29 Aug
2024
29 Aug
'24
2:24 p.m.
On Aug 29, 2024, at 9:44 AM, Bill Gunshannon via
cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
On 8/29/2024 8:11 AM, cz via cctalk wrote:
And let's not forget libraries. I donated a book (Theological
Subject, another of my degree concentrations not computer related)
to the University library where I worked. It lasted about 5 years before it was no
longer on the shelf or in the card catalog.
Indeed, the risk with these organizations isn't merely outside pillagers, but inside
jobs. If you donate something, the museum will do with it what they want, including
throwing it away if they feel like it. And if you have contractual restrictions in place,
it's anyone's guess whether any court will enforce those. Precedent (in the USA
at least) suggests that courts can be swayed by snow jobs from museums to set aside the
plain English wording of donor terms.
A loan is a whole lot safer, though even then you have to worry about damage to the item.
I know of a case where a classic computer was lent to a museum and came back after the
museum canceled the loan, with one of its core modules missing. By curious coincidence, a
core module exactly like that one appeared as a separate item "from an anonymous
donor" in the museum's collection around that time.
paul
Unfortunately, museums are no longer a safe place for donated and rare artifacts. Paul
Allen's heirs just want to keep their $17 billion for themselves.
Never have
been. If there is one thing in life I have learned it's that the purpose of a museum
is not to preserve history.
The purpose of a museum is to destroy history.