Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Problems we face as collectors/curators: The last lesson of Bob Pease

The last lesson of Bob Pease, may well be as suggested in the title of the article: "What is this stuff, anyhow?". What's to be done - if anything - with artifacts of technical work and products? Do they have value? What do they mean? Can they inform us, or simply amuse us, or do they just get in the way?

This is why, when giving museum tours, I focus hard on explaining the "so what" instead of technical specifications. Other than storage (how many of these doodads are needed to make one modern memory cards), most of our visitors couldn't care less about speed, memory, or whatever else. They want to know what is this thing and why should I care. If you don't make that point early, then you lose them.