Nebraska Museum

[Scott L. Gardner]

Dear Taxacom List:

This letter just came in from Mike Mares in Oklahoma.  I think it is
really well done.

Other letters would be appreciated by the administration and the
state.  Addresses at the end of this letter.

Scott Gardner

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To: hperlman at unlnotes.unl.edu

From: M A Mares <mamares at ou.edu>

Subject: Plans to scale back the Nebraska Museum operation

Cc: "Dr. Richard Edwards" <redwards at unlnotes.unl.edu, "
Dr. Prem Paul" <ppaul at unlnotes.unl.edu,
Hugh Genoways <hgenoway at unlserve.unl.edu

Dear Chancellor Perlman:

 I am the former director of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of  Natural
History (http://www.snomnh.ou.edu) of the University of Oklahoma. I
was director of the museum for 20 years and was responsible for
developing what became one of the major university natural history
museums in the world. Indeed, it is the jewel of the crown of both the
state and university of Oklahoma. I have also been involved in all
types of museum assessment programs and service functions to higher
education and to museums over the last two decades, both nationally
and internationally. I am a member of the Oklahoma Higher Education
Hall of Fame and was also a member of the Commission on the Future of
the Smithsonian Institution, a special commission that is activated
only every half century to plan the future of one of the world's
greatest museums. Finally, I was a member of two different
accreditation teams of the Nebraska State Museum. I list these bona
fides to make it clear that I know something about museums in general
and university museums as they relate to their parentorganization, as
well as the Nebraska State Museum.

State museums contain the tangible heritage of the people of that
state. University museums translate that heritage into information and
new knowledge. The work of the curators is a requisite to develop
exhibits, to serve the public with fundamental knowledge about the
materials in the collections, to train new specialists in museum
studies, to provide a fundamental database on the biological and
cultural underpinnings of the state and region, and to provide experts
to answer the questions posed by undergraduate and graduate students,
and the general public that are related to the valuable collection
resource.  The Nebraska State Museum has a long and noble history. It
was founded almost a half century before Oklahoma's museum was
established and has done a good job of protecting Nebraska's priceless
collections, conducting research, educating museum professionals,
publishing and interpreting research conducted on the collections for
exhibit use and for the increase of scientific knowledge and public
edification in Nebraska and throughout the world. There is no doubt
that the museum's buildings could be in better shape, its programs
more extensive, and some of its  personnel could be more productive,
but that is frequently the case. You and I both know that quality
varies across any organization, whether one is considering faculty,
support staff, or administrators. Nonetheless, the answer to any
perceived problems related to management or productivity is not to
dismantle the organization. One must remember that a museum is a
permanent institution. It holds the treasures of the state in trust
for the people of the state, and it does so in perpetuity. It is this
quality of permanence that must be considered when pondering
reductions in budgets or personnel.

It is my assessment as a museum administrator, a faculty member, a
curator, and an expert with national and international experience on
museum operations, that it would be a mistake for the University of
Nebraska to eliminate curatorial and collection support personnel in
the State Museum due to a system-wide budget shortfall. It is folly to
think that the reputation and all operations of the organization would
not be seriously and negatively impacted. I know of no university
natural history museum in the United States that is able to operate
effectively without curators and collection support personnel. Indeed,
those few that have tried to do this have fallen far below the level
of mediocrity. To eliminate the very engine of creativity and
expertise that drives the collections--the heart of the museum--is to
doom public programs and exhibits in the coming years. No museum of
quality has been successful with this strategy. None. It was not too
long ago that a common saying noted that great universities have great
museums and that is still fairly applicable today. There is reason for
this, as museums reflect a higher pursuit of what is important in
life: the sciences, the arts, an appreciation of our own heritage, a
better understanding of who we are and where we are going. Museums
shine in the darkness like lighthouses that lead us through the storms
of life to calmer and more enlightened shores.

I am not familiar with how the law that established the Nebraska State
Museum reads, but should the university gut the museum in such a
manner that collection care is compromised (as present plans would
suggest), I would expect that the institution would open itself to
great criticism by concerned members of the public for failure to care
for the state's natural and cultural heritage. The University has a
moral and fiduciary obligation to care for the heritage of the people
of Nebraska. It cannot meet this obligation by eliminating the very
positions that are responsible for the care, growth, and development
of these collections, materials that are the permanent and priceless
treasures of the State of Nebraska.

Clearly this plan was developed without much input from museum
experts. I hope you have not been misled by advisors who have
suggested that such sweeping changes can be made without compromising
the quality of the museum's programs, for they can not. Both the
exhibits and the children's programs will be severely affected by the
proposed changes. One simply cannot continue to enjoy the eggs if the
goose is killed, yet that is precisely what this plan proposes.
Moreover, the proposed changes mock the legal obligation that was
granted by the people of Nebraska to the University to care for their
heritage for all time. Universities and their museums have a moral
obligation not only to balance the books, but to serve future
generations of their public. Like it or not, you, the University, and
the Museum, are the keepers of Nebraska's heritage. It is easy to meet
your responsibilities in this area during times when funds are readily
available, but the true test of meeting one's duty occurs when times
are difficult. Now is one of those defining moments when mettle is
tested.

 Your decision will not only effect the professional lives of those
curators and staff members who will lose their positions (and taking
the long view, that should not really be a consideration, since many
people lose their jobs each day), but the decision to eliminate these
positions for short term monetary considerations will result in
long-term damage to the collections, the public programs, the
scientific reputation of the museum and the University, and the future
use of the heritage of the people of Nebraska. Museums are not merely
keepers of the past, but guardians of the future, for people who lose
their material heritage lose that bridge of memory that connects the
past to the future. They are left adrift without the important
foundation of support that is based on an appreciation of their
natural and cultural heritage. To harm the museum is, therefore, to
harm the future, and to harm the future is to deprive Nebraska's
children of their connections to their heritage.

 I strongly recommend that you give careful consideration to the full
ramifications of a decision to damage the Nebraska State Museum. Such
a decision will ring across the years long after you have moved on,
for museums reach across the generations. For good or ill, your
decision will likely reach well beyond your ability to perceive at
this moment. I hope you will permit your vision to guide your
decision.

Respectfully,
Michael A. Mares
Noble Presidential Professor and Research Curator
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
University of Oklahoma

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Addresses:

Chancellor Harvey S. Perlman
201 Canfield Administration
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0419


Dr. Richard Edwards
Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
208 Canfield Administration
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0420


Dr. John A Benson
Director, Institutional Research and Planning
Academic Planning Committee
Canfield Administration
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0435

The Honorable Michael Johanns
Office of the Governor
Nebraska State Capitol
Lincoln, NE 68509

The Honorable Roger Wehrbein
Appropriations Committee Chairman
Nebraska State Capitol
Room 1004
Lincoln, NE 68509

Charles S. Wilson, M.D.
Chair, Board of Regents
7430 North Hampton Road
Lincoln, NE 68506