c l e a r l y defined i n the museum community. A number o f the changes now implementedi n our exhibitswere inspired by the prototype. It focused attention on issues o f access,information and learning which are s t i l l key issues i n the museum community.Because ofthe v i s i b l e storage experiment and i t s philosophical legacy, all our exhibits have benefited and the public has a more meaningful museum experience.

Notes
1. Michael M.Ames, 'Preservation and Access: A Report on an Experiment in Visible Storage', Guzette,SummedFall 1981. 2. Duncan Cameron, Ceutiiig Visual and IntellectualAccess to M irseiim Collections,
Glenbow Museum, 1986 (unpublished report).

As an experiment i n research/storage space,visible storage sparked another change i n exhibit design - resource areas.Visible storage demonstrated that

O UNESCO 1995

17

Detached storage:the Smithsonian I n s t i t u t i o n sMuseurn Support Center

U.Vincent Wilcox
A ground-breakingstorage and research facility located well away from the Srnithsonian Institution i n central Wmhington,D.C., the kluseiim Sr~port Center employs state-of-rhe-art technology t ofacilitate both presewation and research.n e author u l a s heavily involved in planning the centre arid w a s appointed its director while it w a s under construction in 1981. H e hnspreviozdy served a s collections managerfor the SmithsoniansDepartment o f Anthropology andprior to that as curator o f the Research Branch a t theMuseuun o f theAmerican Indian,Heye Foundation, in New York.
a single structure.Four large storage bays, c a l l e d pods, provide a stable and secure environmentf o rlong-term collectionpreservation. Each pod i s approximately the s i z e ofan American football f i e l d and r i s e s t o a height of three storeys. They are designed solely t o be collection spaces. Withinthem thereare r e l a t i v e l yfewhuman support services other than those required f o r staff safety and accessibility.Separate and d i s t i n c tfrom t h e storage pods i s a two storey office/laboratory complex.It i s designed f o r the specialized research and conservation a c t i v i t i e s located a t the cenThere i s ,of course,a contradiction inher- t r e . Here people and collections come ent i nt h i s mission.The optimum environ- together under controlled conditionswithment f o r preservation and the optimum out compromising the environment i n the environmentf o rstudyare neitherthe same storage pods. nor alwayscompatible.Collectionsrequire very stable surroundings free from the Separating the office/laboratory complex st h e large, various agents o f deterioration,such as from the four storage pods i l i g h t ,dust, i n s e c t pests and extremes i n central corridor c a l l e d thestreet. Six metemperature and humidity.The very pres- tres wide and r i s i n g the f u l l height of the ence of human beings can compromise building, the s t r e e ti s the main passageway these conditions. O n the otherhand,mod- f o r the movement of both people and ernmethods f o rresearchand conservation collections throughout the centre.Collecfrequentlyrequirespeciallyequippedlabo- t i o n objects of a l ls i z e s can e a s i l y traverse r a t o r i e s with separate climate-controlsys- this corridorfrom the loading dock at one tems.Human s a f e t y guidelinesf o r exhaust end of the building t o most any place and ventilation render it d i f f i c u l tt o main- within the centre.Elevators located at the t a i n the standards established f o r long- corners of three o f the storage pods proterm collectioncare.Furthermore, the indi- vide access from the s t r e e tt oa l l levels i n viduals who perform and support the re- the pods and the office/laboratory comsearch and conservation functions have plex.Large doorways i n the wall at the f i r s t l o o r of the office/laboratory complex are special needs o f a more personal nature. f They require thebasic human servicesand f o r objects too l a r g eo r awkward f o r the These can be l i f t e dd i r e c t l y from conveniences,such a s food and drink, elevators. washing and t o i l e tf a c i l i t i e s ,and, .whati s the s t r e e t using a chain hoist or a f o r k l i f t most important,a comfortable and pleas- truck. ant work environment.

TheSmithsonianInstitutions Museum Support Center i s a specialized research, conservation and storage f a c i l i t y located i n Suitland, Maryland, approximately 1 0 k m south o f the United S t a t e s Capitol building i n Washington, D.C.Covering nearly two hectares of land,t h i s unique, zigzag-shaped building contains more than 50,000 mz ofspace.Having no public exhibits,it i s dedicated t o the mission o f providing the optimum environment f o r both the preservation and study of Smithsonian collections.

18

Recognizing t h i s inherent Contradiction, Maintenance, cleanliness and the f a c i l i t ya r c h i t e c t s created a design t h a t security separatesthe activities associatedwithpreservationand storagefrom thoseassociated Another focus o f the centresarchitectural with research and study. The centre i s design i sf a c i l i t y maintenance.The builde s s e n t i a l l y severaldifferentf a c i l i t i e swithin ing must be kept clean,the u t i l i t y services
ISSN 135@-@775,Mifieim International (UNESCO, Paris),No.1 8 8 Nol. 4 7 .No.4.17751 O UNESCO 1795 Published by Bkdckweii Publishers,108 Cowley Road,Oxford,OX4 1JF CUI<)and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,M A O2143 (USA)

Detached storage:the Smithsonian Institutions Museum Support Center

n good working order, and the kept i structural integrity kept intact.Performing these tasks may conflict with the programmea c t i v i t i e sassociatedwith preserving and studying the collections. Consequently, the f a c i l i t yhas no attic or basement.The energy plant i s located at one corner of the f a c i l i t y at the head of the street,with a l l the main mechanical systems placed on the roof. The street serves as the spinal column for all the building systems. The power, steam, water,ventilation and communications lines run from the energy plant down the street, branching o f f as needed. Here,systemsmaintenance can be done without compromising the security and protection of the programme areas.Furthermore,major improvements t o the u t i l i t i e s can be done easily as needs for these services increase.
Fourteen air-handlingunits,three boilers and three chillers provide specially filtered and conditioned air t oa l l areas of the bu il d i n g . High effi cien cy particulate air (HEPA) filters remove more than 99.8 per cent of a l l particulate matter from the air,including pollen and insect eggs. They provide a virtually dust-free environment and significantly reduce the cost of cleaning services. Thermostats and humidistats i n most of the spaces, with individuallycontrolled steam and heating coils, ensure that the temperatureand humiditylevelsare kept constant throughout the centre.

s t a t eofthe nrtfacility the the card-readers placed at the entrances A t o the various office, laboratory and SmithsoiaiaizInstitutioizsMuseum storage areas. Coded t o meet the indi- Suppoi-tCenter. vidual needs ofeach staffmember,these passcards automatically unlock doors and record a personspassage through the building.For fire safety,smoke-and heat-detection devices, monitored by computer, supporta water-charged sprinkler system with individuallycontrolled heat-activatedsprinkler heads.

Sophisticated security monitoring and detection equipment,including motion detectors and closed-circuittelevision, offer optimum safety f o r the collections. Individuals entering the centre pass through a security checkpoint where personal belongings are inspected and building credentials are issued. These credentiaQ include passcards for use i n
O UNESCO 1995

A l l collection objects are processed through the loading dock and shipping office.A computer records the transport ofa l l museum collections into and out o f the centre. The shipping o f f i c e also controls the movement of accountable property,hazardousmaterials and waste. A separate storage area i s designed exclusively for hazardous materials,and a cold-storage refuse room is used for organic waste t h a t may be subject t o insect infestation.
An integrated pest-management programme helps prevent the development of insect pests t h a t could be harmful t o the collections.The programme i s supervised by the staff Pest Manager,and involves the inspection of a l l incoming

19

U.Vincent Wilcox

Collections are transportedthrough the street using electric-poweredtrucks and specially designed carts.

pod, i s equipped Pod 3,knownas the wet with explosion-proof e l e c t r i c a l devices, special drains and separate ventilation t o provide a safe environmentf o r the storage of the fluid-preserved(alcohol) biological collections.Bottled collections are stored on shelves, and tanks are placed i n special movable racks within a three-level, s t e e l Caring for 20 d o n items mezzanine structure.Parto fPod 4, known as highbay, i sf o r the storage of oversize The fourstoragepods functionl i k e large, objects,such as boats,whale skulls,and self-contained storage cabinets. With in- carved stone monuments. A p a i r of large mlated outside walls 50 c m thick,each roll-up doors, i n s t a l l e d back-to-backt o one covers an area of approximately provide f o r insulation,allow d i r e c t access 3,250 m2and i s over 8.5 metres high. from the outside. Pods 1,2,and half of Pod 4 are divided into three separate levels,each a l i t t l e In contrast t o the windowless pods, over 2 m high, by the construction of natural light shines through picture steel and concrete decks. Especially windows i n the officeAaboratory complex,providing employees with a view over woods and landscaped grounds. The glass i n these windows, and the overhead fluorescent lights i n the laboratories,are f i l t e r e df o r potentially harmful ultraviolet light.Exhaust hoods and elephanttrunksremove noxious odours and gases. Tiled rooms with special drains and explosion-proof fixtures are for the use of alcohol and solvents. Air, gas and de-ionized water supply the special needs of researchers and conservators. Rooms linked with lead shielding house X-ray equipment.
O UNESCO 1995

materials,s t r i c t control over designated food areas and food disposal, and the placement of over 2,000 insect monitor traps throughout the centre.The traps are inspected regularly,and the insects found within them are identified and recorded.In t h i s manner,the Pest Manager monitors the occurrence of insect pests and makes r i s k assessments regarding potential problems for the collections.Generally,thorough cleaning i s the easiest and most effective method f o r controlling insect populations without the use ofpotentially harmful chemicals. In addition,a 50-cm-widegravel s t r i p surroundsthe entire building along the outside of the exterior walls. This deadzone helps discourage pests from entering the f a c i l i t y .

designed storage systems, including closed cabinetscontaining shelves, drawers and other specialized equipment, house more than 20 million specimens and objects. The rows of cabinets extend more than 16 k m back and forth within the pods.Computer-aideddesign (CAD) systems facilitated the planning and installation of the cabinets, and barcodes have simplified and accelerated collections documentation and inventory control.

20

Detached storage:the SmithsonianInstitutions Museum Support Center

The Museum Support Center houses the one of them has received specialized care s now housed i n superiorconditions. Smithsonians ConservationAnalyticalLabo- and i e s u l ti s a model f o rcareofcollections ratory,and conservation laboratories f o r The r h a tw i l l help t o ensure t h e i r preservation the National Museum ofAmerican History t f o r generations t o come. and the Department o fAnthropology. The NationalMuseum o f Natural History mainh e public museum t a i n s storage and laboratoryf a c i l i t i e sat the Being separate from t f a c i l i t i e s i n central Washington does create centre f o reach ofi t ss c i e n t i f i cdepartments special concerns f o r t h e administration of and i t s new Laboratory f o r Molecular Systhe centre. Transportation between it and tematics. There are specialultra-coldfreeze r sf o r the preservation of DNA samples theotherfacilitiespresentsschedulingprobo r staff. They a r e now dependent and tanks f i l l e d with nitrogen gas f o r the lems f h u t t l ebus insteadoft h e i rown two preservation of meteorite specimens.The upon a s e e tf o r attending meetings and v i s i t i n g NationalMuseum ofAmerican History also f h e i r colleagues i n other o f f i c e s . Basic) has space f o r the storage and study o fa t variety of h i s t o r i c a l collections. Branch o f f i c e s of the Smithsonian Libraries and PhotographicServices provide supportt o the research and scholarlya c t i v i t i e scarried out at the centre.

Designed for growth

The Museum Support Center w a s dedicated i n 1983. The installation of the specialized storage equipment and the moving of collections into the f a c i l i t y has been an ongoing project up t o the present time. Collections are being moved from overcrowded and inadequate conditions. The preparation o f the objects and specimensforboth transport and installation i n the new storage i s being done by specially trained staff under the guidance of the curators, conservators and collection managers.The objective i st o leave behind a l l the problems associated with the previous storage and bring the collections into the centre clean,inventoried and pest-free. The moving process could have been catastrophic for the collections had it been performed too hurriedly o r carelessly. In fact, it has become the best event that has ever happened t o the individual objects and specimens.Every
8 UNESCO 1995

Pod 3 i s designed to stow biological collections presetwed in alcobol. T a d a are mounted on movable shelves to provide easy access to the specimens.
21

U. Vinceizt Wikox

communication systems become increasingly important,including telephone,fax and,especially,computer networks.The Internet electronic communications network i s an e s s e n t i a l toolf o r the majority of the scholars and s c i e n t i s t s .It i s used not only f o r communicating with colleagues outside the Smithsonian, but a l s of o rmaintaining contactbetween the various separ a t ef a c i l i t i e swithin the Smithsonpan I n s t i tution itself. Consequently,the Museum Support Center was among the first of the Smithsonianfacilitiest opossessh l 1internet capabilities.

provide additional space f o ra l l the various Smithsonianmuseums,aswell as for the large library and archive collections. Newly constructed and functionally part of the centre are a greenhouse f o r biodiversity studies,and a special f a c i l i t y forpreparing and studyingmarine mammals. Approaching construction phase i s the new Cultural Resources Center for the National Museum o f the American Indian. Most of i t s collections, now housed i n N e w York,w i l l be transferred t ot h i s new building alongside the Museum SupportCenter. An additionalstructure w i l l be b u i l t on the Mall i n WashingGrowth i s an inherent part of the mis- ton t o serve as the museums public sion of most museums.The Smithsonian f a c i l i t y .Eventually, additional pods and Institution has recognized t h a t more more officesand labsw i l l be constructed space i s needed t o serve the public onto the existingMuseum SupportCenter properly with exhibitions and education building. in the long term, there w i l l programmes,and for the adequate pro- probably be a greater separation of fatection and preservation of the collec- c i l i t i e s between those designed specifitions. It has d<evelopeda long-range c a l l y for public programmes,and those master-planf o r the development of ad- dedicated t o research and collection ditional f a c i l i t i e st o support more o f the care.The Museum Support Center may non-public functions associated with be seen as a model for the research-andresearch and collection care.These w i l l storage f a c i l i t i e s of the future. w

Research and consetvation laboratories contain exhaust hoods and elephant trunkto remove noxious odours.
22
Q UNESCO 1995

Temporary storage:a challenge t o the N a t i o n a l Museum o f Denmark

Torbeiz Lundbaek
Tbe massive task o f evacuating the ethnographic collectiotz o f the Natioizal Museum o f Demzaxk turned out to be a blessing in disguise,for it resulted in a state-of the-micomputerized systemfor collectiotz tnaizagement and research. The author is a member o f the board o f directors o f the museum and head o f the Deparlineiit o f Eth?iograpiJj$he i sa fomaer pmidetzt o f the ICOM National Committee.

In the mid-1980sthe National Museum of Denmark i n Copenhagen was allocated substantial financial resources t o undertake a radical modernization plan. This included rebuilding the premises i n the Museums main building, which housed the DepartmentofEthnography. The rebuilding was so extensive that it was necessary t o evacuate the departments exhibitions, storerooms, archives, library, offices and laboratories - an area of about 8,000m2 while the work was going on.

Removing DDT ujearivg special safety oufits.

The collection of ethnography in Copenhagen i s of great international i m portance. The nucleus can be traced back t o the Royal Kunstkammer i n the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and i s one o f the largest and most well documented o f its kind.The part o f the collection that was acquired i n the f i r s t half of the last century comprises a vast f material which i s not repreamount o sented i n more recentlyestablished ethnographicalmuseums.It also includesa number of highly valuable special collections, for example the Eskimo collecThe Department o f Ethnography origi- tion. The entire collection consists of nated i n the Royal Ethnographical about 150,000ethnographical objects Museum which was inauguratedi n 1849, and a similar number of archaeological becoming the worldsfirst museum of artefacts.To t h i s may be added extengeneral ethnography. In 1892 the sive archives,a vast photo and sound museum was incorporated intothe newly collection,and the department library. established National Museum of Denmark,together with national and classi- During the planning period it was soon c a l collections which had been trans- realized t h a t it would be necessary t o ferred t o the same museum building evacuate the e n t i r e department from the during the intervening years. building area. As the removal would nec e s s i t a t e dealing with every single item i n the collection, it was consequently decided t os e t aside resources and time t o create a new electronic inventory o f the collection.However,a st i m e did not perm i t detailed scrutinyand registrationo fthe e n t i r e collection, the ethnographicalitems would be d e a l t with first, leaving the archaeologicalp a r tu n t i ll a t e r .

