SHOW AND TELL OUR HISTORY
KEEPING AND MAINTAINING OUR MEMORABILIA
In order to remind ourselves of times past and special moments, we often have what we call "keepsakes". Galleries, museums and historical societies maintain collections of items, often donated by individuals who want other people to understand what happened in their lifetime, or at a special moment in time.
This was the reason our speaker, Dr Ashley Robertson, from the Australian Museums and Galleries Association Victoria, so passionately and forcefully emphasised the importance of keeping items related to particular moments in history in a professional manner. Indeed, she reminded us of the national standards, to which organizations with collections needed to comply. The number of objects collected in Victoria is absolutely staggering - forty-four million. Much depends on our understanding of our past based on funds and access to adequate storage facilities. The variety of collections can be located in historical societies, school archives and sports centres.
METHODS USED TO STORE COLLECTIONS
In an age of computers, in order to engage and attract younger people to the stories that people have to tell, digital methods need to be considered. Furthermore, the ability to extract information online is top priority. Scanning objects from a collection ensures that history is open to all those who require a source for a back story about a member of your family, or a house in the street, where your grandparents may have lived.
Learning new methods, the standards to be applied, in implementing the maintenance of the collection - this is all part of the role of AmAAga. Teaching cataloguing, collection management and the specifics of photography is essential in ensuring the maintenance of historical records.
QUESTIONS RAISED
Some of the questions raised issues about the storage of artefacts. Dr Robertson agreed that any object of historical value should be stored in a way which prevents it from degrading unduly. When asked about a highlight, she remembered a more grotesque item, a book bound in human skin. Bob Lambert recalled the leftovers of a nuclear power reactor in Oakridge, California, USA, which did not use water, back in 1965. Stored in a local primary school, the same technology is now being applied in China. In reality, learning from history leads to progress.
FINALLY
The ultimate point of storage and maintenance of objects, is to inform us about people's personal journeys and more importantly, the basis of historical research. Without them, the task would be more difficult.