[Rockhounds] The Vaux collection at the Academy of Science inPhily

[Andrew Turner]

I absolutely agree.  I know I wrote on this subject awhile back (either this 
list or another).  I have seen this happen to museums far too many times.  
The natural history museum in St. Louis got rid of all it's minerals (many 
are now decomposing in a cave being used as a storage unit) in order to 
become more "kid friendly".  Now the museum is horrible and filled with 
"interactive" exhibits that don't work and don't really have any educational 
value.  The museum is basically bankrupt.  I have visited other similar 
museums just like this, including the American Museum of Nat. History where 
they were adding more "interactive" exhibits.

Here are perfect examples of why this new type of thinking makes no sense 
and is total garbage:

--The Smithsonian Nat. History Museum is by far the most visited museum in 
the country.  The most visited part of this museum is the hall of gems and 
minerals.

--The Harvard museum is so well known in most part because of it's 
tremendous mineral collection

--The LA County Museum of Nat. History (of which I am a member) has a 
fantastic collection and is the highlight of the museum.  The hall of 
minerals is always busy, but the animal diorama areas are typically fairly 
empty.  The gem and mineral council at the museum is probably the most well 
known group of its kind in the country.

Oh well, eventually the powers that be will figure it out when the museum 
buildings sell to the highest bidder and the plastic interactive displays 
get thrown into the landfill.

Andrew Turner
Victorville, CA

>From: "Erich Kern" <efkern at earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem 
>collectors"<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
>To: "Rockhounds" <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>,        "DonH" 
><donhalterman at verizon.net>
>Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] The Vaux collection at the Academy of Science 
>inPhily
>Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2007 10:50:37 -0700
>
>
>Great post Don.
>
>Yes, there are lots of us who are sick and tired of the enormous space and 
>financial resources commited to stuffed animals and dioramas. We even have 
>this phenomena in our tiny club museum which also contains several truly 
>great San Diego county tourmalines. Our club is www.fgms.org at the north 
>end of San Diego county.
>
>Unfortunately, being entertained has trumped being enlightened. It's "for 
>the children" y' know.
>
>Cheers,
>Erich Kern
>Murrieta, Calif.
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: DonH
>To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
>Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 8:18 AM
>Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] The Vaux collection at the Academy of Science 
>inPhily
>
>
>Jim Daly wrote:
>
> > There's the crux of the matter. The Academy should never have accepted a 
>bequest with such a restrictive stipulation.
>
>
>Such things were common in older days, when museums were building their
>holdings and also when they considered themselves repositories of
>knowledge rather than centers of entertainment and make-believe Jurassic
>park dinosaurs.  The idea of something being "in perpetuity," of being
>enduring for generations, was a noble one.  In response to what Tim J.
>said as well, it is the museum's job to use their trust fund to fulfill
>their obligations.  The geology collection was a centerpiece of their
>collection, something seen by thousands of school children every year on
>class trips and by thousands of walk-in visitors.  Along the way someone
>lost sight of the purpose and value of that collection.  Yet they still
>have hall upon hall of stuffed animals in dioramas--in my view, could
>anything be more outdated and space-consuming?
>
>As I wrote to someone off-list, minerals and geology will become very
>important in the next few decades as emerging economies compete for
>scarce resources and mining in the U.S. becomes cool again.  If Sierra
>Club members want to continue driving their SUVs and once people realize
>that producing ethanol consumes more fossil fuel than it saves, we need
>to explore for resources right here.  That goes for metals as well as
>oil.  Nowadays, most kids get their knowledge of geology from the
>Discovery Channel--we call them the "Discovery Channel generation"--and
>the bulk of them want to be seismologists or volcanologists when they
>start.  When I talk about mining and minerals, they look at me like I'm
>from another planet and wonder what that has to do with geology!  Maybe
>if they had access to a museum with well-planned displays they would
>understand.
>
>
>Don
>
>
>--
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