History for sale to save history?

[KathyBradford]

Moderators, not sure where this belongs. Please feel free to move it.

The PBS program Find! featured the Franford Historical Society in Philadelphia. Facing financial pressure, they called in the hosts of the show to appraise their collection. They are discussing selling pieces in order to afford to preserve the rest of the collection and to keep their doors open.

They showed original CW pieces including:

6th PA Lancers bummer cap, Army issue, with hat brass and label inside
Bayonet collection, at least 15-20, all identified and propped up on boxes
2 pikes, one with "CSA" and 13 stars and a bridle cutter, labelled
a whole case full of swords - artillery, infantry, cavalry, and presentation
quilts, samplers, and needlework from as early as 1750

How many historical societies are holding incredible artifacts that are languishing in back rooms, in boxes under stairways, and are unknown, even to the staff?
How can their holdings be identified and receive more universal attention?
How can historical societies flourish without having to sell off their artifacts?
How many on this forum have positive experiences volunteering at their local society? Any tips?

Thank you,

[Marc]

Re: History for sale to save history?

How many on this forum have positive experiences volunteering at their local society? Any tips?

Kathy,

I have had just the opposite experience. A few years back we found an orginal GAR Camp flag in a college closet. The SUVCW present owners gave the flag to a local historical society. As I helped on raising money to have the flag conserved etc, we discovered civil war artifacts in brown paper bags at the society. We of course told the society what they had and how to display and protect the objects. The response was thats nice, but we are more interested in ancestorial roots. We fought hard and they allowed us to build a nice display case and label the artifacts correctly.

You are correct in that some do not know what they have, while others are just the opposite.

[Bill Cross]

Organizations are made up of individuals

Marc,

It's a very hot topic now: de-acquisition. Museums have more stuff than they can display, but often their budgets and contributions are shrinking, so they're looking for ways to improve their collections and reduce storage costs. The result is items being quietly unloaded (sometimes, as in the Barnes Collection in Philly, they want to move the whole thing somewhere different). The end can be on the antiquities market or in auction houses, at other times the items are traded among museums. The Great Schism Historical Society has something your curator wants, and you have something they need but don't ever display. This can be a good thing, as a collection that's strong in one area can get stronger from one whose odds and ends don't justify being retained. Sometimes, as in the Meade House in Philly, it just means the end of the collection.

The Civil War is fast receding into ancient history, and interest in the artifacts we treasure is waning overall in my opinion. The notion that we can keep and preserve every item is simply not going to be practical, and your experience is probably going to be more and more the case. Recently some documents from the 7th Maine surfaced on eBay, and those of us organizing "Into the Wilderness" briefly toyed with the idea of raising some money to purchase the items and donate them to the Maine archives-- until a sharp pair of eyes noticed the holes punched in the journal pages indicating the items had likely been microfilmed and then sold or thrown out by some historical institution.

Volunteering is still a good idea. It might take some arm-twisting to get those in charge focused on your particular passion, but persistance is good. It also helps if you can get a committee of folks to put gentle pressure on the institution to accept your help and elbow grease.

[DonSmithnotTMD]

Re: History for sale to save history?

I believe my mainstream unit was stopped from doing living histories at the local museum. When I get back from Korea, I'll check and see.

[BillO'Dea]

Re: Organizations are made up of individuals

A recent experience, An elderly man bought a house in our city, which in the attic was found the complete muster rolls of one company of infantry raised here, duplicates that an officer of the regiment brought home with him. Because of this regiments history and there being 4 medal of honor winners the set of papers on for each enlisted, were being sold off singly on e-bay with the MOH men being held to last.
The Agent for the seller would not consider donating it intact or even part of it to our historical society. His client needed a maximum return.
So a unique collection was being broken up.
Cant save every thing
Bill O'Dea

[styler]

Re: History for sale to save history?

Graves of those killed in the war are also a good source of "relics."

The bigger museums should be setting the example on preservation for the small locals and private collectors. Instead they hire folks who learned the trade from Monty Hall.

-steve-
Remember Gordon Gekko?