I think saying someone returned the notebooks is a common misconception. It's just that notebooks sometimes get returned and when they do, we hear about that in the news. Notebooks don't get returned all the time, and you just don't hear about it.
Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
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Re: Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
#42My mums incomplete thesis in the 70s required access to some letters and she had manuscript hand written notes from John Ruskin amongst others (iron and gall ink destroys paper. The words etch out black rimmed ghosts). We returned them to the library after she died in the 90s. This happens without any conscious effort if you file by the volcano method and she had at least two part-time jobs on the go to her dying day…
> if you file by the volcano method Is this an organizational methodology?
i think it refers to a disorganized "whatever you worked on last is on top of the pile" methodology.
Re: Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
#43The resolution here: Librarian: Happy Easter X feels eerily similar to an ending from a National Treasure / Tomb Raider movie. In fact, I think we can go ahead and assume that some globe-trotting high jinx occurred. Maybe there was a map to the actual Tree of Life?
It will turn out this is a viral marketing campaign for some upcoming action move!
You'd be excited about that?!
Re: Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
#44My mums incomplete thesis in the 70s required access to some letters and she had manuscript hand written notes from John Ruskin amongst others (iron and gall ink destroys paper. The words etch out black rimmed ghosts). We returned them to the library after she died in the 90s. This happens without any conscious effort if you file by the volcano method and she had at least two part-time jobs on the go to her dying day…
> if you file by the volcano method Is this an organizational methodology?
It's a joke as disorganized people like me tend to have piles of crap that form chronological geologic strata of paper and projects.
Re: Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, my best guess is that this is something similar - past academic or librarian decided to take them home for reasons known only to them, and after their death, their embarrassed children, fortunately realising their importance, anonymously returned them. I’ve witnessed similar - elderly neighbour had a set of drawings by Wren that he’d sneak out to show you, but was evasive about their provenance. Turns out the o…
> the museum never even knew they’d had them to go missing This is increasingly a problem for museums and libraries all over the world. They keep accreting material but their exhibit space is often shrinking, or badly maintained. Security is mostly an afterthought, ungodly amounts of precious artefacts disappear without people realizing for years. This is particularly bad in Europe, where museums are centuries old at…
Do you have any sources for your claims?
Because, having worked in this space for many year, your statements could be read as a generalization, whereas things are far more nuanced, context-dependent and in many cases quite the opposite from what you're saying here.
It's true that heritage institutions face challenges. But that's true for any field endeavor. Moreover, this field is very much aware of the challenges regarding acquisition, preservation, curation, accessibility, exhibiting, loans, security, indemnity, knowledge sharing, restoration, registration, cataloguing, etc. etc. The logistics are well understood and the expertise is there.
Often enough, a big issue is funding in order to invest in adequate staff and staffing.
Frankly, the perception of the "stuffy, old, badly managed" institute that your comment perpetuates here is harmful in that regard. The core mission of the heritage industry is to serve as a collective memory for local, regional and national communities. Heritage serves as the ground in which collective identities are rooted. The vast majority of experts are well aware of the importance of their work regarding the public's historic awareness.
However, in order to be able to sustain that mission, support from policy makers and other backers is sorely needed. Dismissing the challenges heritage institutions as a result of their own perceived ineptness achieves the exact opposite: the preservation of heritage and the remembrance of the past for future generations only getting a low priority, and therefor not receiving the funding it needs.
While technology assists the heritage industry greatly, integration in these complex institutions which house tens thousands - in many cases hundreds of thousands - of fragile and brittle objects, specimens and items is far from trivial and often spans multiple years of hard labor.
The Cambridge University Library, in this case, dates back to the early 15h century and contains approximately 9 million items. That's a reflection of how long the library exists, as well as a reflection of the sum of knowledge it has accrued over centuries, and how it serves a memory institution. Sustaining such a setting implies developing a vision which surpasses the lifespan of its own employees.
In that regard, linking artifacts with RFID tags, sounds like a nice idea, but isn't something one simply does, assuming it as a definitive solution regarding security or preservation.
Re: Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
#46I think saying someone returned the notebooks is a common misconception. It's just that notebooks sometimes get returned and when they do, we hear about that in the news. Notebooks don't get returned all the time, and you just don't hear about it.
Yes, and this is why it is news. Someone returned them although the expectation was nobody would. Maybe I'm missing something from your comment...
Re: Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
What else should we call them? All we know right now is that someone returned them. We don't know if that's the same person who stole them. Personally I am hoping for someone to come forth with a story. At that point we can re-evaluate the use of "benefactor."
> What else should we call them? a person who returned stolen items.
Too wordy for the headline. You're fired. Next!
Re: Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the museum never even knew they’d had them to go missing This is increasingly a problem for museums and libraries all over the world. They keep accreting material but their exhibit space is often shrinking, or badly maintained. Security is mostly an afterthought, ungodly amounts of precious artefacts disappear without people realizing for years. This is particularly bad in Europe, where museums are centuries old at…
Do you have any sources for your claims? Because, having worked in this space for many year, your statements could be read as a generalization, whereas things are far more nuanced, context-dependent and in many cases quite the opposite from what you're saying here. It's true that heritage institutions face challenges. But that's true for any field endeavor. Moreover, this field is very much aware of the challenges re…
We often read of archives/museums dealing with past time decisions on restoration. Attaching an RFID tag in any way shrieks of "oh, we didn't realise the adhesive did that after 50 years" problems. (which I think is contained in your last point)
Re: Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
#49My mums incomplete thesis in the 70s required access to some letters and she had manuscript hand written notes from John Ruskin amongst others (iron and gall ink destroys paper. The words etch out black rimmed ghosts). We returned them to the library after she died in the 90s. This happens without any conscious effort if you file by the volcano method and she had at least two part-time jobs on the go to her dying day…
> if you file by the volcano method Is this an organizational methodology?
I am stunned by the lack of good google matches to what I assumed was a well understood academic humour reference. My entire belief in the universality of experience is crashing down.
Re: Mysterious benefactor returns Charles Darwin’s missing notebooks after 20 years
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have any sources for your claims? Because, having worked in this space for many year, your statements could be read as a generalization, whereas things are far more nuanced, context-dependent and in many cases quite the opposite from what you're saying here. It's true that heritage institutions face challenges. But that's true for any field endeavor. Moreover, this field is very much aware of the challenges re…
We often read of archives/museums dealing with past time decisions on restoration. Attaching an RFID tag in any way shrieks of "oh, we didn't realise the adhesive did that after 50 years" problems. (which I think is contained in your last point)
Exactly.
Also, the OP refers to the Mona Lisa as an example.
Ironically, the Mona Lisa gained global fame because of its theft from the Louvre in 1911 by Vincenzo Peruggia: the very man who had helped construct the panel's glass casing.
As a patriot, Peruggia believed that the panel belonged to an Italian museum. After two years of hiding the painting in his apartment, he grew impatient. He got caught trying to sell it of to the director of the Uffizi in Florence. The Mona Lisa returned to Paris in 1914.
Given the longevity of heritage institutions, theft or objects going missing is never a question of "if it will happen", but "when it will happen". Even with the best of systems in place, you can't rule out human error, or intentions.
Finally, deaccessioning is a vital part of policies. Museums do auction off objects for various reasons e.g. because they are duplicative or not relevant or complementary anymore to the mission of the museum and its collection.
... and in some cases, they are forced to sell of objects in order to cover the bills. The Pandemic has added such pressures to many institutions, including the Met:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/arts/design/deaccession-m...