Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ariel · 27th May 2005, 06:31 PM

I agree with Michal.
Museums and private collectors fulfill the same role and have certain advantages and disadvantages.
1. Private collectors are (ideally) dedicated amateurs with passion for deep research into a specific area.
Disadvantages: most are not wealthy and cannot acquire the best examples; most are working people and have only limited time on their hands; most do not have professional background and cannot assure proper storage; most cannot offer professional protection (anti theft and anti-damage by the elements); most cannot publish and disseminate their knowledge; most do not assure perpetuity of the collection (my son will sell or give away my swords 15 minutes after I am dead), most do not belong to an established network of mutual loans, visits, access etc
2. Museums, on the other hand, even the "below the average" of them, have better resources, institutional memory and can hire professional people as curators of a specific field (Impressionists, Mayan sculpture, political cartoons of Central Africa, and - yes! - South Indian swords). I would completely disagree with the notion that a dedicated private collector is in any way superior to the dedicated, trained, museum-appointed curator of a particular field.
I also am willing to bet that far, far more valuable swords were destroyed by irresponsible, lazy,well meaning but ignorant or just too poor collectors than by all the small-time museums in the world. We just do not know about them and can see only pitiful pics of the damaged museum objects. It's a "man bites dog" story all over again.

The bottom line, both models of historical preservation and research are , ideally, valuable and complementing each other. Let's not forget that both were in existence for hundreds of years . Where would Rawson, Elgood, Stone, Blair, Tarassuk, Astvatsaturyan, van Zonneveld and all the other authors of the books on which we are relying in our amateurish hobbies get their materials if not for the museums?

27th May 2005, 06:31 PM	#27
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	I agree with Michal. Museums and private collectors fulfill the same role and have certain advantages and disadvantages. 1. Private collectors are (ideally) dedicated amateurs with passion for deep research into a specific area. Disadvantages: most are not wealthy and cannot acquire the best examples; most are working people and have only limited time on their hands; most do not have professional background and cannot assure proper storage; most cannot offer professional protection (anti theft and anti-damage by the elements); most cannot publish and disseminate their knowledge; most do not assure perpetuity of the collection (my son will sell or give away my swords 15 minutes after I am dead), most do not belong to an established network of mutual loans, visits, access etc 2. Museums, on the other hand, even the "below the average" of them, have better resources, institutional memory and can hire professional people as curators of a specific field (Impressionists, Mayan sculpture, political cartoons of Central Africa, and - yes! - South Indian swords). I would completely disagree with the notion that a dedicated private collector is in any way superior to the dedicated, trained, museum-appointed curator of a particular field. I also am willing to bet that far, far more valuable swords were destroyed by irresponsible, lazy,well meaning but ignorant or just too poor collectors than by all the small-time museums in the world. We just do not know about them and can see only pitiful pics of the damaged museum objects. It's a "man bites dog" story all over again. The bottom line, both models of historical preservation and research are , ideally, valuable and complementing each other. Let's not forget that both were in existence for hundreds of years . Where would Rawson, Elgood, Stone, Blair, Tarassuk, Astvatsaturyan, van Zonneveld and all the other authors of the books on which we are relying in our amateurish hobbies get their materials if not for the museums?