A five-stepprocess
The programme f o r dealing with the ethnographical items was t o comprise f i v e phases:( a ) compilingacomputerizeddatabase of the most important data from e x i s t i n g museum inventories,registration cards,and archives r e l a t i n gt o each item; ( b ) thorough cleaning,including a very complicated removal o f old poisonous pesticides,which required special safety#
ISSN 1350-0775, M z r s e i m z inlenzatio~zai(UNESCO, P a r i s ) , No.188 ( V o l .47,No.4,1995) O UNESCO 1995 . . . Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road, Oxford,OX4 1JF (UKj and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,MA 02142 (USA)

23

Torben Lzindbnek

Add@ new infomntion and photogrnphingprior to packing.

o u t f i t s ;( c l photographic recording of a l l items,each t o be electronically registered i n the database;( d ) adding new observations and correcting or supplementing current written data about the items,including the conservatorsevaluation of t h e i r condition and t h e i r conservation needs;and ( e ) careful packing and transf e ro f the whole collection,ensuring t h a t informationabout the physical location of each i t e m could be obtained a t any time through the database. The project was planned i n collaboration w i t h themuseumsnewlyestablishedDocumentation Unit,with the Department o f Conservation and with colleagues who were i n charge of the actual removal.A detailed time schedule was made f o r the e n t i r e undertaking.

subsequent study of e x i s t i n g thesauri revealed t h a t oniy a few categories could be used, and t h a tappropriate systematicl i s t sof functions, materials, techniques, ethnic groups,geographical areas,h i s t o r i c a l periods,etc., had t o be worked out. The p a r t of the main building housing the Department ofEthnography-and where it i s rehoused today - was closed t o the public i n March 1988. Ten curatorsthen s e t t o work on the new inventory of ethnographical items. Throughout an e n t i r e year they concentrated each i nt h e i r regional f i e l d on creating the computerizeddatabase according t o the new system.

A t thesameme as the DocumentationUnit was devising the o v e r a l l computerized inventov system, which was eventually t o be used by a l l museum departments, decisions had a l s ot o be made about the special categories of information t h a t were t o be included i n the ethnographicalinventory. A
24

Packing and removal took place the following year. A conservator, a technical assistant,and a student were attached t o each of the ten curators.Each team was responsiblef o ra regionally defined collection of 10,000 t o 15,000 itemswhich was t o be handled according t oas t r i c t monthly time schedule.The e n t r i e sf o r each item were recorded i n the newly established database,old informationwas taken into account and new information added.The
O UNESCO 1995

Temporary storage:a challenge t o the National Museum of Denmark

The removalofthe collectiontook place i n 1389.A t the end o f the year offices,archives, and the libraiyweremoved aswell. The registrationof the archaeologicalcol- In 1390 and 1991 temporary o f f i c e s were lections was made more b r i e f l y , and no set up f o r the s t a f fi n one of the museums photographs were taken of the items be- buildings outside Copenhagen.Notwithforetheywere packed and moved.A more standing the r e s t r i c t e d space and the inacthorough inventory i s being made of the c e s s i b i l i t y of the collections,the s t a f f sucarchaeologicalitemsconstitutingtheGreen- ceeded i n working out detailed plans f o r land collection, p a r t of which i s being the new ethnographic exhibitions i n colreturned from the National Museum of laborationwith competenta r c h i t e c t s . These Denmarkt otheNationalMuseum o fGreen- were t o consist of a permanent introducland.The Department plans t o continue tory exhibition occupying some twenty reinventorying the archaeological collec- rooms with selected museum items from tions a tal a t e r date. many countries,and a study exhibition of similar s i z e which could be operated as a The conservators evaluated the state of kind of open storeroom.To t h i s would be conservation o f each item,and were i n added an area f o rsemi-permanent subjectcharge of the actual packing. Objects i n oriented exhibitions,and space s e t aside poor condition were l e f tf o r conservation f o r temporary exhibitions. treatmentwhilethe otherswere packed f o r storage.Large items were wrapped individually and transferred t o newly b u i l t The computerized database: . storeroomsi n the museumsbuildings on saving time and space the o u t s k i r t so fCopenhagen, while smaller items were stored i n containers which Already a tt h i s point the extensive new were transferred t o temporary storage out electronic data inventory proved a unique of town. A special u n i t had the task of tool f o r selectingthe most suitable exhibiproviding enormous quantities of profes- tionitems.Withoutit, t h i s careful planning sional packing material f o r the packing would not have been possible within such teams. This unit was also i n charge of a short time.It also proved very useful i n transportation,which was followedup by planning the study collection. To save electronicregistrationofthe data concern- space,a l l information f o r the public,inO UNESCO 1995

items were then photographed by a spec i a l l yb u i l t camera connected t o the electronic data system, which formed part o fa permanentphotographicset-upmade a v a i l able t o each team.The photographs were automatically given a numberlinkedt o the museum number of the item.A photographer from the Documentation Unit instructed the teams i n the photographic technique,and examined d a i l y the previous days photographs f o r approval o r rephotographing before the item was packed. The resulting s l i d e s were later transferred t o a video d i s c which can be accessed automatically through the database system.

ing the actual removal of containers and items from the building and the new location of each container and individualmuseum item.A t first, many team members worried about being t i e d up with a seemingly monotonous t a s kf o r such a long period. However the handling of such a large number of museum items proved t o be a very positive experience f o r the participants. Under frequently d i f f i c u l t conditions,they worked with great e f f o r t and s k i l l , completing the project on time i n s p i t e of a very t i g h t schedule.

25

Torberz Lzindbnek

Unpackiizg itemsfor new exhibitiom.

cluding the t r a d i t i o n a l museum texts, were storedi ncomputersi ntheexhibitionrooms. Information about the function of each exhibited item,its origin,museum history, materials and dimensions were automatically drawn from the new inventory system and combined with lexical informationabout cultures of origin, occupation, technique,expeditions, collectors,etc. This approach of allowing visitors t o choose from a broad range of information through an easily comprehensible and interactive data system proved very successful. The return of the offices, archives and l i b r a r yt o the department took place at the

end of 1991, followedby the i n s t a l l a t i o nof the new exhibitionswhich were opened t o the public i n 1992.Here again,the procedure was carefully planned and based on computer data. A centralunpacking s t a t i o n manned with f i v e unpacking units channelled the items through t o the mounting procedure i n the newly b u i l t exhibition
area.

The unpackingand installationoftheitems has continued since the museums reopening,following the time schedule f o r f i t t i n g up new storerooms, which i ss t i l li n progress.Itemsneededfornew permanent and temporaryexhibitionshavebeen given p r i o r i t yi nt h i s respect,however t h e unO UNESCO 1995

26

Temporary storage:a challenge t o the National Museum of Denmark

packing o f the remaindero ft l i e collection w i l l be finished before long,and the department w i l l again be able t o give museum colleaguesand other researchers f u l l access t o study the collections.

I n the interim,the department has taken great comforti n the fact t h a t though most o f the itemswere inaccessible, it has been f a reasier t o answerinquirieswhichwould have required months ofhard work using formermethods.For example,ratherthan searching f o r photographic negatives o r bringing items t o the museums photographic studio,it i s now possible t o ret r i e v e on screenmore than 100,000 stored photographs, and by simply pushing a button t o obtain a p r i n t of any one of them, which canbe used f o r identification o r study.Similarly, t e x tprint-outsfrom the database may be obtained within seconds.

and i t s condition,and has f a c i l i t a t e d the comparison of information sometimes dating back more than a century with items of formerly uncertain identity. When the unpacking i s completed and the new location of all items i s computerized,it will be easier t o access the e n t i r e collection.

The National Museum now boasts many new features. Glass roofing over the courtyards of the old museum has given the public a wide range of modern f a c i l i t i e s .A new central h a l l leads t oa restaurant,public library,cinema,classrooms, and a vast area for temporary exhibitions. Thisi s called Egmonthallen, named a f t e r the foundation which, together with the Danish Government, financed the renovation of the museum. There i s no doubt that the modernization was a success.The new exhibitions have,of course,been widely discussed The system, which i s now being further and generally praised, and the number n t o an even more advanced of visitors has more than doubled. In developed i technique digitizing supplementary in- 1994 the museum received the Euroformation and photographs,has been pean Museum o f the Year award.z especially praised by guest researchers who, after a few minutes instruction, The prospect of success was a strong can make queries on t h e i r own. The motivation f f the Department o r the staffo system contains old data, which w i l l of Ethnography.Everyone was w i l l i n gt o often need correction a f t e r closer study, focus on t h i s very concentrated e f f o r t , as well as new data added i n haste.After anticipating(correctly, as it turned o u t )t h a t a more thorough revision it w i l l also they would l a t e rf u l l y benefit from the B allow f o r the possibility of research years of hard work. through an external network,and w i l l f a c i l i t a t e the production o f electronic multimedia publications.
Notes

The intensive review of the collection, which was a necessarypreconditionf o ri t s 1. See Mzlseuin I?zte?7?ntio?zal, No.182 (Vol. evacuation, has given rise t o an excellent 46,NO.2, 1994) Ed. collection-management system. This type of undertaking i n such a large museum 2.An English-languagevideotape would have been impossible under nor- documenting the work described in the article m a l circumstances, but it has resulted i n a can be obtained from the National Museum of profound knowledge of the collection Denmark on request.

O UNESCO 1995

27

New directions i n Africa

Mzibinnn Luhila,Lydia A.Kornnteng,Alain Godonou

The wiifiezms o f sub-SaharanAfrica are faced with acute problem o f consenation and storage o f collections, f orgnnic which are composed primarily o materials and subject to extreme, widespread and often irreversible deteriorationprocesses. Irhe P M 199&2000project was set up by the t u c i vo f the International Centrefor the S Presenmtion and the Restoration o f Cultural Pr0pen.y (rccRoM) in Rome, to train African professionals in th&field. Thefollowing three articles, written by foimer PRE&iX fellows, are ample proof that such training,combined w i t h itiitiative, determination and resowcefidness, can make a dramatic difference.

From a certain mess t o a possible order: a success story i n Zambia (Mubiana L u h i l a )

The Livingstone Museum i n Livingstone, Zambia, i s the l a r g e s t museum i n the country i n terms of size,collections, f a c i l i t i e sand staff.Its h i s t o r y datesback t o 1930 when i t s first objects (then only ethnographic) were acquired. It i s Zambias oldest museum. The e a r l i e s t part o f the present museum building was constructed i n 1950. As collections grew, so did the need t o house them properly. By 1961 the museum possessed 1,022 ethnographical objects,8,118historical documents and objects,9,822 objects from prehistoric s i t e s and 204,986 natural history specimens.Several additions t o the museum were b u i l tt o accommodate the various collections, as well as an educationwing and a workshop. Until 1990, the museum concentrated its efforts on acquisitionsand paid l i t t l e attention t o collection management,preventive conservation and documentation. The consequences of t h i s neglect only began t o be realized towards the end of the 1980s. In February 1990 the author (University of Zambia,PREMA University Course) was given the task t os t a r t and develop a conservation department that would cater f o r the conservation needs of the museum. This was and s t i l li s a mammoth task. However, with assistance from ICCROM and the Social Science Research Council of the United States, both of which provided equipment, materials and training,w e have managed t o lay a f i r m basis for the department i n terms of competenceand f a c i l i ties.By 1994,the department had established a basic conservation laboratory and had hired four additional conservation assistants responsible f o r preven-

t i v e conservation o f the ethnographic collection, paper and archival materials, natural history specimens and prehist o r i c objects.

A survey of the seven museum storerooms carried out i n March 1990 noted the following common problems: very high levels of insect infestation;objects congestedi n storeroomsand within storage units,and often packed i n cases on the floor;sub-standardobject supports i n some storage units; generally good climatic conditions i n storeroomsabove ground level but poor conditions f o r those below ground level due t o water seepage during the rainy season;high l i g h t levelsdue t o direct sunshinef a l l i n g into storeroomsand on t o objects;inadequate documentation, with no inventory of collections and no object-retrieval system.Clearly,the situation had t o be corrected if the l i f e expectancy of the objects was t o be extended and if the collection was t o be made more useful t o the museum and the public.

A proposal e n t i t l e d Storage Upgrading Projectwas submitted t o the director.Its objectives were: ( a ) t o put a l l collection documentationi n a complete and manageable s t a t et o enable users t o retrieveobjects i nt h e shortestpossible time;Co> t o upgrade storage conditions i n order t o ease congestion,reduce damage by light,climate and insects, and provide b e t t e r supports f o r objects; and ( c )t oinventorycollectionss o as t oi d e n t i f y objects i n the accession r e g i s t e r t h a t were not i n the museum and objectsi n t h e museum t h a t were not i n the r e g i s t e r . The proposal was accepted and fundsf o r the i n i t i a lwork committed. The p r o j e c t was t o be carried out collection by collection, s t a r t i n gw i t h ethnography.

28

ISSN 1350-0775, Museum kitenmtional (UNESCO,Paris), No. 188 (vol. 47,No. 4,1995) O I995 - IINECO __ ~ ,,_ Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road,Oxford. OX4 1JF (UK)and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,MA O2142 (USA)

New directions i n Africa

A dearth o f documentation
The ethnographicalcollectiondocumentat i o n consistedof an accessionr e g i s t e r and catalogue cards f i l e d by number only. i l e sf o r field-collection There were no f forms,no catalogue cardsby ethnic group o r object type,no object movement regist e r and no object r e t r i e v a l( l o c a t i o n ) sysW e thusset outt omake the documentem. t a t i o n system more functional.This ent a i l e d ensuring t h a t information i n the accession r e g i s t e r was correct and t h a t no e n t r i e s were missing ( f o r unknown reasons, three separate accession r e g i s t e r s with d i f f e r i n g informationhad been comp i l e d over the y e a r s ) ; creating catalogue cards by ethnic group and by object type which would make the collection more usable by keepers (collection gap f i l l i n g ) and researchers; opening an object movement r e g i s t e rt o keep t r a c k of the objects; establishing an object-location plan i n the storerooms and incorporating it into the documentation t o form a r e t r i e v a l system. The project was discussed with ICCROM o f f i c i a l swho were i n Zambiai nAugust 1990 t o prepare a three-month Conservation Management Course t o be held at t h e LivingstoneMuseum i n 1991.An agreement wasreachedf o rtheICCROMPREMAProject t o fund the documentationwork a tat o t a l c o s t of $3,725. This covered the production o f33,000new cataloguecards, thepurchase o ffheencard cabinets,and wages f o rthree temporary documentalists who joined the author and two conservation a s s i s t a n t st o form the project working team. Thef i r s tstepwas t o checkf o rdistortedand missing entriesi nr e g i s t e rNo.3.Thiswork continued u n t i l w e were convinced w e had a r e l i a b l e accessionsregister. The next step was the creation of catalogue cards using information from the r e g i s t e r and from existing catalogue cards.By 30 NovO UNESCO I995

ember 1990 catalogue cards by accession number, ethnic group and object type were completed and f i l e d into the recently acquired card cabinet. The documentation system could now show the keeper i n which areas h i s collectionwas weak,and researcherscould now e a s i l yi d e n t i f ywhat they wanted.(Unfortunately,as no system f o rthe safekeepingoff i e l dcollectionforms o s t and our existed,much oft h i s data was l plan t o safeguard t h i s information could not be implemented.) The next task of establishing a locationand-retrieval systemdependedonthecompletion of work t o upgrade storage conditions.The ethnographical collection was housed i n two storerooms,one d i r e c t l y above [he other. Both storerooms were congested and many objects were stored on the floor,thus blocking passage.Most shelves were over-packed,causing the objects t o become deformed and often scratchy when handled.The humidity i n the lower storeroom was 1 0 0 per cent i n the rainy season due t o water seepage through i t s underground walls.New storage space had t o be found f o r the endangered collection.

