[meteorite-list] A Curator Replies

From: Peter Davidson <P.Davidson_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2009 12:02:08 +0100
Message-ID: <B3AE086B03B2B44D87427A2DF66678AC47415E_at_nmsexch01.nms2k.int>

This is my first posting on this list - please be gentle with me. I have only been on the list a matter of a week or so and I seemed to have walked into a veritable storm. I would like to share my views with you as a curator. Please forgive this rather long mail.

 

Taking a posting from Martin Altmann dated 7th July as my starting point, here goes.

 

I have never heard a law being described as "exotic". Do you mean idiotic?

 

I can in no way speak on behalf of all curators, far less Australian ones. I can only give you my own viewpoint but I do know many curators from Australia, mostly mineralogists, and please believe me when I tell you they are fine people and not the narrow-minded, nationalistic people hinted at in a number of e-mails. I also noted that Martin Altmann stated that everybody on the list was a "lousy layman" which is not only patently untrue but just a little sexist. But I digress.

 

Curators are every bit as dedicated to their collections as private collectors are. We are not faceless bureaucrats (or similar) existing in some Kafkaesque nightmare world hidebound by rules, and seeking to restrict everyone else by creating a spider's web of red tape to trap the unwary. That notion is as ridiculous to me as the presumption that all dealers (minerals or meteorites) are shady and unscrupulous. As a curator at a National Museum, I am obligated by law (yes, I know!) to preserve and protect the collections of the museum and by extension, the nation. I choose to do this. I work in the museum because I want to. Every curator I have met shares with me a love of the specimens that they curate. We also share a passionate believe that it is our duty to bring our collections to the notice and attention of the public, and to make them available to researchers and other curators. Believe me when I tell you that museum curators/conservators are not well paid. We do it for love - well mostly. When I joine
d the museum in 1975, I also had to undertake never to start and build up my own collection. The collections of the museum ARE my collections.

 

I also feel that Martin overstates the influence scientist have at governmental level. Yes, some scientists are asked to advise on certain matters, but in the end it is the politician that decides. My observations of this hated group, politicians that is, leads me to surmise that if some short term political advantage can be gained by appealing to the masses, fed to satedness by a largely right-wing populist press (the tabloids in the UK), then they will always take that course of action, no matter what the consequences are. This very often goes against the advice of scientists/curators and negates many decades of good interaction between the public and private sectors. As I mineralogist, I am painfully aware that the market for display quality specimens has now passed beyond the reach of publicly-funded museums. The meteorite market is no different.

 

Nonetheless, as a curator at a National Museum, and I hope you can understand this point of view, there is a duty to collect for the Nation everything we can in order that we can research, interpret and explain to the people of Scotland, its historical, sociological, artistic and scientific heritage. The question raised by many contributors to the list is: should meteorites fall into that category? Clearly the Australian Government thought so, and so did the UK Government in the 1960's when legislation was introduced to Parliament but never passed into law.

 

We already do our utmost to protect other geological sites. This policy is well intentioned and it can be argued that "fixed" geological outcrops, either mineralogical or palaeontological are a finite resource. If unscrupulous collectors plunder the site and remove all the material, then it is lost forever. Meteorites are different in that they are not "fixed" but are random in the sense that they can fall at any time, in any place. However, from my point of view as a curator, ought I to have the desire to possess in the National Collection, a sample of each of the four Scottish falls? I do have that desire and the fact that the museum doesn't possess all Scottish meteorites leads to a feeling of both consternation and frustration. But it is a situation I accept

 

Why don't you go and collect them yourself I hear you asking. Well, the short answer is - we would love to. We do go on collecting trips, but these are limited by budgetary constraints primarily, but also by the general workload faced by all curators. This is why we have tried to build a network of private collectors across the country that will work with is to the benefit of both parties. But the inescapable fact is that the market in geological specimens has moved onto a level which museums find it difficult to operate in. We rely to a large extent on donations or possibly exchange. Private collectors know that they can sell their specimens on the open market and receive a much better price than a museum can offer.

 

I was heartened to hear that some private collectors and dealers are in favour of a greater collaboration with scientists and museums. All of us who love meteorites need to continue to work closely. We require the raw material to undertake research, and this gets fed back to the public through our publications. Scientists do find new information in old specimens; we would not be scientists if we did not constantly search for new data. But I would just like to finish with this thought. Many young people are familiar with meteorites through the media and the internet, but for many, the only opportunity they get to see and touch them is through museums and their curators. Many indeed of the list members may have been inspired to go and collect by seeing meteorites in a museum.

 

Martin. Please do not take this as a personal attack. I find your e-mails well agued and thoughtful. Indeed it was your email that inspired me to pen this message. I have spoken about this in other lists, in other places. The meteorites will continue to fall, long after we are all gone. There should be enough for everyone.

 

Don't forget us!

 

All donations gratefully accepted.

Peter Davidson
Curator of Minerals
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National Museums Collection Centre
National Museums Scotland
242 West Granton Road
Edinburgh
EH5 1JA
Phone: +44?131 247 4283
p.davidson at nms.ac.uk
www.nms.ac.uk
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Received on Wed 08 Jul 2009 07:02:08 AM PDT