[ARC5] New Homes for Old Warriors

[David Stinson]

Very interesting viewpoints and experiences in
this thread.  
Museums:  There are some excellent and committed
efforts- Ben's is an example.  They require large
infusions of time and funding to survive.  They
are subject to limitations of space and labor.
Even the noblest effort cannot hope to accept and
display every worthy item.  Ben would need to
clone himself and his buildings twice over just to
make a start.

Many museums are run as a business; adequate
funding has priority over artifact preservation.
In fairness, they really have no choice.  Today,
museums of all kinds are under existential threat
due to waning interest.  We should also be mindful
that, to the staff of a museum, the preservation
of the museum as a viable institution has higher
priority than the preservation of any specific
artifact.  In their view, a donated item is an
asset of the museum and one must often convert
assets to cash if one would "keep the lights on."
They're caught between the desire to display and
explain, and the need to continue to exist.
Abraham Lincoln's Presidential Library has
recently been forced to offer the stove-pipe hat
and blood-spattered gloves he wore when
assassinated in order to service financial
obligations.    

"Crooked" museum operations exist, but they're
rare. My concern with "legit" museums is not that
they might do something illicit, but that, with
the best intentions, the item will go into storage
and stay there until Judgment Day, as happens to
WWII radio equipment donated to the National Air
and Space Museum, IF they decide to accept a
donation at all.  Unless they have an aircraft to
restore which needs that specific piece (rare
occasion), the items are going to sit in wooden
crates forever.  They effectively cease to exist.

When the time comes for us to relinquish our role
as caretaker of the treasures, each of us must
decide his priorities.  Some people don't care a
bit; they're "finished playing with the toys" and
aren't concerned with what happens after they are
gone.  Others want their name on a donation card
in a museum (which is no more immortal than were
they), even if it means the item is never seen
again.  There are as many answers as there are
caretakers.  I do not judge the motives and
priorities of others in this matter, though I
might often wish for a different decision.  For
myself, my priorities would be first to donate to
a legitimate Mil-Aircraft or Mil-Vehicle
preservation group with a proven record of
respecting the technology that made their vehicles
possible.  Next, to a responsible private
collector with at least some passion for the items
(this can mean breaking-up and selling the parts
of complete stations in order to help the maximum
number of collectors complete their sets), then to
a legitimate museum with a record of respect for
the items.  For those items not desired which "you
can't give away," toss it to youngsters to do what
we all did- tear it up and learn.  The last resort
for unwanted "bits and pieces" is the recycle bin,
where their elements might yet find a good purpose
without the environmental impact and waste of the
landfill.

Ken- re: Your bagpipes and Glenn, your rifle:
Please consider selling the items to a private
collector.  As long as they are in responsible,
private hands of someone with passion for them,
there are possibilities; they may yet spark and
inspire passion in the next caretaker, and thus
continue for many more years.  "Buried with you"
is lost forever, and that would be tragic.


TNX OM ES 73 DE Dave AB5S

"Telling the truth won't get you many friends.
 But it will get you the right ones."
                John Lennon