We s e t out t o d i s i n f e s t the collection, reduce l i g h t levels,s h i f t objects t oas a f e r space,decongest the storeroom,support objects properly and establish an object location system. This phase began i n February 1991.Broken windows which allowed i n dust,insects and cats were replaced and painted white on the insideand black on the outside t o block sunlight.A n amount of $50 was spent on these two tasks.The two storeroomswere then prepared for disinfestation with No. 22 Gammexane smoke generators.W e f e l t t h a tt h i s was an e f f e c t i v e but safe method, p a r t i c u l a r l y since it was done on Saturday when s t a f fwere awayf o rtheweekend and repeated a fortnightlater.
29

Mirbinna Luhila,Lydia A.Komnteng,Alain Godonou

An exercise in teamwork

An appeal was sentout t o possible donors i n Zambia f o r funds t o construct a 230 m2 storeroom i n t o which objects from the basement storeroomwould be transferred. In the meantime,work on upgrading storage conditions on the ground f l o o r storeroom began.A working team comprising the author, twoconservationa s s i s t a n t sand three research a s s i s t a n t s was formed i n March 1991.Lessons i n handling and moving objects were given t o the team.
The Museums30 m2 archaeologicalstudy room was t o be used as a temporary storeroom.Shelves were constructed a ta cost o f $400and covered with polythene sheets (donated by ICCROM) t oa c t as padding f o r the objects.A l l objects on the floor i n the storeroom were cleaned and transferredt o the studyroom, thuscreating space f o r a working area. Objects were then moved shelf by shelft o the working area and the shelves cleaned and padded. The objects were cleaned (mostly with a vacuum cleaner) andretumedt o theshelves

where they were placed with adequate space f o r each object.Extra padding ( t i s suepaper) was provided where necessary. When the three-month P R E U National Course began on 2 September 1991,funds f o r the construction of a storeroom were s t i l lt o be found and work on s h i f t i n g the collectioni nthebasement storeroomcould not yet start.However,as the objectswere under threat and needed t o be transferred f o rt h e i rsafety, the museum administration offered t o forgo the museumstemporary exhibition gallery i n order t o house the collection. This space had no storage racks and those i n the storeroom were i n too poor a conditiont o be adapted. The museum had no fundst o pay f o rthe constructiono fnew storageracks. A requestt o the B r i t i s h High Commissioni n Zambiaf o r $18,000t obuild f i f t y s i xracks received a favourable response and the storage units were delivered t o the museum i n early November 1991. The transfer of objects from the storeroom and the archaeologicalstudy room began almost immediately, with the PREMA course participants constituting the working team. By the end of the course on 30November 1991,four-fifths of the objects had been moved t o the new storeroom.In January 1992 a team comprising a l l former PREMA Zambia Course participants i n the museum was constituted t o finish t h i s task and by March 1992 the entire collection was properly stored i n a climatically safe new storeroom.A number of shelves had been coveredwith polythene sheets t o protect objects from dust and insects; however as the supply of sheetsran out, t h i s part o f the work could only be finished i n 1994 when additional sheets were acquired.

From n cerain mess

30

O UNESCO 1995

New directions i n Africa

A simple object location system was devised. A l l storage units were given

logue.This was the f i n a l peg i n the museum object-retrieval system and now obalphabetical numbers from A t o S. The jects can be retrieved from the storeroom ground-floorstoreroom contained units withoutwasting valuablet i m e . Forsecurity At o Nand the new storage room housed purposes,however,t h i s process i s superunits O t o S. Each shelf i n the unit was vised by the keeper o rh i s designate who numbered starting from the bottom also manage the separate r e g i s t e r which shelf,and each compartment i n a long recordsthe movement ofobjects.An addiunit was given a Roman numeral. If, t i o n a l record of object movement i s kept for example, an object location i s R.4.111, attached t o the shelf lists and i s removed it indicates t h a t the object i s i n the only when an object returns t oi t s holding new storeroom i n Unit R, Shelf 4 and unit. Compartment III. This i s the holding unit for the object and it w i l l always be The heritage w e keep i n museums on o be bequeathed found there. Storage shelf lists were behalfofthe public has t created, with information about each t o posterity i n an intact and usable state. object i n a holding unit entered on a The work carried out on our etlinoprepared form.These serve as inventory graphical collection was an attempt t o l i s t s and are permanently stored i n the contribute t o t h i s . The results could holding unit. have been better. It was, however,our first experience and something resemIncreating the shelflistsand i n carrying out bling order has replaced the mess that the inventory,w e discovered t h a t some threatened the very existence of the objects had no accession numbers.A f t e r a objects.W e have learnta great deal from thorough check through records, these t h i se f f o r t which w i l l serve us well as w e . . . to apossible orde6 but CI team o f o tackle the upgrading of our tweizty iool-kedfor two months to macb objectswere accessioned and the numbers move on t written on the object and on the shelfl i s t . archaeological collection. # this Stclgt?. A t the beginning of the exercise,10,022 objects were recorded i n the r e g i s t e r .By the end,11,750objects were l i s t e d ,meaning t h a t 1,728 objects had never been properly accessioned. When the shelflists were completed, each was covered i n a polythene sheet f o r protection, using a heat sealingmachine.A l i s t of objects on exhibition was a l s o compiled and each objectwas marked present i n the accessions register.A l le n t r i e s not marked present are deemed not t o be i n the museum.There having been no previous object movement register, it i s imposs i b l et o know where these objects might be. Objectlocationnumbers onshelfl i s t swere then copied onto object cards i n the cataO UNESCO 1995

31

klicbinna Luhila,Lydia A.Koranteng,Alain Godonou

30,000movements. from confusion t o preventive conservation a t the National Museum of Ghana (Lydia A. Koranteng)

The National Museum of Ghana was creted j u s t after the countrys independence i n 1957,and has since then slowly d r i f t e d o f ft o sleep:boasting a r i c h collection of 24,000objects-of which 90 per centare i n storage-it has never changedthe displays i n the public galleries, and mounted i t slast temporary exhibition i n 1980. A t the same time,storeroomsmeasuring 200 m2were used as a repository f o r a variety of materials which rapidlymade the a i s l e simpract i c a b l e and access t o the objects impossible,thus threatening t h e i rvery safety.Farreaching action was urgently needed. In collaboration w i t h the PREMA 19902000 programme,the National Museums Board decided t o organizea p r a c t i c a lt r a i n ing course with the following main object i v e s :( a )t or i d the storeso feverything t h a t was neither storage structurenor museum object and re-groupthe collections;( b )t o resume and complete the inventory so as t o be able t o recover an object i nl e s s than f i v e minutes without displacing more than two objects;and ( c )t o mount a temporary exhibition.The course was divided i n t o both theoretical study ( 4 0 per cent) and p r a c t i c a lwork (60per cent) and given over a three-month period t o twenty s t a f fmembers of Ghana museums.

After participants had cleared away 30 m 3o fextraneousmaterialfrom the stores and had repatriated collections housed i n various offices, specific areas were attributed t o each type o f collection. Shelfspace was increased by 30 per cent and storage elements were created that were adapted t o the special needs of the t e x t i l e and painting collections.Measures were taken t o protect the collections from theft, fire,insects and dust, and t o ensure internal ventilation. A place was then assigned t o each object and the inventory was begun (it continued after the end of the course and has now been completed). A preventiveconservation plan was established,taking into account the nature of the premises and the climatic conditions. In the course of t h i s work, more than 30,000 displacements of f r a g i l e objects were effected and the participants were understandably proud t o have damaged only one -a t e r r a c o t t a pipe.The operation was completed by the organization o fa temporary exhibit describing the role of a museum t o the generalpublic.Today,it i s possible -and even pleasant t o enter the storesofthe Ghana National Museum and t o work on the collections.

Remove and refit:the case of Benin (Alaifi Godonou)

In August 1992 BeninsMinister of Culture launched an ambitious programme t o reorganize the stores of four major national museums,i n co-operation with the PREMA 1990-2000project.It must be said that storage conditions had become
32

seriously dilapidatedovertime and were now c r i t i c a l . The s i t u a t i o no f the History Museum of Abomey, housed i n two ancient royal palaceswhich figureonthe UNESCO World
O UNESCO 1995

New directions i n Africa

f Beiiin S Kings o f The building selected needed some work: Thefamous collectioii o treatmentofwalls and woodwork t o resist Aboniey was cleaned, disiifested aizd infestation,reinforcement of openings tvaizsfewedto a new,specially equipped against intruders, protection from dust, storage i-oowz. improvements i nl i g h t i n g and ventilation (air-conditioning being ruled o u t ) . The former storeroom measured 120 m2; the new one contained two rooms o f approxieach. Althoughthespacewas mately 60mz the same,there was nevertheless a d i f f e r ence i n organization.One room only was o housing the e n t i r e collection, With the exceptionof a few cabine'ts, the devoted t n a mixed museum possessed no storage elements whilst the other was arranged i and most ofthe objectswere piled up on workshop/collection-documentation area o t a l l y lackingpreviously. the floor. Some had been infested by which had been t insects and were already irreparable. The storage elements ordered were spei a l l y conceived f o rt h e collection,taking The inventory, dating back t o the 1950s, c was unreliable and had never been veri- into accountthe various dimensions ofthe h e i rd i f f e r e n t storage requirefied. In view of the scale of the risks objects and t f 68 mzof teak threatening such an exceptional histori- ments. They consisted o cal collection,i t s removal was the only shelving divided i n t o three blocks, and seven hanging canvas panels,a l lb u i l t on possible solution.

Heritage list,was the most dramatic.The building containingthe storeroomswas i n as t a t e ofadvanced deterioration: the walls were cracked, the c e i l i n g decaying and the roof threatened t o cave in. The e n t i r e structure was infested with termites.The location o f the building on an immense and poorly maintained site of 44hectares favoured the i n f i l t r a t i o no f rats and even reptiles.

O UNESCO 1995

i)

33

Mirbiann Lubila,Lydia A.Kornnteng,Alain Godonoic

site i n Abomey.The new storeroomswere completedforthemodest amountof40,000 French francs (approximately $8,000), which covered equally the costs of building repairs and construction of the storage elements.

was the measurement of success envisaged,but it was hardly imaginable a t the beginning!

Inthe sameway, thestoresoftheHistorical Museum of Ouidah, the Ethnographic Museum and the Honm Museum i nPortoThe objects transferred from the old stores Novo were a l s o refurbished.Several leswere disinfested, vacuum-cleaned and sons were learned from t h i s experience, documented. Thev e r i f i c a t i o n ofthe inven- the most important of which was t h a ta t o r y continued throughout these opera- team of people trained only i n basic printions and revealed t h a to f some 1,500 ciples and techniques could conceive and objects i n store,only 1,000 had been pre- r e a l i z e considerable improvements i na viously inventoried. With the creation of a short time and a t very modest cost,thus system ofobjectlocation, any object i n the opening new p o s s i b i l i t i e sf o r internal destorescould be found i nf i v e minutes:t h i s velopment i n African museums.

The PREMA programme i s organized i n collaboration with the University of Paris I -Panthon Sorbonne, the University o fLondon-I n s t i t u t eofArchaeology (UCL), the L. Pigorini Ethnographic Museum i n Rome,and the Canadian Conservation I n s t i t u t ei n Ottawa. It i s financed by international organizations (UNESCO,the European Union,the Agency f o r Cultural and Technical Co-operation( A C C L ) ) ; national organizations and ministries (BMZ, Germany, DANIDA,Denmark,USAID, United States,FINNIDA,Finland,Ministry f o r Co-operation, France,Ministry of ForeignAffairs,I t a l y , NORAD, Norway, Ministry ofDevelopmentand Co-operation, the Netherlands,ODA, United Kingdom,SIDA,Sweden, Ministry ofForeign Affairs, Switzerland); foundations (Dapper Foundation,Ford Foundation, Getty Grant Program,Skaggs Foundation,E l f Foundation). The programme i s included i n the activities of the UNESCO World Decade f o r Cultural Development.

34

O UNESCO 1995

Museum Reserve C o l l e c t i o n s :An I n t e r n a t i o n a l Symposium

Dominique Ferriot
In 198S,Donziniqzie Femot was appointed director o f the National Mzlsearni o f Technology at the Conservatoire National des Arts e t Mtiers (National Coizsewatoq)o f industrialArts aizd C?*ajs), Paris, which i s now beiizg renouated.Herpreviousposts iiiclzrde those o f Assistaitt to the Director o f the Econiuseuin a t Le Creusot,Head o f the t the Parc de l a Partnership Diuision a Villette in Paris, a?zdDirector o f Conztiiuizicatioiz and Scieiztflc aizd TechnologicalCulture at the French Ministiy o f Research and Tecbiiology.

To mark t h e opening o fi t s new reserve collections, at Saint-Denis i nthesuburbsof Paris, the National Museum ofTechnology organized on 1 9and 20September 1994, i n Paris,an internationalsymposium on museum reserve collections which brought together over 400 participants,representi n g 14countries. The themes o fthe symposium were the reserve as treasure, as a research-and-training t o o l and as a collect i o n and database,and they c l e a r l y identif i e d the expectationsand concerns o f our colleagues and, more generally, of the teachers and researcherswho are the natur a lc l i e n t e l eo f museum reserves.

established as a r e s u l t of large-scale archaeologicalexpeditions t o the Orient. The collections are one and indivisible. There are no duplicates,no items of infer i o r value.A l l could be shown i n the same space, i fnot onthe same plane.O fcourse, it i s impossible t o exhibit a l l the 90,000 objectskeptby thedepartment. Thenumber of works exhibited represents 10 per cent of the t o t a l .The reserves are thus a necess i t y ,a place b f storage and a study galleiy f o r some sections of the v i s i t i n g public. Treasures can be temporarilystored i n the reserve collectionso f the major technological museums. A case i n point i s the astronomy section of t h e ScienceMuseum i n London which i s now kept i n one of the museumsreserve f a c i l i t i e s ,Blythe House. When she took t h e floor,Suzanne Keene, head of c o l l e c t i o n s management a t the ScienceMuseum, l a i dc l e a remphasison the importance of a p o l i c y concerning reserve collectionsf o rt h e acquisitionand conservat i o no f contemporary technological h e r i t age. Without t h ev a s ts i t ea t Wroughton (near Swindon,100 k m from London) and the construction of new storage areas,the ScienceMuseum would simply not be able t o conserve the technologicalheritage,part i c u l a r l y v e r ylargeobjects. I nfact, Wroughton a t t r a c t s a wider range of v i s i t o r s than the researchersinvolved. This disused a i r f i e l di s q u i t es u i t a b l ef o rt h e staging of temporary exhibitions,allowing access t o the objects which remain q u i e t l yl i n e d up i n t h e i r hangars or on their p a l l e t s .S t i l li n England, the recent creation o f common reserve collections f o rt h ed i f f e r e n t museums i n Oxfordshire enabled curators t o rediscover forgotteno r neglected objects.Karen Hull, collections manager, Oxfordshire County Museum, spoke about her experience i n very concreteterms:when an object leaves an o l ds h e l ff o r a new one, it takes up three times as much space! i)

The reserve as treasure

f theMuse des Arts e t Mtiers i % e stores o in Paris are located in the neighbouiing stibitrb o f Saint-Denis;the architect i s Fraizois Deslatiggiers.

Neither treasurenor junk. With t h i s delibe r a t e l y provocative catch phrase, Annie Caubet, curator-in-chief and directorofthe Department of Oriental Antiquities i n the LouvreMuseum,soughtabove a l lt o stress the unity o f the collections which were

ISSN 1350-0775, Ilfzrseum Intenratio?zaZ (UNESCO, P a r i s ) , No.188 (Vol.47, No.4, 1995j

O - TINESCO _.__ ~.1995 _,_

35

Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road, Oxford,OX4 1JF (UK)and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,MA 02142 (USA)

D o m inique Femiot

..

Tbe YtAselageo f the Saint-Denis stores.

