Category Archives: collections

Museums Seek Clarity, Face Challenges to Budgets and Relevance

Posted on September 3, 2013 by

Lately I’ve been taking advantage of the comp museum admission perk through my employment with New-York Historical Society.  I’ve saved a pretty good amount of cash at some of New York’s premier cultural institutions ($25, MoMA; $20, Frick Collection; $22, … Continue reading →

Posted in authenticity, collections, culture, exhibition, museums, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Frames Upon Frames At Collector’s Showroom

Posted on August 15, 2013 by

Today I went to Diego Salazar Antique Frames in Long Island City, New York.  It’s a place well known in the frame game (Merkelson 2013), but I surprisingly found it hidden among steel-doored warehouses just south of Queens Boulevard.  Having … Continue reading →

Posted in authenticity, collections, Diego Salazar, exhibition, framing, Francisco Goya, galleries, New York Times, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A "New" Bridge Between Collectors and Museums

Posted on June 3, 2013 by

Exhibition labels are often overlooked and underused.  We ignore these small, strategically positioned placards for any number of reasons.  “It’s too long to bother reading”; “It doesn’t say anything I’m interested in”; “It’s written in a funny language” — we all … Continue reading →

Posted in collections, exhibition, heritage, museums, Vastari | Leave a comment

What is a collection, and what is collecting?

Posted on January 14, 2011 by

As a child I had all sorts of collections: stamps, keychains, milk caps (“pogs”), coins, and ice hockey pucks.  As an adult I still have all sorts of collections: rocks and minerals, photographs, books, and museum maps.  And sure enough, … Continue reading →

Posted in collections, cultural mapping, culture, museums, Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, New York Times, preservation | 1 Comment

Museum Collecting Guide as Cultural Heritage

Posted on June 7, 2010 by

Today I was given a copy of the 1977 Guide to Field Collecting of Ethnographic Specimens, an information leaflet written by the late William C. Sturtevant, Curator of North American Ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History. For a Smithsonian publication, … Continue reading →

Posted in anthropology, collections, culture, museums, Smithsonian, UNESCO | 1 Comment