Selection for preservation

Nina Duggen <nina.duggen [at] icn__nl> writes

>I would like to put this before you: Is it necessary for everything
>that was made in the past and is still in existence today to be
>preserved forever? Are time and deterioration the only criteria for
>assessment, or do we have the right, or even the obligation, to
>choose what is to be preserved for posterity?

It seems to me that these sorts of decisions usually are made by
curatorial and administrative staff, and if the institution is a
public one, to varying degrees, in consensus with the public and or
their representatives.

George Leake
Conservation Department, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
University of Texas at Austin

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:82
                 Distributed: Thursday, April 22, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-12-82-014
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