The themes o f planning and organization were the forms of the communication by Martha Morris, acting deputy director o f the NationalMuseum ofAmerican History, Washington,D.C.The establishment of new reserves i n Maryland had been an absolute necessity f o r the Smithsonian Ins t i t u t i o n and the removal of the objects t o the reserves had been, and s t i l l was, a mammoth undertaking.

done by the restoration workshop o f the Muse Historique des Tissus (Textiles Museum) i n Lyons.H o w could one avoid using the term treasure t o describe the elmwood cope chests based on i l l u s t r a tions i n DiderotsEncyclopedia? A nineteenth-centurybuilding near the museum had been s k i l f u l I y converted t o house the furniturecreated oradaptedf o rthe storage and conservation of the delicate ancient t e x t i l e s .A restoration workshop i n s t a l l e d l o o r gets the f u l lbenefit of the Many questions were asked concerning on the top f t h i s i n i t i a l theme, especially about the natural daylight, and the four levels of n proceduresgoverning both the acquisition reserve collectionsbeneath house what i s actually called the treasand disposal of the ever-increasing num- the programme i f the museum, the most precious bers of objects which represent the con- ure o ni t s collection. temporarys c i e n t i f i cand technologicalher- objects i itage.Is there not a r i s ko f the treasure reservesofthe museum acquiring an indeThe reserve as a research-andpendent existence,even becoming a sectraining tool ond museum, p a r t i c u l a r l y iftheyare organized t o be exhibited t o a wider public? e r t a i n l y placed i n reserve What should be the function of work- Objects are c ot h a t they can be collections primarily s shops? studied.In f a c t Suzanne Keene speaks of study collections rather than reserve colConcerningt h i sl a t t e rpoint, PierreArizzoliAnnie Caubet could not imagine Clmentel,curator-in-chief and currently lections. director ofthe Muse desA r t s Dcoratifsi n her day-to-day work without constantcomParis, spoke about the exemplary work ing and going between the exhibition
UNESCO 1995

36

Museum Reserve Collections:An International Symposium

roomsand thereservecollections, inwhich new discoveries are often made i n the courseofinventorying, restoringandphotographing the objects received. The organic links between research and conservation work form the basis of Georges-HenriRiviresapproach t o the tTraditions creationofthe Muse des A r t se Populairesi n Paris, which has become t h e model laboratory-museum. Its present director, MartineJaoul, outlinedtheh i s t o r y and philosophy of t h i s experimental museum, which has become a model f o r many more recent establishments, without glossingover d i f f i c u l t i e sand f a i l u r e s . Thus, the nrril-e-mise(back shop) has aged b e t t e r than the study g a l l e r yo r the c u l t u r a l gallery,which the general public i p fact v i s i t indiscriminately. The heart of the s s t i l li n the stores with the museum i workshops, therestorationlaboratory, and the consultation rooms i n s t a l l e d near by a centrenot only f o rconservationworkbut also f o r research and training. The Muse National des A r t se t Traditions Populaires i s a museum school and as such its real centre i si t s back shop, t o which curators,restorers and museum professionals come t ot r y out new ideasand seek inspiration. Its documentation centre serves the network o f new museums and new centres established i n the region.
it was at t h i s point t h a t the idea of a partnership then took hold,with a view t o formulating a policy for the ethno-

With Philippe Taquet, a palaeontologist and former director of the Musum National dHistoireNaturelle i n Paris,attention was focused on reserve collections i n the natural sciences.A t a time when s c i e n t i s t s are t r y i n gt o make national governments aware of the urgent a t need f o r nature conservation policies ( the present r a t e of depletion,h a l f of the existing r a i n forestsw i l l have disappeared from the face of the earth by 2 0 3 2 ) , and when research i n s t i t u t i o n s are settingup a very extensive programme f o r inventorying the biosphere, the natural history collections conserved f o r over 300 years i n museums today constitutean irreplaceable source of s c i e n t i f i c data. Philippe Taquetgavevery concreteexamples, some from Laos where he was working on mission, t o demonstrate the s c i e n t i f i c , culturaland financialvalue ofsuch collections, which can assume s t r a t e g i c importance, f o r the developing countries i n s therefore essential t h a t particular. It i researchershave accesst o reserve collections. Hence the zoological l i b r a r y programme ( 4 5 k m of shelves) implemented i n 1985at the Musum National dHistoire Naturelle and,i n another field,the creation ofv i s i t a b l e reserve collectionsf o r the Muse des A r t se t Mtiers,which i s now being renovated under the programme o f major public works being carried out by the French Government.

The reserve as a collection and database

graphic heritage.This does not necess a r i l y imply the establishmentof reserve collections i n the region the experience of the Muse National des A r t s et TraditionsPopulaires i nt h i s connection was rather negative but systematic referral t o local facilities when i n situ preservation is possible.

The multimedia era has t r u l y revolutionized t h e world ofmuseums.Essentialmanagement tools f o r the staff i n charge o f collections, databasesand imagebanks are a l s o ways of gaining access t o the museumsresources,including those i n reserve collections. The creation of new reservecollectionsconstitutedthefirststage 37

O UNESCO 1995

Dominique Ferriot

A study collectiono f theDeictsches Museum in Munich: view o f the hangar deuoted to theF i r s t World War.

i n the process of renovation o f the Muse des Arts e t Mtiers. The design by the a r c h i t e c tFranois Deslaugiers, which has now been implemented at Saint-Denis, near Paris,proposed a building i n two main sections. The collectionsare housed i n a chest 8 0 m long,20 m wide and 8 m high which i s covered over with wood. Inside, there are aisles broad enough for researchers t o move about freely.A variety of furniture (sometimes old showcases) has been preferred t o the compactus storage modules. Another section of the building houses the restorationand photographyworkshops, and the study and consultation areas. This technical facility, which looks l i k e an enormous stainless-steel fuselage, was cruelly lacking i n the old premises i n the Rue Saint-Martini n Paris.Constant l i a i son between the two s i t e s (Paris and Saint-Denis) i s possible thanks t o the multimedia information system,which was establishedwith a view t o conservation,research and public access.Bruno Jacomy,assistant t o the director, and E l i s e Picard,i n charge o f the manage-

ment of the collectionsofthe Muse des Arts e t Mtiers,demonstrated the possible uses of the museums multimedia database for researchers and, subsequently, by the general public i n the renovated museum.The Muse des A r t s e t Mtiers i s already on the Internet,and an i n i t i a l CD-ROM (Muse des Arts et Mtiers-L Albzcm) has been made which gives a guided tour o f the collections with a description of the objects which include many mechanical models. In t h i s way, the treasure i n the reserve collections can be exhibited outside the museum i t s e l f ,offering an informed but increasingly numerous - public access t o resources that were once wholly or partly outo f bounds. Claude Camirand, the director of the technological department at the Muse de l a C i v i l i s a t i o ni n Quebec, Canada, pointed out that the curatoro ftoday has t ol i v ewith t h er e a l i t y of technological obsolescence, and called f o r a cautious approach t o new systems,whose maintenance costs were often under-estimated.
@UNESCO 1995

38

Museum Reserve Collections:An InternationalSymposium

Walter Rathjen, the assistant director with responsibilityfor the collectionsof the Deutsches Museum i n Munich,was also pragmatic i n describing h i s involvement i n the creation of a new museum building devoted t o air and space. Init i a l l y ,the museum was looking f o r additional storage possibilities, but i n the end a new museum was started on a disused a i r f i e l da tOberschleissheim, near Munich. This new extension o f the Deutsches Museum Study Collection, now receivesthe paying public (150,000 v i s i t o r sl a s ty e a r ) . A multimedia information system linking the different s i t e s i s urgently required i n order t of a c i l i t a t e the task of the curators.

Ruth Leveson, the registrar of Scienceworks, Museum of Victoria, offered the experience of the Australian museums. In her account of the space devoted t o the reserve collections of the National Gallery of Australia,the Australian War Memorial i n Canberra, and Scienceworks,Museum of Victoria,Ruth Leveson returned t o day-to-day problems: whether or not t o have air-conditioning, the rationaluse o fspace, and the different ways ofallowing accesst o and controlling the public. The variety and interest of the contributions, and the special attention given t o reserve collections i n science and technological museums,made the symposium held a t the Conservatoire National des A r t se t Mtiers i n September 1994 an outstanding affirmation of our common credo. A museum i s as much i t s backshop( o r arrire-niuse as Martine Jaoulput it) as i t s temporary exhibitions, which would not exist without the hidden base of the iceberg. Although computers and the development o f multimedia systems are making access t ot h i s submerged part
O UNESCO 1995

f the London Science Museum easier,nothing can replace direct con- i73e stores o t Wrougl2ton. tact with the object.Hence the need for are located a reserve collectionsamong which certain categories o fv i s i t o r may be allowed t o wander down the a i s l e s that GeorgesHenri Rivire used t oc a l l the streets, giving them a closer view o f the objects and sometimes enabling them t o touch them, for the purposes o f study or research but also for enjoyment,which i s the ultimate reason f o r the museums existence.

39

A WorkersMuseum i n Copenhagen
Peter Liidvigsen

Denmnrks Arbejdeniiuseet wasfounded on an idea to innke workershistory uisible.Initially short on collectiom,but long on detennination and imagiizatioia) it has become n popular naentber o f the c o i r i z t y smuseum cornmiinit. I t s strengths l i e in the eloquent stones it tells about eveqdn-y l z $ e and in the ncfiue f theDniaish trade-unioia szLpport o movement. m e author i s director o f the micseim.

The h i s t o r y of the working class does not play the most prominent p a r ti n the internationalworld of museums.There can be l i t t l e doubt t h a tt h i si s due t o conventional thinkingamong museum people and among those university departments t h a t educate and t r a i n them.If the history of i n d u s t r i a l workers were integrated i n t o the sense of national identityt o the same extent as the h i s t o r y reflected i n more t r a d i t i o n a l museums, the story of workers would seem fascinating,v i t a l and multi-faceted,and would be perceived as a natural p a r to fa countrysheritage.

thegeneraleducationaland economic l e v e l of the country i s high,the movement has acquired s u f f i c i e n t resources t o support the recording of the workersc u l t u r a l hist o r y as an integral p a r t of overall Danish culture. The Danish trade-union movement thus acted as godfather t o the WorkersMuseum when it was established i n 1982 as one of the f i r s t of i t s kind i n the world. n The museum was created primarily i response t o a social demand t o make workershistory v i s i b l ei n Danish museums.Existing museums were approached but f e w ventured further into discussing the subject other than t o observe t h a ta museum of t h i s kind would presumably grow i n t o a combination of a flags-andbanners museum and an i n s t i t u t i o nf o r r e t i r e d trade-unionpresidents.They held aloof and the outcome was t h a t the WorkersMuseum was established as an autonomous institution.

However, new cultural elements i n the museum world are not necessarily the r e s u l t ofisolated i n t e l l e c t u a l processes but very often spring from the rejection of e x i s t i n g power structures,which may be expressed by the nature of museum holdings, museum layout, and the allocationof resources. For i n the f i n a l analysis, the contents and p r o f i l e s of museums reflect those socialforcest h a t use the holdings t o consolidate their own c u l t u r a l position. There was, o f course,no collection, and Although t h i s may be,t o some extent,an the WorkersMuseum had t os t a r t from oversimplification, it explainswhy w e have scratch. The old assembly h a l l of the a workersmuseum i n Denmark. Copenhagen workers was made available t o the museum and two million Danish It i s well known t h a t the Nordic countries kroner were contributed by the Confedhave a high degree of social organization. eration o f Danish Trade Unions,t h e LO. Yet although t h e i rwelfare model has often Strong support came from a group of been internationallyacclaimed, it has r a r e l y residents i n a Copenhagenworking-class been implemented elsewhere f o r lack of d i s t r i c t , from instructors i n the labour the necessary preconditions.One of the movementseducation system,and t o most crucial preconditions i n the Nordic give c r e d i t where c r e d i ti s due from a contextwas theexistenceofa SocialDemo- few museum people who used t h e i r proc r a t i c party,capable of and willing t o take fessional know-how t o back the project. responsibilityf o rformingthe government, I n i t i a l funds were insufficientt oc a r r y out and a highly organized working class. major constructionwork and consequently the museum was b u i l t gradually through In Denmark,the trade-unionmovement the operatingbudgetsofsucceedingyears. constitutes an important social force with The contributionfrom the LO has continstrong h i s t o r i c a l and c u l t u r a l roots. Be- ued, and allocations from the Danish cause 90per cent ofworkers are members Government under the Museum A c t have of trade union organizations, and because been granted since 1984.

40

ISSN 1350-0775, Mzdseirin interizntionnl IUNESCO,Paris), No. 188 !Vol. 47,No. 4, 1995, O UNESCO 1995 Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road. Oxford, 0% 1JF iUK1 and 238 Main Street. Cambridge,MA 07142 ILISA)

A Workers Museum i n Copenhagen

From the outset, the Workers Museum demonstrated i t s capacity t oi n t e r e s t people i ni t sa c t i v i t i e s .A collection had t o be created and a p r o f i l e drawn up which would a t r r a c t potential contributors and v i s i t o r s . Following a campaign i n which w e explained i n great d e t a i l the objectsw e were interested i n acquiring,the museum opened i t s first exhibition i n 1984: 7Je 1950s-An Exbibition on a Working-class Family. It was necessary t o explain our wishes i n such a detailed manner because e a r l y experience had shown t h a t it was most d i f f i c u l tt o make people understand t h a t quite ordinary, everyday objectscould i n fact belong i n a museum.

try,but f o r the Workers Museum t h i s was v i t a l . As it turned out, it proved t o be r e l a t i v e l y simple.Exhibitionswere based on the material people had given us,t h a t i st o say,on those very objectswhich they h e i r history.It was c r u c i a l perceived as t t h a t the public not only identify with t h e new museum but t h a t it stimulate and s a t i s f yt h e i r curiosity.For t h i s reason w e created very powerful exhibitions which, more than anything,t o l d a story:the story of the s t r e e t of the 1950s;the story of a working-class home e a r l y one morning a t 8.05 am;the story of women at work o ra t home. But primarily w e told the story by making people re-liveit and by borrowing perspective from the indin the collections.The Concurrentlywith thefirstphase ofcollect- vidual objects i ing and structuring t h i s exhibition, the WorkersMuseum rapidlyearned a repumuseum minutely planned a public-rela- tation as a place where experiences i s i t o r s were altions and marketing campaign.It calls f o r could be had, where v o see,smell,and touch history. a great deal o f obduracy t o place a new lowed t h a t within a very museum,whose contentsare perceived as The interest was such t o regulate the influx f a i r l yuninterestingby mostpeople,among short time w e had t t i l l do. the most talked-ofmuseums i n the coun- of school pupils and s

The Worke~sMiisetin? project to tun?thefoi-rnerRoyalNavy Dockyard in thePo??o f Copenbagen into a museum/ restoratioi~IJoli~a~i ceiztre.

O UNESCO 1995

41

Peter-Ludvigsen

and brought it back t oi t s original appearance as a basement pub i n 1892.W e gave it an international beer l i s t - of course,you do not get a wine l i s t but a beer list when you go t o the basement restaurant of a WorkersMuseum and a b i l l of fare of traditional north-wekt European slant.Here,too,the idea was simple: Why not take a b i t e out of history and taste it?

In thepeminnetitexhibition The 1950sAn Exhibition on a Working-class Family,an elderly couple take n rest on n street bench.

Immediately a f t e r the creation of the museum, the nssembly hall i n which it was lodged was i i t e d as a national monument. Built by the workers themselves when the labour movement was young i n the 1870s, it was a meeting place for socialists from a l l over the world at the turn of the century, and The WorkersMuseum has existed for home t o many of the smaller trade un- some thirteen years and has long been a ions i nt h e i r early days. So at the same f u l l y integrated part of the Danish mutime as w e were collecting objects w e seum world. During t h i st i m e ,the mustarted t o restore the building,begin- seum has completed i t s organizational ning with the assembly hall. Since .its structure and has made i t s e l freasonably restoration, it has been used for the visible i n the Danish setting. Consepurposes f o r which it was originally quently,it has been possible for staff t o intended - rallies, general meetings, spend time preparing a new project t o concerts,celebrations,etc. The Work- be executed i n Copenhagen harbour, ersMuseum was transformed into some- which,l i k e virtually a l l other harbours thing beyond a museum; it became a i n Europe and North America,has unplace where history could be appre- dergone radical structural change.The hended i n many ways. For example,i n Workers Museum,by means of an indethe l a t e 1980s w e restored the restaurant pendent foundationit has established,i s
O UNESCO I995

Behind these varied activities w e uphold the professional integrity of the museum. The restaurant has not been leased t o a restaurateur, the assembly h a l li s not run by a booking agency,and the way has not been paved for the exhibitionoffamousforeign shows. The house and i t s cultural history hold a value of t h e i r own,qualities t h a t suffice. In 1993,the museum welcomed 107,000 visitors. It i s still run with financial support from the LO,which contributes 34 per cent of the operating budget;7 per cent i s covered by the Danish Government - the maximum amount under the Museum Act; 5 per cent i s received from a number o f foundations;3 6 per cent from the museumso w n earnings, and 18 per centfrom sponsorsw h o m w e find ourselves.

42

A WorkersMuseum i n Copenhagen

deeply involved i n the creation of a large-scale Museum and RestorationCent r ei n an old naval dockyard.Part ofthe centre i s planned as a holiday s i t e with 200 flats so that holiday-makers may spend some time i n history.This side-

l i n ea c t i v i t yi s expected t o become op- i % e Asseinbly Hall a t the Workers erational as from 1997.The centre w i l l Mu.seunz just before the audience arrives be an autonomous enterprise,but was for a Sunday nzonzing concert. conceived as a natural development of the experience w e have gained from building up our WorkersMuseum. W

O UNESCO I995

43

Looking at Rembrandt:the view from Amsterdam,B e r l i n and London

Kees Bm r i n
Mounting the same a i t exhibition i n three internationally recognized museims can haue siiiprising results. The exhibition o f the works o f Rembrandt and bis pupils drew dqferent responses from visitors in Amsterdam, London and Berlin,and reflectedthe distinctive approaches o f the three mziseuni curators.Kees B n i i i i surueyedpLiblic reaction a t all three exhibitions ai7d f responses that reueals a uariety o f art questioned the iinpoizance o heritage, the notion o f t m e ualidity and thepersonal andpublicforces which tiy to establish rubat makes a r t great. The author i s a research fellow o f the Facdty o f Histo- at Erasnius Uniuersity i n Rotterdam.

