Week IX

It has been interesting to go over the readings involving heritage and cultural policies. It is rather intriguing to over the issues which deal with particular pieces of the collection which come from different countries and to have to decide what to do when they re being requested to be returned to the country where they came from originally. This is seen to be a big issue, like the Parthenon marbles which the Greeks are requesting to have returned to them. This is still going on, even though the British Museum believes that the Greeks cannot take care of these pieces correctly. It was also interesting to listen to Heather talk about some of the African pieces in the Denver Art Museum where some of the pieces should be returned except the countries where the pieces came from could not take care of them properly. With all of these problems which are going on, this is why there is so much work to be done in creating good exhibits with the pieces which are there to put them in good historical context so they can be learning experiences for the patrons which come in and visit the exhibits. After reading a blog for my archivist class, it was interesting to see all of the different people who work together to bring about good quality cultural policy, including archivists, curators, and historians. Working with all of these people can make sure that there is a clear voice among the different collections.
It was interesting to listen to two different speakers this week, Andine Henning and Alison and Kelly at the Molly Brown House. With Andine, it was interesting to listen to what she told us about her job and what she does as a liaison between the headquarters and the United States. It was also interesting to listen to what the company does in injecting plastic into dead people after removing the fat and the blood out of them. As well listening to the facts which she gave out with the number of people who are on the list to donate their bodies and also the information which has been gathered through the showing of these bodies.
Also, listening to Kelly and Alison talk about the work they do at the small museum, the cleaning of the facility and the cleaning of the bird poop. It was enlightening to see all the work which goes into making a museum a good place to be. Also, how they work to create new exhibits which will bring people in, and also writing for the internal scholarly journal which gets sent out. It was interesting to learn about the programs which they have organized to go out to schools around the area and also the amount of original materials which is being brought into the museum.