Neptune Toy Theatre

Harry Campbell <campbell.12 [at] osu__edu> writes

>We have in our Theatre Research collection a 19th century Neptune
>Toy Theatre.  ...

I have worked on theater models--as with many types of objects,
there's always a question of how far to go.  I think that there are
two aspects of exhibition.  One is that the model is supposed to be
an educational tool telling us what the original staging looked
like--even though the model isn't necessarily identical to what's
built. The other is that museum visitors (and staff as well) love
models because they're small and cute.

Both goals would seem to point us in the direction of removing
discolored varnishes, and, in general, cleaning off the dust, and
repairing damages. If the model is dirty-looking, the viewer gets a
confusing message: was the staging meant to depict a dirty decrepit
room or not?

I think sometimes we overdo the idea of historical importance of
changes that occurred after the creation of an object.  It's a good
thing to ask if there is any, but in most cases the answer is no.

Barbara Appelbaum
Appelbaum and Himmelstein
444 Central Park West
New York, NY 10025
212-666-4630
Fax: 212-316-1039


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:39
                 Distributed: Monday, February 25, 2013
                       Message Id: cdl-26-39-002
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