The organizers of Rembrandt: The Master and bis Workshop, which went on view i n Amsterdam i n the spring of 1992 (after appearing i n Berlin, and on i t s way t o London), wanted an exhibition withno ifs, ands or buts about it as regards the authenticity of Rembrandts work.The problem of attribution occupied a central position i n the plans.After all, t h i s international Co-production of the Rijksmuseum i n Amsterdam, the Gemaldegalerie i n Berlin, and the National Gallery and British Museum i n Londonwas organizedt o pay homage t o the research focused on Rembrandts t s often startling results.To work and i illustrate the enormous influence Rembrandt had on h i s pupils,a special section of the exhibition was devoted t o Rembrandts workshop. The paintings here were by Gerrit Dou, Samuel van Hoogstraten, Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol.Among these workswere paintings hitherto attributed to Rembrandt himself, but now believed t o be by h i s pupils.

greenvelvetbackgroundwasused throughout, the distance between the paintings was approximately the same,a s was the amountofinformationprovided. Museumgoers i n Berlin had t o do without any clear explanationoftheworkshop section ofthe exhibition.Here and there, textsignsmentioned t h a t certain works were formerly attributed t o Rembrandt,but t h i s was not always the case.In London,the t r a n s i t i o n o the workshop section from Rembrandt t was demarcatedf a r more clearly; thewalls were a d i f f e r e n t colour and a written t e x t explained the comparison principle.However,as i n Berlin,there was no difference between how Rembrandts and h i s pupils works were displayed,f o r each had j u s t as much -or as l i t t l e -wall space, and except f o rthe points noted above, the roomswere similar.

The situationwas quite differenti nAmsterdam. TheRembrandtsectionwas extremely spacious and there was very l i t t l e written text, but theworkshop sectionwas another matter entirely.A l l the paintings were i n one room,with much l e s s space between Although the selection o f the works of them than the Rembrandts,no wall coveru s t plastered white walls, and any art and the compilation o f the catalogue ing,j number o fdisplayboardswith information required intensive joint consultations, set up throughout the room.This was how no central agreementswere made about Amsterdam chose t o emphasize the d i f f e r the actual arrangement,design,public ence between Rembrandt and h i s pupils: a recruitmentand supervisioni n the three n status. cities.These were matters f o r Amster- difference i dam,London and Berlin themselves; the o accompany autonomy of each of the museums was In drawing up the texts t the paintings, Amsterdam was clearly considerable, and was carefully safecatering t o an international public.The guarded. t i t l e so f the paintings were i n no fewer than six languages, and the supplemenWhen it came t o evoking the relationship a r y informationwas i n Dutch and Engbetween Rembrandtsown work and t h a t t lish. In Berlin, the t i t l e s and information of h i s pupils,there were sizeable d i f f e r were i n German only, and i n London ences between the exhibition i n Amsterthey were solely i n English. The decidam and those i n Berlin and London. In sion t o use one national language or t o Berlin, therewas only a virtuallyimpercepopt for a whole l i s t of languages ret i b l e dividing l i n e between one section of the exhibition and the other; the same vealed not only something of the expec-

44

ISSN 1350-0775, h f z r s f i i n z intfi-~zntiorzd(UNESCO, P a r i s ) . No. 188 (Vol. 47, No. 4, 1995) $1 UNESCO 1395 Published hy Ulacliwell Publishers.108 Cowley Road.Oxford, 0x4 ]JI; (UKi and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,MA 031Q (USAI

Looking a t Rembrandt:the view from Amsterdam,B e r l i n and London

tations as regards the museum public, but also disclosed a clear sense of cultural or national insularity. In London, everyone was j u s t as aware as i n Amsterdam t h a t the exhibition would draw numerous foreign visitors,yet it was not thought necessary t o present any of the information i n their languages.

however,no mention was made of i t s being a self-portrait.Instead, the t e x t concentrated on the symbolic meaning of the depiction.And i n London, the possibility was suggested that it might be a self-portrait, but it was noted that the features were not clear enough t o warrant any definite conclusion. In the information on the two versions of Susaima mid theElders,both painted by Rembrandt and both on display at the exhibition,there w a s an interesting discrepancy i n the descriptions of the art historical context.In Amsterdam,it was noted that a work by Lastman had inspired Rembrandt t o paint both versions,but Lastmansname was not referred t oi n either Berlin or London.In London,i n fact,it was Rubens who was said t o have inspired the paintings,for Susannaspose v i r t u a l l y the same i n both the paintings-was thought t o have been borrowed from a work by Rubens that Rembrandt had seen a print of.I n Berlin,an allusion was made t o another painting by Rembrandt which exhibited certain s t y l i s t i c similarities. While London and Berlin referred t o the similarit i e s and differences between the two versions, Amsterdam did not. When Amsterdam did addressthe art historical context of the paintings,it was v i r t u a l l y always i n a .local or national context rather than an internationalone.

Visitors crowd theAinsterdain exhibition.

A matter of interpretation
Although one might have expected l i t t l e change i n the substanceof the accompanying texts, oddly enough, the differences were considerable.In Berlin,the emphasis was mainly on the iconographic,s t y l i s t i caspects.In Amsterdam, more attentionwas devoted t o biographic a l and time- or place-related aspects. And i n London, the approach was far more sceptical and l e s s ceremonious, with texts alluding t o the doubts surrounding the attributions and re-attributions. Sometimes, the descriptions of one and the same work failed t o coincide i n any way, and i n several cases there were vast discrepancies i n the interpretations.For example,i n Amsterdam it was noted that The Artist i n his Studio,dated about 1629 and depicting a young a r t i s t standing before an easel with an enormous canvas on it, was a painting of Rembrandt himself, probably at h i s studio i n Leiden. In Berlin,
O UNESCO 1995

45

Kees Bniin

Had the comparisonbetween Rembrandt and h i s pupils led t o new ways of looking at them?Here again,there were significantdifferencesi n responses from the three locations: i n Berlin and Amsterdam, the majority said yes,although i n London most said no. If London museum-goers had altered their ideas about Rembrandt, t h i s was apparently not based on a comparison between Rembrandt and his pupils. In Amsterdam and Berlin, t h i s confrontation clearly had more of an impact.In Amsterdam,it was more often stated that Rembrandt i s Contrasts and consensus more exceptional than I thought, whereas i n Berlin and t o the extent By the t i m e the gates closed i n May 1992, that there were any newly acquired more than 900,000people had seen the insights,i n London as well the probexhibition i n Berlin,Amsterdam and Lon- lematic nature of authenticity was more don. Most ofthem, more than 441,000, had frequently emphasized. seen it i n Amsterdam,followed by almost 320,000i n Berlin and 180,000 i n London. A t h i r d question was whether one asAmsterdam had thus served as t h e strong- sumed that the Rembrandt paintings est magnet,which could be explained i n exhibited would a l l still be attributed t o p a r t by the duration( t h e exhibitionwas on him i n twenty-fiveyearstime. In none view a month longer i n Amsterdam than i n of the cities did a majority back t h i s Berlin or London) and the higher quota assumption. Berlin was the most posiadmitted t o the Rijksmuseum,and i np a r t tive. London museum-goers were apby the far more active public recruitment parently so impressed by the authenticmethods.In London and Berlin,there had i t y discussion that doubts dominated been hardly any collaboration with t o u r i s t t h e i r responses.Ironically enough,the organizations.The argument used by the percentage of visitors w h o categorically London Tourist Board was that i n the rejected the assumption was largest i n summer months,enough t o u r i s t s already Amsterdam where the difference became t o London. tweenthe o f f i c i a l , approved Rembrandts

The information accompanying one of the re-attributedex-Rembrandtsi n the workshop section i n London made it evident that despite the i n i t i a l consensus,serious doubts had arisen as t o the new attribution.They pertained t o Anna o and the Blind Tobit,now attributed t Gerrit Dou,and on display next t o two of h i s other interior scenes. Although l i t t l e evidence of these doubts was expressed i n the Amsterdam and Berlin texts,museum-goersi n London read the following statement: The comparison of these three paintings was intended t o support the attribution of the Anna t o Dou, but when it was made i n Berlin and Amsterdam it was not convincing.The treatment of Tobitsface and hands,f o r example,i s far less polished than i n the paintings by Dou. The question of the authorship of the Anna must therefore remain open. The attribution to Rembrandt himself should probably be reconsidered.

In the questionnaire presented t o museum-goers, several questions referred t o how the exhibition had affected some of t h e i r ideas.When they were asked if the exhibition had altered their impression of Rembrandt,it was only i n London that a majority answered affirmatively. In Berlin, the responses were more or less evenly divided betweenyes and no,and i n Amsterdam,the majority said no.

46

O UNESCO 1995

Looking a t Rembrandt:the view from Amsterdam,Berlin and London

and the ex-Rembrandtswas so clearly emphasized.Moreover,doubt and disbeliefwere more widespread i n Amsterdam among Dutch museum-goersthan among foreign ones.Although the comparison between the Master and his pupils was not the primary reason t o attend the exhibitioni n any of the cities, the indecision i n the re,sponses t ot h i s l a s t question i s ample proof that the publicity about authentic and unauthentic had been quite effective. And did these museum-goersenjoy the exhibition?Their commentson the questionnaires and the.remarks of museum staff left no doubts t h a t they did. But did anyone enjoy the ex-Rembrandts or the works of h i s pupils? As far as w e could see, t h i swas hardly the case. Judging from how they behaved and what they said,most v i s i t o r s had not come with an open mind but had come f o r the o f f i c i a l Rembrandts, and not f o r the doubtful paintings, no matter how great theymight have been.

the problem, t h i ss c i e n t i f i c research ref l e c t s the obsessions of the society i n which it functions.Perhaps it might be wise t o bear i n mind what the critic and essayistWalter Benjamin wrote before the Second World War about changes i n how people look a t art. I n a society where u s tabouteverything And here there i s somethingodd, and sad, technologyhas made j i fyou w i l l . Despite the occasionallysevere reproducible,the public i s bound t o be s real and c r i t i c i s m of the experts,most o f the mu- increasinglyfascinatedby what i s not real, a t the expense o fwhat a seum-goersquite w i l l i n g l y took them a t what i sa l l about, the representation, their word. The distinction between work of art i t s very content. Rembrandt and non-Rembrandtt h a t these i experts had drawn was a l l too often acseemed t o be cepted as a dividing l i n e between interest- To look at realRembrandts by far the most important reason t o come ing and uninteresting. t o the exhibition.But what d i d people The historian Simon Schama reproaches r e a l l ysee, besides theb i l l i o n so fd o l l a r sthe present-day Rembrandt studies f o rt h e i r works of a r t were worth, o ra t any rate reductionist obsessionwith authenticity - insuredfor? And what did theywant t o see? and he i s not the only one t o do so - and I n part,it remains a mystery.Rembrandt? one could get the impression t h a t what i s Who i s that? the nineteenth-century Dutch involved here i s an isolated s c i e n t i f i cphe- author/artistJan Cremer asked a t the start nomenon, the preferences of scholars, of h i s career,and a c t u a l l y it was not such having l i t t l et o do with the public at large. a stupid question. Although thequestionA It would none the less seem more appro- Rembrandtlover?What i s that? i sc e r t a i n l y p r i a t et o assume t h a ti ni t s formulation of a s intriguing.
8 UNESCO 1995

Pyofessor Josua Bmyn,a leading member o f the Renzbrandt Research Project, is irzteiviewed in t l i e Wo?-khopsectioiz o f theAnisterdam exiiibitiotz.

47

The Beirut Museum opens i t s doors

Brigitte Colin

i % e forthcoining reopening o f some o f the

rooilzs ita theN a t i o n a lMuseum o f Beimt afrer more thanfi9eenyears o f ular w i l l

be a red-leiter day in the reuiual o f the national identity o f the Lebanesepeople. m e author,iuho holds a d@loma in architecturefroin the cole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, joined UNESCO i n 1982 and has since o then supervised the technicalfollow-zip t ciilturalheritageprojects i n the Arab region.

The National Museum of B e i r u t ,which i s the only public museum i n Lebanon,was famous the world over f o ri t s Phoenician, Greek and Roman sarcophagi, and housed theworldsr i c h e s tcollectionofPhoenician andArab jewels. I twas one o fthef i r s tgreat signs of Lebanese independence and has sincet h e 1975 war become a symbolofthe countrysunity. As e a r l y asJanuary1919,eighteen months p r i o rt o the proclamation of the state o f Greater Lebanon,a prototype of the Archaeological and Fine A r t s Service began assembling items t h a t were scattered i n and around the v i c i n i t y of Beirut and objectsfrom excavationscarried out by D r Contenau a t Saida and the Renan mission a t Saida and Tyre.That i n i t i a l collection increased rapidly,thanks not only t o the successive directorsbut also t o donations, among which were General Weygands collection i n 1925 and t h a t of D r Ford i n 1930. The present building was constructed i n 1930, at the intersection of the Avenue Fouad ler and the Rue de Damas,and was situated on the demarcation line. This s t a t e l y building comprises a basement,a ground floor, a mezzanine floor and a terrace;the centralpart,above the mezzanine, i s covered by a glass roof giving natural overhead l i g h t .The area of the s i t e onwhich thebuilding i s locatedi sapproximately 5,500m2, and the exhibition f l o o r space amounts t o 6,000 m2. The immedia t e l y adjoining museum annexes and administrativeo f f i c e soccupyabout 1,000 m2. The basement of the museum was given over t o stelae, sarcophagi and frescoes from various necropolises dating back t o the Achaemenid,Greek,Roman and Byzantine eras and incIuded the anthropoid sarcophagi o f Eshmun-Nazar II, King o f Sidonfrom theend ofthe s i x t h centuryB.c.,

the faade of a Byzantine tomb decorated with a fresco from the sixth century of our era,lead sarcophagi of the Roman period from Tyre,Sidon and Beirut,and a great many other things.The two rooms were adorned with e a r l y fourteenth-century marble mosaic fountains and eighteenthcentury painted panelling. Ceramics, chased-bronzevases, nineteenth-century Druze mantles and lengths ofsilk intekoven with gold thread were displayed i n showcases. f t e r a king of The Hall ofAhiram (named a Byblos who lived i n the twelfth century B.c.) was flanked by three galleries: the Alphabet Gallery, the Colossus Gallery and the Ramses Gallery.In the centre of the h a l l was King Ahiramssarcophagus, one side of which bears the Phoenician inscription that i s the prototype of a l l present-day alphabets. I n the Alphabet Gallery H i t t i t e inscriptionswere displayed alongside Phoenician and cuneiform inscriptions from Mesopotamia.In the Colossus Gallery an Egyptian sculpture discovered by M r Dunand a t Byblos was exhibited. The Director-GeneralofLebaneseAntiquit i e s , Emir MauriceChbab,had t o closethe museum on 15 A p r i l 1975.Being a particul a r l y vulnerable t a r g e t throughout the ent i r e period o f the h o s t i l i t i e s ,from 1975 t o 1990,t h i s majestic building of ochre stone (now riddled w i t h bullet-holesof a l l calib r e s ) had also become the symbol o f communicationbetween the eastand west zoneso fBeirut.Three shellsdestroyed the roof i n 1982; the mosaic flooring was covered over with concrete;i n the Hall of Ahiram,a wall map of the Mediterranean world is breaking away in slabs. Untransportable objects such as statues, bas-reliefsand Phoenician sarcophagi are s t i l l protected i n concrete casings f i l l e d with sand.Small objects,some of which

48

ISSN 1350-0775. /CIiseum Internntionnl iUNESCO.Paris),No. 188 (Vol.47,No. 4, 1995)

Q UNESCO 1995 Published by Blackwell Publishers.108 Cowley Road. Oxford, OX+ IJF (UK) and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,M A 02142 (LISA)

The Beirut Museum opens i t s doors

Since 1991 a network f o r donations and contributionsi n kind l i a sbeen developed i n support of the museum within the frameworkofthe UNESCCVUNDP (United Nations DevelopmentProgramme) global project f o r the restoration of the c u l t u r a l A t the symbolicreopeningofthe museum, and urban heritage of Lebanon. As far on 22 November 1993, the Minister f o r back as June 1992 UNESCO allocated an Culture and Higher Education said,The emergencyfundf o rthepurchase ofequipreconstructionof the museum i s an act of ment and o f f i c e material for the General f a i t hi n the Future.Here w e find our past, Directorate of Lebanese Antiquities and a and also our h i s t o r y over the ages,our computer system f o r updating the invenwealth,our heritage and the treasures of t o r yo f the museumscollections.The c i t y the c i v i l i z a t i o n st h a t have succeeded one of Marseilles gave UNESCO, f o r the muanother i nt h i s land. seum,i t s museum-managementsoftware INDIGOand i n November 1993 offered t o Immediately afterthe fighting ceased the t r a i n the staff il situ. l e c t r i c i t de France, Lebanesetookverypromptactionby form- through its Mcenat Scientifique et ing t h e Association des Amis du Muse Technologiqzu ( s c i e n t i f i c and technologiNational (Association of Friends of the c a l patronage), plans t o equip the laboraNational Museum), whose principal a i mi s tory.
O UNESCO I995

are very precious,were removed t o a safe place when the fighting f i r s t broke out. Despite that,there have been many t h e f t s from the museums c e l l a r s and storage the light-coloured areas.On the firstfloor, wooden display shelveslooked as though they had been ravagedby a cyclone:there were no longer any showcases,shelves had been torn away and pieces of furnit u r e had collapsed.Archaeological material, reserves and the book and archive collections were a l l covered with a thick layer of dust.

t o support the General Directorate of Ant i q u i t i e swith a view t o the restorationand f the i n t e r i o r of the Beirut the r e f i t t i n go Museum from the selection of the best architectural project t o the allocation of funding f o r the d i f f e r e n t phases of the project.

