17 May
2005
17 May
'05
1:50 a.m.
On Mon, 16 May 2005 22:46:11 +0200, Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org>
wrote:
...
So you can be a mixture of all the above :) but the main point, for me,
is that a collector presents and displays his collection, and keeps it
accessible... whereas a packrat hoardes, doesn't always know what he
has, and can't get to everything in his possession.
This are good points. I am a packrat myself, without having any
inheritance to blame it on.
I have a small collection of old cameras, all of which can (or at least
could, if I made film to fit them) be used.
I have a large collection of books, a private library that I use and enjoy.
I have a basement full of computer parts and sundry electronics which I
grabbed because they were available, with some dim future plan to do
something with.
I also have a number of personal computers of differing vintages ut to the
newest, which I use and keep working past their normal lifespan. I think
that is actually the important part - museum people say that the critical
time when things are lost to posterity is just after they are no longer
new and fashionable, but before they are old and interesting. I think my
1978 Iwatsu oscilloscope fits in that group - I still use it, but not very
much, and it is old-fashioned and all analogue.
However, I do not think most collectors are presenting their collections.
They will often display it, but only privately.
And even if a collection is open to the public, it is not necessarily a
museum. A museum also works systematically on preservation and research,
and publishes results.
Then we have the archive and the library. They are much akin.
A library collects what many desire temporary access to, either for
research, self-education or pleasure. Libraries are accessible to the
public or a defined subset of the public. If the subset is the owner and
possibly some close friends, it is a private library.
An archive collects everything within its scope, usually only one copy,
sometimes one for strict preservation and one for use by researchers.
Archives are usually only accessible to what the archive sees as
researchers. That, of course, may range from an auditor who wants to check
on a receipt from 1992 in a company archive to a scolar looking for the
first mention of freemasons in the archives of the Vatican Library. It is
unlikely that the same person would be granted access to both
archives<vbg>.
The main property af an archive as well as of a museum is continuity. They
must exist independent of their curator, and need a way to ensure that.
They should probably be legally made into some form of self-owning entity.
Different countries will have different rules and options for that, but it
will often give the collector a tax break as well as saving his family
lots of trouble in case he should succumb to an unexpected illness or
accident.
--
-bv