[ARC5] Donating to "Museums" (was "Dance")

[J Forster]

The problem with private collections is they are very vulnerable to
single point failures and the stuff is gone forever.. I saw a huge
collection for free on Craig's list. The kid wanted the stuff outta his
basement NOW after his dad died suddenly to make space for his "band" to
practice.

FWIW,
-John

==============

David Stinson wrote:

> While I've encountered good ones,
> like the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale,
> I've had bad experiences with some of them.
> Museums are not my first choice.
> They will either put your stuff in a box in a warehouse,
> where it will stay, unstudied and unseen until Judgment Day,
> or, after a few years of the above, throw it out during a "clean up"
> or after they fail financially.
>
> Or something worse:
> I won't mention any names or places (these people have free lawyers),
> but a friend of mine was a serious collector and scholar
> of American Civil War items.  He was also an amateur archeologist.
> He would find and dig sites no one else knew,
> carefully documenting everything.  When he passed away,
> his entire collection and documentation were donated
> to what is supposed to be a respected, state college-run "museum."
> All of his documentation- the work of his life- has been lost.
> Almost 50% of the relic collection has disappeared,
> with no accounting of any kind.  "Museum" officials,
> too busy with tuxedoed wine and cheese parties,
> will "look into it."  Uh huh.......
>
> I have the guidance head for a Nike Ajax missile.
> Pretty neat piece of 1960s tech.
> Ya'll may remember me looking for a good place to donate it.
> Three "museums" wanted it; practically slavered over it.
> One was suspect, since it seemed to want anything
> and everything that had an electron in it,
> yet no one had ever heard of  them.
> Two others, both themed for this kind of item,
> spent most of their time telling me the people
> who ran the other museum were a bunch of jerks.
> None of them are going to get it; it's still in storage
> and will stay there until I get the bad taste of
> "gimme gimme" out of my mouth.
> People usually don't appreciate or value
> "give away" stuff anyhow....
>
> Give me an appreciative and responsible
> private collector over a "museum" any day.
> Private collectors have passion for the items
> for which they have become the temporary caretakers.
> For a "museum," it's just business.
>
> 73 Dave S.
>
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