Mai% entrance o f the Beirut National Muse~m.

49

basement of the museum.The r e f i t t i n g of the i n t e r i o rshouldbe designedi nl i n ewith currentmuseological c r i t e r i a , whether it be from the standpointofs c i e n t i f i c contentor the technical means t o be used t o display and conservethe objects.The educational r o l e of modern museums must a l s o be taken into account i n a country where young people are s t i l l seeking t h e i r nat i o n a l identity. The General Directorate o f Antiquities The association, which receivedUNESCOs must b a t t l e on a l l fronts t o restore the patronage f o r its a c t i v i t i e si n support of the buildings, work out the s c i e n t i f i c content, museums reconstruction, i s represented r e f i t the conservation laboratories, refuri l l bish the l abroad by national committees t h a tw i b r a r y and start up the adminiswork towards the attainmentof t h e recon- t r a t i v e services again, since there i s a s t r u c t i o n aims.A committee i n London i s considerabledearth ofeverything-equipalready very a c t i v e and w i l lc a r r y out the ment,qualified staffand funds.The mobireconstructionofthe conservationlaborato- l i z a t i o n of support from the Lebanese ries while another committee has j u s tbeen diaspora around the world could come t o formed i n Brussels t o help recover objects the help of the Director-General o fAntiquities, M r Camille Asmar, helped by stolen from the museum during the war. people of goodwilland a museologist,Ms it i st r u et h a tthe building canbe saved, but Suzy Hakimian, s strugglingt oa t t a i n who i it needs major s t r u c t u r a l work.A danger- the principal goal,t h a t is,the reopening ous r i s ei n the water table a l s o means t h a t t o the public of certain g a l l e r i e so f the urgent drainage work i s needed f o r the National Museum of Beirut.

Afiih-centu y mosaic, called The Good Shepherd, from Jnah in southern Beirut.

they appear The Phoenician Galleries CES today.

50
0 UNESCO 1995

Scientific illiteracy: a challenge t o natural h i s t o r v museums

d

Andreas L. Steigen

The growing scient@ illiteracy makes people strangers to their own world.With these words Andreas L. Steigen laumhes a carefliy wroughtpleafor museums t o assume a more dynanaic andpublicspirited role in traristnitting scientific kiaowledge.i%e author is associate f professor at the Centrefor Studies o Environment aizd Resources at the University o f Bergen i n N o w a y and is president o f the ICOM hzternational Conamittee o f M u s e u m and Collections o f Natural H i s t oy.

I write books on the natural science of everydayl i f e , from the Big Bang through biological evolution t o quantum physics.This occupationhas brought me into many a bookshop looking for books on science.Living i n an industrialized socie t y stronglyshaped by naturalscience i n almost every aspect ofeveryday l i f e , it i s an unpleasant surprise t o find t h a t even the most prestigious bookshops offer only a comparatively small selection of books on natural science. But they do offera very rich, sometimesoverwhelmingly so, selection of pseudo-science subjects l i k e astrology, homoeopathy, healing,etc. The growing trades competing with science-basedmedicine are especiallywell represented.The charlatans have a thriving business i n modern, enlightened societies where physicians have made the mistake ofleading us into the biologically unsound belieft h a tdeath i s a disease and not a perpetual and necessary ecological process..
Ideas are moulded by culture i n t o analog i e s and metaphors. Science i s a venture deeply rooted i n culture and a c t s on cult u r e i t s e l f , creating new contemporary metaphors. Analogiesand models ofscient i f i c knowledge are diffused throughout society,and although t h e insighton which the metaphor i s based may change,the metaphor i t s e l fp e r s i s t s . Todaythepublic seemst ohave alove/hate relationship with science and technology. In some quarters science i s met with blind faith, i n others with disapprovaland deep d i s t r u s t .Our everyday l i f ei s infused with technology and the products of s c i e n t i f i c research, and our homes are b e t t e r charact e r i z e d i n terms of technology than of culture and art. I ti s a paradox t h a t the greater the influence o f technology and science on our rapidly changing everyday life, the more remote and alien t h i s cat-

egory of knowledge i s t o the general public. The growing s c i e n t i f i ci l l i t e r a c y makes people strangerst ot h e i rownworld. Natural sciences are not superior t o the s o c i a l sciences and should not control p o l i t i c s and social life.O n the other hand, the overwhelming importance of the production of s c i e n t i f i c facts and t r a n s f e r of informationi n a democratic society i s underestimated.Some of todayshottest political topics.aredeeply influenced by science, f o rinstance, energy production,acid rain, biodiversity, gene technology and therapy, A I D S and l e g i s l a t i o n . Consequently both p o l i t i c i a n s and the electorate should have a working knowledgeofscience, not t o become experts,but t o be adequately informed,t o be able t o discriminate between f a c tand f i c t i o n and between a w e l l founded argument and mumbo-jumbo.In a democratic society c i t i z e n s should be able t o analyse and see through expert reports and p o l i t i c a l arguments veiled behind a varnish of science. Democratic societies and systems are founded on the creed t h a t relevant arguments are more important when making decisions than a loud voice,and t h a t ens a useful instrument lightened discourse i i n resolving disagreements. Knowledge combined with e t h i c si s educational and may prevent prejudice. The important p o l i t i c a l decisionsshaping our future cont a i n strong elements of natural science. Knowledge isolatedfrom its socialcontext may be of l i t t l e value,but actions taken without insight may be j u s t as bad. Naturalscienceconcernsthephysicalworld t h a t can be measured,described and analysed, and thes c i e n t i f i cmethod i sbased on a sense ofwonder and the t e s t i n g ofideas through experimentation. All too oftenit i s portrayed as abstract,theoretical and unreal,and thus excluded from society and #

ISSN 1350-0775, Museum International (UNESCO,P a r i s ) , No. 188 (Vol. 47,No. 4,1995) O UNESCO 1995 Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road,Oxford,OX4 1JF (UK) and 238 Main Street,Cambridge,MA 02142 (USA)

51

Andreas L. Steigerz

everyday l i f e .The image ofthe lone scient i s t working a t the edge of society cannot be allowed t o continue.Science and socie t y are completely integrated. Anti-science, quasi-science, metaphysics and i r r a t i o n a l i t y flourish.When the why questions on l i f e ,reason and purpose become too complicated,people often take refuge i n a quest for a single answer t o a l l questions through religious fundamentalism or mysticism. The marketof alternativesi s doing a roaring trade at present. The business of personal happiness and success,new world-viewsand instant solutions,surfs on an occult wave of helpless ignorance.Often the most outspoken proponents are journalists excited by what they believe i s exotic, revealing t h e i r lack ofknowledge and intellectuals k i l l s . The pressure t o publish unverified res u l t s quickly has led t o a loss of public confidence i n science.A relatively recent example of t h i si s cold fusion. Science i s supposed t o be open and inquiring and new insights are regularly substituted f o r old truths;the intellect u a l openness of science i s i t s most important quality. Anti-sciences are therefore brought t o market with a scie n t i f i cveneer,and their merchants often use the vernacular o f natural science.It is,however,a characteristic of most of the so-calledalternatives t o science that t h e i r claims are either not tested or cannot be tested at a l l within the cons t r a i n t s of s c i e n t i f i c methods. S c i e n t i f i cdebatesare takena s prooff o rthe u n s c i e n t i f i c natureofscience.Sciencei t s e l f standsaccusedo fbeing a conservativeand i s o l a t e d brotherhood when it does not acceptthe unfounded claimso fthe charlatans. One ofteng e t s the impressiont h a tthe quacksclaim t h a t science and s c i e n t i f i c
52

method i s the ultimate conspiracy i s easier t o grasp f o r the layperson than i s the s c i e n t i f i c iiiethod i t s e l f . The s c i e n t i f i c method i sthe best,i nf a c t the only, control mechanism against fraud and exploitation of humans i nd i s t r e s s . The t e s t a b l eq u a l i t y ofthe natural sciences i st h e i rgreatestasset.Explanations ofnatural phenomena a r e based on facts and repeatable experiments which can be checked by others c i e n t i s t s . A l lf a c t sare,i n principle, open t ot e s t s and reinterpretation,and science itselfi s an ongoing venture.The controlofscience i s an important and,i n many respects, ethical issue, since s c i e n t i f i c achievements may have normat i v e implications, especially i n biology and f r o n t i e r medicine.

A false neutrality
But a l li s not well i ns c i e n t i f i c quarters.In s p i t eofa growingsocialawarenessamong scientists, the notion that natural science i s neutral i n method and consequencesi s s t i l l widespread.As scientists w e would l i k et o be beyond the conflicts of society, c o n f l i c t s which often emerge from the r e s u l t s of natural science. In the world outside our laboratoriesand lecture halls, science and technology are tools for oppression and liberation: they can create and reduce environmental problems.Science helps t o increase food production, develop new medicines and weapons. Thus the notion of science as a neutral venture i s false. Natural science can be j u s t i f i e d by i t s usefulness and relevance both t o technol o g i c a l l y advanced and t o developingsocie t i e s .The importance o f science can also be appreciated from the f a c tt h a ti t s concepts and ideas are deeply integrated i n our culture and general perception of
Fi UNESCO 1995

S c i e n t i f i ci l l i t e r a c y :a challenge t o natural history museums

ourselves,much more intertwined than i s usually acknowledged. The craving t o ex,plainand understand the world and our continuing wonder over time,space and existence,are fundamental human activit i e s deeply rooted i n our i n t e l l e c t .Questions raised by philosophers throughout recorded h i s t o r y are s t i l l being asked by i n q u i s i t i v e children.

lution i n the l i v i n g world. Not only do objectsrepresentthe physical and biologicalworld,theyare a l s o products o fphysics and chemistry i n action.

Museum collections and exhibitions cont a i n objects and organisms from t h e wild, some of them threatened by human activi t y .The growing biocentrism is,t o a great extent, based on sentiment rather than c i e n t i f i cfact.Various types ofmovement, l l s The general influence o f science on a aspectsofl i f ehas neverbeen strongerthan ideologies and quasi-religious organizatoday. Economy, culture and s o c i a ll i f e t i o n s use the concern f o r the environment r the individuals genuine concernf o rh i s have t o an increasing extent been shaped o and changed by the multifarious and use- o r her own body and love f o r relatives, t o f u ls c i e n t i f i c discoveries of the last 300 convey theirmessage and t oc o l l e c tmoney o rrunningt h e i r organization. Fundamenyears.Why i s it then t h a ti n our s c i e n t i f i - f c a l l y based societythe general knowledge talism based on religious fanaticism o r ofscience i s so low and even diminishing? extremebiocentrismconsequentlyreduces n t r i n s i c value of human beings and This paradox opens the door t o non- the i s c i e n t i f i cventuresbased on obscureideol- must therefore be opposed.One example s whaling.There i s room f o r controlled ogy,business t a l e n t and greed.As s o c i a l l y i f mink whales.The idea t h a tt h i s aware and responsiblei n s t i t u t i o n st h i sf a c t hunting o cannot be swept under the carpet when i s cruel or inhumane i s disputable.The i l l i n g of whales i n w e consider the r o l eo f natural history notion of humanek museums i n society. i t s e l fi s unsound,sinceit i s ethically.wrong t o use human beings as the standardi nt h i s context. Museums for objects ... Where then, do natural history museums and processes fit into t h i s rather convoluted picture?I s ample Natural history museums present objects firmlybelieve,and I think there i from the natural world. To understand evidence for it, that a museum of objects o f u l l ythe informationcontentand the fasci- from nature has a special attraction t nating history of those objects they should people.Those objects are historic.They n the language of be put into a comprehensives c i e n t i f i c and contain a story told i s o c i a lcontextwheneverpossible. Thepres- physics, chemistry and organic evoluentationmay be humanity i n natureand/or tion,and represent variations and possii l i t i e s realized i n nature outside the naturei n humanity. In almost a l lmuseums b today human beings are put i n t ot h e i r museum.The educational power ofsuch s great and i s not always develproper place as animals,products of evo- objects i l l other organismson planet oped t oi t sf u l l potential. lution as are a Earth.Iti s importantt o expand theconceptual setting.Objects of natural h i s t o r y are Environmental exhibits should be prenotonly objectspei-se, they area l s o shaped sented with reference t o objects and by physical and chemicalprinciples defin- processes s t i l l going on i n nature.They ing and delimiting the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of evo- represent the living past and present,
O UNESCO i995

53

Andreas L. Steigen

and r e f l e c t the future created by human beings today. Objects should, when possible, be presented i n a s c i e n t i f i c context including both proximate (funct i o n a l ) and ultimate (evolutionary) principles. Just as evolution and derived adaptations are important, so are the constraints and limits set on evolution by physical, chemical and biological limits. Functionsoforganisms can be described i n terms of physiology, and general principles of variation,time and scaling are inherent qualities of every object. Some objects have scientific value, others not, but i n a carefully selected and presented exhibitionall objectshave an exhibit value. The challenge of the naturalhistory museum i st o expand this value t o includemore generalprinciples of natural science.The interest i n animals and plants often reflects human needs for products o f biological evolu-

tion.There i s a deep and well-founded concern for nature and species i n natur a l ecosystems threatened by human a c t i v i t y or commercial interests. This engagement can be strengthened and made more r e a l i s t i c through a scientific a l l y coherent and comparative exhibit approach. Principles of natural history and s c i e n t i f i c method should be conveyed i n an i n t e l l i gible way t ov i s i t o r st o reduce s c i e n t i f i c i l l i t e r a c y , not only through exhibitions, but i n lectures,books,educational and multimedia programmes,etc.Programmespromoting understanding of the s o c i a l necess i t y and implications of natural sciences and technologyshould also be includedi n t h i se f f o r tt o reduce s c i e n t i f i ci l l i t e r a c y . To achieve this,co-operation between museums and the public can be p r o l i f i c and stimulate debate and insight concerning the importantr o l ethenaturalsciencesplay i n contemporary societies.

54

C l UNESCO 1995

Books

Books
Gender Perspective% Essays on Womeni n Museums, edited by Jane R. Glaser and Artemis A.Zenetou. (Washington and London,Smithsonian I n s t i t u t i o n Press,1994,xxv + 161 pp.) Perspectiveswere focused on the United States.Aside from a few B r i t i s h and Canadian entries,the only non-American references are the a r t i c l e s included i n Museum k issue e n t i t l e d Focuson Women(No.171,1991).

Looking f o r a feminist bomb t o attack or embolden (depending on your stance) your views on women i n museums?If so,dontbuy t h i s book.Summarizing the main contributionst o a seminar held by the Smithsonian I n s t i t u t i o ni n Washington,D.C., i n March 1990, it i s neither bomb nor balm.Rather,it r e f l e c t s what i t s Preface c a l l s acrosssection of female and male perspectives on feminist issues i n museums of yesterday,today and tomorrowranging through theconservative, the moderate and the militant. As such,it could not be f r e eo f certain of the ambiguities, even contradictions, t h a t characterize i t s areas of focus.

It is,however,not a criticism t os i t u a t e the book,and t o inform readers that it i s an almost exclusively American mosaic of women-in-museums issues i n 1990,so rich,contrasted and engaging and perhaps applicable t oo r premonitory f o r other contexts i st h a t mosaic.

