The strength of a museum’s delivery and its message relies heavily on what they are displaying. Human culture and artifacts are largely diverse and spread across many mediums; with specialized museums branching out, it is our duty to ensure each piece finds its appropriate home. Museums have the right to be selective as to what they accession. The Florida Museum of Natural History’s Collection Policy states its purpose as follows, '...collect and maintain a depository of biological, archaeological, and ethnographic specimens and materials in sufficient numbers and quantities to provide within the state and region a base for research on the variety, evolution, and conservation of wild species; the composition, distribution, importance, and functioning of natural ecosystems; and the distribution of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites and an understanding of the aboriginal and early European cultures that occupied them.' In the folder, three images were attached: a statue, a readymade, and a fossil. With this in mind, I feel as though two out of three of the given objects should be accessioned.
For starters, the first object, a statue of Apollo, one of the Olympian deities, I believe should continue to be accessioned. As recognized by Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo represents the god of archery, music, truth, and medicine. Classical Greek and Roman history objects would make a great fit for the FLMNH. According to the Collections Policy, this deems acceptable for accession since it fits the criteria for educational value in understanding European culture.
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This leads me to my next point, why I chose to deaccession the object in image two. Image number two is Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. The piece is a readymade urinal that was tagged by Duchamp. Although the piece speaks volumes about this time and the art developments occurring in this period, I feel it doesn’t correlate to the mission of FLNMH. This piece would be better suited in a contemporary art museum or a space where it would be more appreciated and recognized for its power.
Lastly, I believe the final image should also be accessioned. In the final image, you can see what appears to be a dinosaur fossil. By obtaining this piece the museum would be abiding by its first priority for acquisition stating, “To strengthen collection areas in which the Museum has a current specialization and recognized historical interest, especially when these areas are threatened irreversibly by human activities.” The fossil not only provides educational value to the public but allows the museum to expand its horizons on our natural history based on prehistoric findings. It will allow for potential research and examination of evolution.
In summation, objects shown in images one and three should be accessioned while image two should be deaccessioned. Based on the museum's mission of understanding and preserving our history and heritage, these chosen pieces would benefit the Florida Museum of Natural History while object two would potentially benefit more in a different museum.
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