What to collect? Who has the authority to collect? Should there be collaboration among collectors? What determines a successful collection? These and other issues were the subject of “Choices & Challenges: Collecting by Museums and Archives,” the first national symposium on collecting for curators and archivists. This symposium took place at The Henry Ford on November 1-3, 2002, with support from the Americana Foundation.

Introduction

What to collect? Who has the authority to collect? Should there be collaboration among collectors? What determines a successful collection? There and other issues were the subject of “Choices & Challenges: Collecting by Museums and Archives,” the first national symposium on collecting for curators and archivists. This symposium took place at The Henry Ford on November 1-3, 2002, with support from the Americana Foundation.

One goal of the symposium was to encourage dialogue between the sibling professions of archivists and museum curators who often share similar concerns but different perspectives. Thus, each session included museum curators and archivists, either as speakers, respondents, or panel discussants.

The symposium sessions included: “The Many Meanings of Objects by Elaine Heumann Gurian,” “Archival Appraisal Alchemy” by Richard Cox, “Collecting Stories, Creating Meaning: Community-based Collecting in the 21st Century” by Barbara Franco, “Who Owns the Past?,” a panel discussion, and summaries and reflections on the presentations by John Fleckner and Christopher Bensch. Audience participation and ongoing conversations throughout the weekend raised further provocative questions and thoughtful comments. A full listing of the speakers and respondents is included with this publication.

Although we cannot replicate the informal dialogue of the symposium, we hope that you, as readers of these papers, will find them as valuable as those who were privileged to hear them in person.

Our intention is to make this symposium the first in a series of national conversations on collecting for museum and archives.

Our deepest thanks to the Americana Foundation for making possible both the symposium and the electronic publication of the papers.

Judith E. Endelman
Director, Historical Resources and Chief Curator