A minor but t e l l i n g example:Marc

Pachter ( o ft h i r t y f i v econtributors nine are male) wonders how, i n successful exhibitions, the feminist perspective [sic] has best been employed. The very m u l t i p l i c i t y of viewpoints expressed i n Gender Perspectives: Essays on W o m e n in Museziiizs i s ample and refreshing proof t h a t there i s no single feminist position on the issues a t hand. These are covered i n eight clusters of generally readable pieces t h a t move from the h i s t o r i c a l impact of women on museum work,through the contributions of feminist scholarship t o certain academic disciplines and museologicall graphical endeavours,then t o casestudies and t o the gender-related educational roles ofmuseums,and f i n a l l yt o future-orientedconcerns, before ending with a Conclusion: Towards a Collective Perspective.

The major discussion i nt h i s work centres around the scope and nature o f wonzeiz %presence in and impact on American niusemus. As f o r scope,and although timely and pervasively representative s t a t i s t i c s seem t o be lacking,there appears t o be a gender l i n k with types of museums where women can exercise professional influence. Thus,Ann W. Lewin affirms t h a t Womens roles i n the funding and the development of childrensmuseums have been enormous.An estimated 85 t o 95 per cent of the founders, the directors and the a c t i v i s t si n childrensmuseums are women. In sharp contrast,Bonnie Van Dorn laments that,i n 1971,there was only one woman among the sixteen founders o f the Association of Science and Technology Centers,and t h a t it took eighteen years f o rt h a t Association now 326 i n s t i t u t i o n s strong t oe l e c ta woman president of the Board.

An examination of the appended and

extensive bibliography reveals how much the e f f o r t st h a t produced Gender

And what kind of impact do women directors,curators,managers,and i n other professional roles,have on museums?Many have s t r i v e nt o enter the male-biasedmainstream,and t o excel there according t o that mainstreams own norms.A s JeanWeber says: Womeni n high positions seem t o be goal-orientedand committed (occasionally driven) t o produce

ISSN 1350-0775, Mz~sezimI?ilenzutionul(UNESCO,P a r i s ) , No. 188 (vol.47,No.4,1995) O UNESCO 1995 Published by Blackwell Publishers,108 Cowley Road,Oxford,OX4 1JF (UK)and 238 Main Street, Cambridge,M A 02142 (USA)

55

Books

landmark exhibitions,splendid publications, innovative programmes i n short,work miracles over and over again. In such a dog-eat-dog world, there i s a price:Theburnout r a t i oi s high,and personal l i v e s often suffer. Some women professionals have decided t o reject the male-defined ground rules and attempt t o create a s p e c i f i c a l l y feminine o r feminist professionalism.Marcia Tucker recalls that,finding v i r t u a l l y no place f o rmy being and m y ideas within the e x i s t i n g museological framework,I chose t o establish a museum.This made me both privileged and marginalized. Opting out o f what might be called the unreformed branch o f the mainstream can (must?) have conflictual overtones. Barbara Clark Smith decided t o address a public o f women: inrefusing t o engage a male audience,I hope it i sc l e a rt h a t it i s far from my purpose t o offend men: however,it i s not my p r i o r i t yt o avoid doing so. For women opting t o continue what could be c a l l e d thelong wade through the mainstream, i n order t o change it, the experience can be both painful and rewarding. It i s again Jean Weber who points out that,i n itsolder and pejorative sense, feminization[of museum professions] means lower wages and esteem.

nurturing s k i l l s when they enter leadership positions. She concludes:We l l congratulatewomen f o rt h e i r should a willingness and a b i l i t yt o bring t r u e c i v i l i z a t i o nt o museums and t ot h e i r staffs,subject-matter and audiences.

On t h i s reviewersdashboard,such affirmations can cause a red stereotypearound-next-bend warning l i g h tt o blink on.Happily, JO Allyn Archambault does l l women are nurturers, not s t a t et h a ta socializersand c i v i l i z e r s .Such a claim could not but e l i c i t a look ( o r guffaw) o f d i s b e l i e f from subordinates,women as much as men,i n museum and other professions,who have had the misfortune t o serve s t i f l i n g ,d i c t a t o r i a l and decidedly uncivilized leaderships, female as well as male.
Stereotyping i s not the a i mo r function of Gender Perspectives: Essays on. W o m e n in Museiims. Quite the contrary,reading it should help motivate a l l museum peoplet o strive, i nt h e i r professional and personal contexts, f o r a positive answer t o Susan S t i t t sconcluding W i l l the [next]stage of the question: womensmovement be the practising of humanism? Book revieiued by Arthur Gillette, ruho iiiill be remeinbered by readers a s the former Editor-in-chief o f Museum.H ei s currently Director o f UNESCOS Division o f Youth and Sports Activities.

On the other hand,according t o JO Allyn Archambault,by placing the boysand t h e i r toysapproach out of bounds, feminizationhas been bringingc i v i l i t y t o science museums. Ms Archambault continues:Womenare taught t o be socializersand nurturers.They can continue t o use t h e i r socializing and

Note
1. Reported on by Jane R. Glaser, TheImpact of W o m e n on Museums an American Seminar, Musezim,No. 171,1991.

O UNESCO 1995

Illicit traffic

Illicit traffic
Stolen art and cuiturai property: INTERPOLSspecial programme

Police forcesall over the world are subjected t o constant pressure from public opinion and governments t o combat the ever-increasingvolume of crime.Obviously,acts of terrorism and drug-traffickingare p r i o r i t y areas, followed by offences against persons and more p a r t i c u l a r l y those committed against children.Crimes against property,which probably a f f e c t the general public most,are sometimes considered t o be of secondary importance.Ilowever, i l l i c i tt r a f f i ci n stolen works of art and cultural property i s of considerable importance since it can threaten the e n t i r e cultural heritage of a community. INTERPOL has a special programme f o r combating this form o f crime a t the internationallevel,working through each member countrysNational Central Bureau ( N C B ) , usually located i n the c a p i t a lc i t y ,which centralizes a l l information o f international interest. The best way t o explain INTERPOLS general r o l ei nt h i s area i st o imagine a case of t h e f t .L e t us suppose t h a t thieves break i n t o a museum i n Geneva and the alarm goes o f f .The police are called i n and preliminary inquiries begin which lead them t o believe t h a t the t h e f t may have internationalimplications. From a c i t yl i k e Geneva,it only takes a few hours t o reach many countries. A witness may have noted the registration number o f a foreign vehicle,the stolen works o f art may be of i n t e r e s tt o the internationalmarket,o r there may be other elements of t h i s kind.L e t us say t h a t three extremely valuable paintings have been stolen and t h a t the thieves have disappeared. The investigators now have two tasks:t o i d e n t i f y the thieves and t oc i r c u l a t e informationabout the stolen property.In
O UNESCO 1995

many cases,both tasks are linked,since discovery of the stolen property,even if it has often passed through several hands,can lead t o the a r r e s t of the thieves.As the police believe t h a t the e f t Switzerland, they paintings have l therefore send out through the NCB an internationalbroadcast giving a detailed description of the works.To f a c i l i t a t e t h i s ,INTERPOL has produced a printed form i n the Organizationsfour languageswhich can help police o f f i c e r s with only limited knowledge of works o f art t o describe the stolen property. Before t h e form i sf i l l e d in,a telegram describing the stolen property i s sent t o police and Customs,since the l a t t e r may well be lucky enough t o discover the stolen property during a border control. This i sp a r t i c u l a r l y important i n Europe with the opening of borders within the European Union. One art form and one photograph f o r each stolen item are sent t o the INTERPOLGeneral S e c r e t a r i a ti n Lyons ( F r a n c e ) , which d r a f t s a summary o f the t h e f tf o r data entry and opens a f i l e .An internationalstolen property notice i s then prepared f o rd i s t r i b u t i o nt oa l l member countries and i s scanned and stored i n the computerized database.Each notice s t a t e s t h a t member countries must inform art g a l l e r i e s ,museums,salesrooms, pawnbrokers,antique dealers and Customs services.ICOM and UNESCO a r e a l s o informed, while t h e NCBs i n Washington and London pass on the informationt o other bodies such as IFAR, Art Loss Register and TRACE.Obviously, the wider t h ec i r c u l a t i o n given t o the notice,the more e f f e c t i v e the search.In addition t o these notices,a poster i s published twice yearly showing the six most wanted works o f art.Notices f o r works o f art which have been discovered by the police a r e occasionally published s o as t ot r a c et h e i r owners.Once a stolen work ofart has been recovered,t h e General S e c r e t a r i a t sends out a cancellationnotice. 57

I l l i c i t traffic

In the v a s t majority of cases,requests f o r publication o f stolen-propertynotices come from European countries,Canada and the United S t a t e s .This i s hardly surprising i n view of the l a r g e number of movable works o fa r t kept i n homes and museums i n those countries.I n 1991, thirtyseven notices were published i n connection w i t ht h e f t s from museums (17.5 per c e n t ) , forty-seveni n 1992 (18.8 per c e n t ) , and twenty-seven during the f i r s t seven months of 1993 (22.3per c e n t ) . As can be seen,t h e number i s constantly r i s i n g .Most of t h et h e f t sa r e committed during museum opening hours,but on some occasionsbuildings are broken i n t o and on others museum employees have been accomplices,o r items have been taken from reserves.I n the latter case,the museum s t a f f only r e a l i z e that a t h e f t has been committedwhen they take an inventory.One p a r t i c u l a r modus operandi i st o replace the o r i g i n a l work with a COPY. Unfortunately, these comments are based only on the informationsent t o the General Secretariat.Contrary t o common belief,INTERPOL does not keep information on a l l offences committed anywhere i n the world,but records only those crimes considered t o have international ramifications. Member countries occasionally report the t h e f t of an archaeologicalitem.In many instances,t h e item displayed i na museum has e i t h e r been stolen or has come from a clandestine dig.I n the l a t t e r case,the problem i s a delicate one since the police can only intervene if an offence has been committed.A case o f t h i s kind occurred a few years ago. INTERPOL received information from a confidential source t h a t an extremely valuable statue of Aphrodite was about t o be displayed i n a museum i n the United States.The informationindicated t h a t the statue had been stolen a t Morgantina i nS i c i l y .The NCBs i n Rome and Washington were contacted.The problem was t h a t the I t a l i a n authorities were unable t o confirm t h a tt h e statue had been stolen and i l l e g a l l y exported
58

from I t a l y .The case does not appear t o have been settled;however it may be said t h a t INTERPOL did what it had t o do and it was then up t o legal and other experts t o solve the problem. Traffickers and some dealers take advantage of the f a c tt h a t very often the objects i n question cannot be identified, particularly i f they come from archaeological digs,even though national legislationsforbid the export of such items.This i s not a recent phenomenon.In the past, representativesof colonial authorities certainly played an active role i n removing cultural property from t h e i r colonies and one country has announced t h a t it intends t o search the luggage of departing diplomats.The Far East i sp a r t i c u l a r l y affected by t h e f t s from archaeological digs,and countries such as India,Thailand and Cambodia frequently request the publication of stolen property notices. Offences against c u l t u r a l property tend t o be committed by s p e c i a l i s t s .If they are i d e n t i f i e d by the investigators, INTERPOL can c i r c u l a t et h e i r descriptions.Notices can be published which include a photograph of the offender, h i so r her identity,fingerprints,any aliases used,and a l l available informationo f use t o the police.A blue notice i s used t o trace the whereabouts o f someone involved i na criminal case,and a green notice draws countries attentiont o someone known t o have committeda number o fcrimes. Details of out-of-the-ordinary iizod~ls operandi can be circulated and may help t ol i n k several d i f f e r e n t cases of t h e f t .
Editors Note: The above a r t i c l ei s taken from the address by Jean-Pierre Jouanny, INTERPOL Officer,t o the Workshop on I l l i c i tT r a f f i co f Cultural Property,held i n Anisha,United Republic o f Tanzania,i n September 1993,and organized by ICOM i n co-operation with UNESCO,the Southern Africa Development Community Association of Museums and Monuments,and the Tanzanian Ministry of Education and Culture.
O UNESCO 1995

Professional news

Professional news
Internationalsalon rewards museographic innovation

The t h i r d InternationalSalon of Museographic Technologies (SITEM,L i l l e , France,25-27 January1995) rewarded eight exhibitors with t h e coveted ' l a b e lof museographic innovation'. The l a b e l s were selected from more than candidatesby an internationalj u r y of museum professionals.The laureatswere: Apimex,d i s t r i b u t o ro f Hahn showcases, f o rt h e i rc l i m a t i c a l l y controlled showcase f o r paintings;C r i s t a l Noir,f o r a special process o f backlighting by o p t i c a l fibres; Entropies,f o rt h e i rp a r t i c u l a r l y welldesigned stand-aloneexhibition supports; Laserblast Quantel, f o r a new method of surface cleaning by laser,which can be r e a d i l y manipulated by museum s t a f f ; MBA Design &Display, f o rt h e i r lightweight,long-lastingexhibition panels, which a r ee a s i l y stored and protected; Mdialog,f o rt h e i r innovative approach t o i n t e r a c t i v e media;Marc Boulay,f o rh i s a r t i s t i c and s c i e n t i f i c a l l ysound reconstructions o fl i v i n g and p r e h i s t o r i c animals;Dominique Fleurent,f o r a special technique t o preserve b u t t e r f l y larvae i n museum collections.

f m

Commentaries may be rewound,fastforwarded o r cleared as the v i s i t o r desires;additional information on any particular painting o r sculpture may be obtained by keying the item number i n t o the Inform hand unit.The t e x t may be reprogrammed by the host i n s t i t u t i o ni n minutes i n order t o change content, switch from one language t o another o r provide alternativeversions of the audio tour t a i l o r e dt os p e c i f i c audiences.The Inform system has been developed by Acoustiguide,a leading recorded-tour company. For further information: Acoustiguide, 188 Sutton Court Road, London W 4 3HR (United Kingdom). Tel:(44.181)747-3744) Fax:(44.181)995-6195

RAMA network links European museum databases

For further information: SITEM,Provinciales, 33,rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 75011 P a r i s( F r a n c e ) . Tel:(33.1) 40.15.98.65 Fax:(33.1) 43.41.67.19

Tate Gallery introduces personal audio guide

With the launching of TateInfonn i n January 1995,the Tate Gallery i n London became the f i r s tB r i t i s hg a l l e r yt o provide personalized audio tours using microprocessor-based d i g i t a l technology. The system,i n s t a l l e d with great success at the Louvre i n 1993,allows v i s i t o r st o access audio information when they wish and not a sp a r to f a fixed tour.
B UNESCO 1995

RAMA - Remote Access t o Museum Archives - i s a multimedia system f o r consultation of museum databases v i a telecommunicationsnetworks.Launched i n 1992 with financial assistance from the European Community (now European Union), RAMA currently l i n k s the image databases of twelve museums including the Muse d'Orsay i n Paris,the U f f i z i Museum i n Florence,the Ashmolean Museum i n Oxford and the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art i n Athens.By the end of 1995,it i s expected t h a t some twenty museums w i l l participate i n the network,including a number i n the United States.RAMA does not a l t e r the structure o f existing databases but allows f o r the transmissionof high-definition images from heterogeneous systems. Researchers possessing a personal computer and simple software can have immediate access t o information and images according t oav a r i e t y of selection c r i t e r i a ,and can communicate among themselves v i a RAMA'S electronic

59

Professional news

m a i l service.Although primarily designed f o r professionals i n the f i e l d s of art and culture,RAMA i s considering future applications aimed a t a broader public.A newsletter f o r RAMA members i s published i n six languages, (Dutch, English,French,German,Greek and S p a n i s h ) .
For further information: Telsystmes, 55,avenue des Champs Pierreux, 92029 Nanterre Cedex ( F r a n c e ) . T e l :(33.1)46.14.51.86 Fax:(33.1) 46.14.56.81

ICCROM course on JapanesePaper Conservation

Sixteenth I I C internationalCongress

The sixteenth InternationalCongress of the InternationalI n s t i t u t ef o r Conservation of H i s t o r i c and A r t i s t i c Works w i l l take place a t the Falconer Center i n Copenhagen, 25-30 August 1996,i n associationwith t h e Danish National Museum.Under t h et i t l e Archaeological Consemation and its Consequences,the Congress w i l lo f f e r new perspectives on the conservationof archaeological s i t e s and finds,both on land and under water. P a r t i c u l a ra t t e n t i o nw i l l be given t o ways i n which a t t i t u d e s towards archaeological conservationhave been reassessed i n recent years as t h e consequences of previous approacheshave become evident.The congress aims t o bring together conservators and archaeologists, conservations c i e n t i s t sand historians, curators,c o l l e c t i o n s managers,educators and students.Materials under discussion w i l l range from ceramics t o shipwrecks, from metals t o mosaics,and from waterlogged wood t o wallpaintings.The o f f i c i a l language o f the congressw i l l be English. For further information: The International I n s t i t u t ef o r Conservation o f Historic and Artistic Works, 6 Buckingham Street, London WC2N 6BA (United Kingdom). T e l :(44.171) 839-5975 Fax:(44.171) 976-1564 60

The fourth internationalcourse on JapanesePaper Conservation w i l l take place i n Tokyo and Kyoto,23 November t o1 6 December 1995,organized by the InternationalCentre f o r the Study of the Preservationand the Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), i n cooperation with the Tokyo National Research I n s t i t u t e of Cultural Properties, the Japanese Agency f o r Cultural A f f a i r s and the Kyoto National Museum.The course aims t o introduce participants t o av a r i e t y of paper-conservation techniques based on Japaneses c r o l l mounting,and w i l l focus on p r a c t i c a l sessions complemented by theoretical lectures and demonstrations.The lecturers w i l l be Japanese paperconservation s p e c i a l i s t s and the working language w i l l be English. For further information: ICCROM, 13 Via d i San Michele, 00153 Roma RM ( I t a l y ) . T e l :(39.6) 587-901 Fax:(39.6) 588-4265

New publications
Incendie e t Panique [ F i r eand Panic]. By Col.Alain Raisson.Published by the Dpartement des A f f a i r e s Financires, Juridiquese t Gnrales, Direction des Muses de France,6,rue des Pyramides, 75041 Paris Cedex O1 ( F r a n c e ) , 1994, 106 pp.

