museums depend on people; they don't care for themselves (Rio's fire)

Excerpt from Lesson from Brazil: Museums are not forever

September 5, 2018 12.10pm EDT by U. Colorado-Denver, Chip Colwell

...A museum presents itself as permanent and timeless. It's why so many sport Greek columns, sterile white walls and clean objects under clear glass. The message is that the museum and its treasures should exist beyond the fleeting moment of our visit – connecting past, present and future. Whether displaying dinosaurs or dodos, art or archaeology, the museum is our bank vault for the world's natural wonders and human achievements. The museum aspires to be a fortress against time.

The reality is that time is inexorable and relentless. Museums are locked in a constant struggle against decay and an almost absurdly wide-ranging array of natural and human threats. There's even a formal list of the evil-sounding "agents of deterioration" that museums use to evaluate risks to their collections, ranging from bugs to temperature to water to fire...

Full article, https://theconversation.com/lesson-from-brazil-museums-are-not-forever-102692

Lesson from Brazil: Museums are not forever theconversation.com It's a comforting falsehood that once an artifact joins a museum's collection, it's safe for eternity. Museums face many foes in the fight to preserve – a lack of funds might be the biggest.