Ap r a c t i c a l guide t o fire-prevention regulations applicable t o museums,and the security measures t h a t should be taken t o prevent d i s a s t e r s or,i n the worst case,t o manage panic situations and protect collections.The author,who i s technical adviser f o r security a t the Direction des Muses de France, provides informationon equipment,staff training and action plans t o follow i n the event of major hazards such as floods, bomb a l e r t s ,criminal attacks, etc.
O UNESCO 1395

L e t t e r s

i % e Educational Role o f the Museiim. Edited by Eilean Hooper-Greenhill. Published by Routledge,London and New York,1994,340 pp.(ISBN 0-415-11287-7.) CollectioilsMamgenimt. Edited by Anne Fahy.Publishedby Routledge,London and New York,1994,304 pp.(ISBN:hardback 0-415-11282-6, paperback 0-415-11283-4.)

New museums
Dabesh Museyn, 601F ~ X Avenue, J New York,N. Y.(United States) New Yorks f i r s t museum devoted t o nineteenth-and twentieth-centuryacademic art opened i n January 1995.It presents selections from the many works o f art collected by D r Dahesh (1909-19841, a Lebanese writer and s o c i a l visionary with a passion f o r collecting European a r t .
Le Mise des Ails Forains L%e Museilni o f Fun FairArlsJ, 50,rue de l$glise, a r i s (France) 75015 P With more than 1,500objects including merry-go-rounds, fair stalls and organs,marionettes,games, scenic panoramas and ornamental sculptures,the museum houses one of the largest collections i n the world devoted t o the history o f fun fairs from 1850 t o the present.Opened i n October 1994,it boasts an important documentation section and an exhibition service t o foster exchanges with French and overseas museums.

These two recent additions t o the Leicester Readers i n Museum Studies s e r i e s are fresh e f f o r t sa t information gathering whose a i mi st o bring together f o r the f i r s t time an important body of published work,much o f it taken from recent journals which few l i b r a r i e s carry. The first tide i s a compilation of t e x t st h a t address t h e relationshipsof museums and g a l l e r i e st o their audiences;it covers both the broad issues relevant t oa l l museum v i s i t o r s as well as questions dealing with s p e c i f i c educational groups.The second t i t l e focuses on the physical care and documentation of c o l l e c t i o n s and the development of standards f o r collection management,and examines the s t a t u s of research i n museums,sources o f advice about s e c u r i t y and t h eb a s i c s of insurance and indemnity.

Letters
I a m writing i n reply t o Professor Aurora Leonsopen l e t t e r on museology i n Spain which appeared i n the No. 4,1994,issue o f Museunz International;I am a mere museum employee and an enthusiastic participant i n debates concerning t h i s professionwith which I have been connected for seventeen years (fourteen as a volunteer). For the record,I possess at l e a s t formally Ms Leonstwo essential attributes: namely,I am a university graduate and,a f t e r working f o r twelve years, followed a two-yearspecialized course i n museology. Is h a l l refer only t o those points i nM s Leonsopen letter t h a t I disagree with, and which seem indeed t o be i n contradiction with other points made i n the same l e t t e r .
The bleak picture t h a t she paints made m e wonder whether her remarks,made on the occasion of a l e c t u r e sponsored by the Ministry of Culture,are not overconfined t ot h e case of o f f i c i a l museums and officialdom.My experience and contactswith colleagues i n other Spanish and Portuguese museums,together with what I have heard from the mouths of professionals i n other countries,prompt

O UNESCO 1995

61

L e t t e r s

me t o say t h a t the current s t a t e of the profession does not f u l l y correspond t o the situation t h a t she decries.It i s not fair t o put the problem down t o autocratic directorsi n ivory towers and lackadaisical staff.Although these types of situations do arise,they are fortunately becoming exceptions since the changes ushered i n by the 9 7 8 of the remarkable appearance i n1 book she now abominates.

I confess I am t r u l y astounded by her statement t h a t the museologistsrole [ w i l l ]focus on theoretical study of the various elements t h a t go t o make up the museum -which even makes it unnecessary f o r him or her t o be physically present i n the i n s t i t u t i o n and on maintaining contact with the staff i n order t o plan museum a c t i v i t i e sfrom the infrastructure angle. And I ask myself, how can museum a c t i v i t i e s be planned on the sole b a s i s of theoretical or s c i e n t i f i c assumptionswithout it being necessary f o r a museologist t o be physically present?

Is it conceivable t o design programmes, content and objectives without d i r e c t involvement i n the a c t i v i t i e si n question? Iam a f r a i dt h a t without the necessary corrective of hands-onexperience there would unfailingly be a gulf between the self-styledmuseologist and the museum staff no matter how w i l l i n g the l a t t e r might be t o follow the formers instructions.In b r i e f ,a latterday version of the sadly thorny relationship between a r c h i t e c t and construction workers.I cannot imagine a museologist who i s not f u l l yi n tune with the museum staff,nor can I imagine an e f f e c t i v e team without at least one of i t s members not necessarily the director - having received specialized training i n museology.

t h a t have universal validity,w i l l vary according t o whether it i s an r art archaeological,ethnographic o museum,whether it i s European, American o r African,and whether it i s s e ti nar u r a l or an urban environment. The socio-culturalfunctions t h a t it i s required t o perform must be keyed t o the i d e n t i t y of the community it i s meant t o serve and the projection of i t s past on o r t o the present as a springboardf thinking about the future.In t h i s connection, I note t h a t there i s no e x p l i c i t reference t o the forging of links between museums and society as p a r t and parcel o f the museologistswork.I believe t h a t the new museums are b e t t e r placed t o reach the public than t h eb i g s t a t e museums.Through the themes they address and the use o f more d i r e c t language,it i s probably easier f o r them t o bring the public t o respond t ot h e i r content and hence t o feel somehow involved i n the s o c i a l dimension of the museumsa c t i v i t y .In t h i s sense,I believe t h a t a museum should be thought of not so much as a public service but as a community task t o which a l l those concerned,whether as museum-plannersor a s museum-goers, have something t o contribute.

I might add that a museum i s not an s a body abstract,s e l f s u f f i c i e n tentity.It i with a l i f e of i t s own which finds fulfilment through i t s relationship with a public and a culture.Its functions, though based on theoretical premises

It seems t o me t h a t when M s Leon urges would-bemuseologists t o familiarize themselves with national and international museological practices,t o join ICOM o rt o subscribe t o &lttseurn intemntionnl,she i s implicitly recommending eclecticism. W e would be foolish if w e agreed t o pad out our curricula vitae with certificates of attendance a t courses and seminars or with membership cards of associations and professional bodies.Professional competence does not come from culling other peoples experience but from the confrontation of necessarily ever-expanding theoretical knowledge with day-to-day practice,and i s often achieved through voluntary work which,for want o f better academic training, offers the only means o f getting ahead.
D UNESCO 1995

L e t t e r s

The great majority of museum workers including many staff members with ten or f i f t e e n yearsexperience behind them - are not lacking i n enthusiasm, imagination o r boldness.These q u a l i t i e s are usually reined i n by the ever t i g h t e r constraints of scant resources,lack of job security and the p o l i t i c a l use made of museums,which are created f o r the purpose o f elections,and then abandoned t ot h e i r fate afterwards,with neither endowment nor guarantee of survival.But from the d a i l y and often f r u s t r a t i n g tug-of-war between proposals and resources,ideas and means,w e can reach the heartening conclusion that, while demand continues t oo u t s t r i p supply,supply j u s ta s surely shapes and promotes demand.There are many museum staff who,though lacking the qualificationsprovided i n theory by specialized academic training,have made a v i r t u e out of necessity and have come up with the r i g h t solutions t o a fair number o f the shortcomingshighlighted by M s Leon. Maria-XosFemandez Cervifio Santiago de Compostela (Spain)

multidisciplinarity, which i s the best antidote t o the museologicalcatechism M s Leon decries.W e quite agree t h a t museums need t o be more open-minded than they generally a r e today,and open t h e i r doors t o people from a broad range of professions,f o r whom museums are, t o use a cherished ethnological expression,above a l l a special environment i n which various s k i l l s are brought i n t o play.By the very nature of t h e i r public-servicefunction,museums require a strong commitment t o quality and observance of an e t h i c a l code. Indeed, ethical values should be the irreducible common denominator f o ra l l participants a c t i v ei n and f o r museums. In large measure,such a code has yet t o be elaborated, alongside the existing code of professional ethics.
I n the various museum professions a distinctioncan be drawn between those who possess p a r t i c u l a r types of knowledge and those who possess p a r t i c u l a r types of s k i l l s .This admittedly a r t i f i c i a l division neverthelessenables us t oi d e n t i f y two categories of professionals.
l l the s p e c i a l i s t si n The f i r s t includes a various disciplines,such as historians,art historians,anthropologists, and most s c i e n t i s t s at natural h i s t o r y and science museums.W e should note t h a t it i s rare t o see these specialists, a l l expert i nt h e i r own fields, but a l l too often isolated from one another,working together on a single project.The combination of a l l these types o f expertise remains an ambitious,but tremendously promising objective,which could help t o establish at r u l yi n t e r a c t i v e dialogue with the public.Experts with special s k i l l s include architects,scenographers, acousticians, l i g h t i n g technicians and various other s p e c i a l i s t swho e i t h e r are already or w i l l soon be well integrated i n the museum environment.

Aurora Leonsopen letter on museology compels our attention.In it she c a l l s into question t h e museum paradigm and i t s exclusive predication on collecting and conservation and i n so doing brings a breath of fresh air t o the multifarious disciplines and habits of our museum professions.By attacking the tenacious virus o f officialdom, and the many examples o f malfunctioning i n our museums,she addresses fundamental concerns,whose v a l i d i t y ,I feel,extends well beyond Spain.Both her thoughts and her anger would be a good startingpoint f o r the manifesto i n which w e should c o l l e c t i v e l y outline a museology t h a t would shake the established museum paradigm up a l i t t l eb i t .

I t seems t ome t h a t there are two avenues t h a t w e need t o explore f o r the future of museums.The f i r s ti st h a t of
O UNESCO 1395

W e might do well t oe n l i s t the assistance o f an even wider range o f creative professionals,such as t h e a t r i c a l personnel stage-designers, stage-

i)

63

L e t t e r s

managers,producers,and even musicians and dancers -who would remind us t h a t a museum i s first of a l la temple of the muses.There have indeed been some experimentsalong these lines.However,w e s t i l l need t o consider the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of such in-house encountersseriously if w e are t o go beyond the mere social event. The second avenue t o be explored i s more concerned with the management of museums.While not wishing t o break the spell of the museum,I feel w e should be more strategy-oriented, and endeavour t o outline a strategic design for each and every museum. In todaysworld,with its complex and demanding contours,w e have no r i g h t t o seek t o escape our own environment.Strategic museology,f o r me, thus consists i n involving museums i n a context of action within a given system.Museums thus acquire the dual role of figures of authority and active participants.A museological strategy provides a museum with management guidelines by mobilizing a l l of its material and human resources t oa t t a i ni t s objectives.Where there is a broad,yet specific objective,such as the education of a country or a region, museology i s often unavowedly strategic without admitting it, since i n such cases the global resources are i n fact made available i n order t o achieve t h a t goal.However,most of the attitudes required need t o be acquired collectively, f o r all, rather than j u s t some of the energies t o be

sad i f f i c u l t task,t o mobilized.This i be carried out with attention t o detail over a period of time.

So where do museologists fit i n here?I see museologists a s these new type of professionals straddling several disciplines.While not omniscient,they are aware of the complex nature of the world and are capable o f action-orientec analysis.Their r o l ei nt h e i r museum m a j be t h a t of the theoretician who can shec l i g h t on complex cultural and symbolic systems.O r they may function as managers,suggesting a c t i v i t i e sinvolving a large number of participants and aimed at achieving specific results.Eithe way,museologists embody a new approach t o museums.I cannot help comparing t h i s new professional approach t ot h a t of designers i n industq who are at once the inventors and the agents of change,acting on culture before structure.They have a new way of seeing the world,and indeed of changing attitudes.
n Like Aurora Leon,I too believe i museology. Bernard Bachmai Delegate for Regional Actio] C i t des Sciences e t de 1Industri P a r i s (France

Correspondence

Questions concerning e d i t o r i a l matters: The Editor, Museirrn International, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP (France). Tel:(33.1)45.68.43.39 Fax: (33.1) 42.73.04.01
n-luseumIwternntional(English edition) i s published four

times a year i n January,March,June and September by 0 8 Cowley Road,Oxford,OX4 1JF Blackwell Publishers,1 (UR) and 258 Main Street,Cambridge,M A 07142 (USA).

INFORMATIONFORSLIBSCRIBEKS: N e w ordersand sample otlieJournalsMarketing copyrequestsshouldheaddressed t o Manager a t the publishersaddress above (or by email t jnlsamplesOBlackwellPul~lisliers.co.uk quoting the name of the journal). Renewals, claims and a l l other correspondence relating t o subscriptions should be Marston addressedt o theJournalsSubscriptionsDeprtment. Box 87,Oxford,OX2 ODT. Cheques Book Services,P.O. l l should be made payable t o Blackwell Publishers Ltd.A subscriptions aresupplied on a calendaryear basis (January t o December).

Subscription rates for 1995

I n s t i t u t i o n s Individuals I n s t i t u t i o n si nt h e developing world Individualsi n the developing world Sinzle issues: I n s t i t u t i o n s Individuals

EUR ROW NA 650.00 650.00 $79.50 626.50 626.50 $39.50

$38

$33.00 615.00 615.00 $24.00 $8.00 $8.00 $12.00

Rack issues: Queries relating t o back issues should be addressed LO the Customer Service Department,Marston Box 87, Oxford,OX2 ODT ( U R ) . Book Services,P.O. Microform:The journali s available onmicrofilm (16mm o r 35 mm) or 105 mm microfiche From the SerialsAcquisitions Department,University Microfilms Inc.,300 North Zeeb I 48106 (USA). Road,Ann Arbor,M US mailing: Second-class postage paid a t Rahway, N e w Jersey. Postmaster: send address corrections [O Ifzlserrni Iiitenzntionai, c/o Mercury AirfreightInternationlLtd Inc., 2323 E-F Randolph Avenue,Avenel,NJ 07001 (USA) (US mailing agent). Advertising: For details contact Pamela Courtney, Albert House,Monnington on Wye, Hereford,HR4 7NL ( U K ) . Tel: (09817) 344. COPYRIGHT:A l l rights reserved. Apartfromf a i rdealing for r criticism or the purposes of research or private study,o review,as permitted under the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988, no part OF this publicaiion may be n any form or by any reproduced,stored or transmitted i means without the prior permission i n writing of the o ri n accordancewith the terms ofphotocopying Publisher, licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, the Copyrigbit Clearance Center, and other organisations authoriskd by the Publisher t o administer reprographic reproduction rights.
Copies oFarticlesthat have appeared i nt h i s journal can be

Museum Iiaternntiomlwelcomes l e t t e r s from readers on any subject of i n t e r e s tt o museum professionals.

obtained from the Institute for Scientific Information,( A t t . 3501 MarketStreet, Philadelphia, ofPublicationProcessind, PA 19104 (USA). Printed and hound i n GreatBritain by Headley BrothersLtd. Kent.Printed on acid-freepaper.

64

0 UNESCO 1995