World of Museums

Second World Congress on the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections, 1996

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Held in Madrid in 1992, the First World Congress attracted some 500 delegates from 70 countries and demonstrated the growing strength of international concern for the preservation of the Natural History collections already in the care of museums world wide let alone those in other hands. Furthermore, it succeeded in greatly improving international communications between both institutions and individuals, and those discussions inspired a number of the resolutions subsequently submitted to the Biodiversity conference held in Rio de Janeiro. The development of Natural History collections as a world-wide resource, and the task of raising their profile, was carried over as a major theme into the Second World Congress, held in Cambridge, 20-24 August 1996, and hosted by the Department of Earth Sciences, the Sedgwick Museum and the Geological Conservation Unit, University of Cambridge.

Since they are major cultural, scientific and economic resources for both developed and developing countries, it would seem remarkably short-sighted to neglect these collections, and the Congress Director, Chris Collins, focused its attention on practical initiatives begun in Madrid by means of sessions devoted to: 'Perceptions and Attitudes towards Natural History', 'Value and Valuation', 'Information Technology and the Developing Museum', 'Collections as a Resource', 'Sharing the World's Natural History Resource', 'Future Directions in the Care and Management of Collections', 'Requirements of Developing Natural History Collections around the World', 'International Financing and Valuation of Natural History Museums', 'Funding and Fund-Raising for Natural History Collections' and 'Development Strategy for Natural History Museums'. These themes were developed by 28 formal contributions, backed by a series of IT, Databases, Internet and Computer Workshops, Conservation Workshops and a Fundraising Workshop, and no less than 107 posters in close proximity to the small trade fair.

Several of the papers will be published in due course in this journal, but Professor Nicolai Vorontsov's keynote address on 'Natural History in the 21st Century' provided a remarkable t o u r d'horizon and emphasized the growing range of different approaches which have transformed the world of Natural History since the 1960s. The battle for the hearts of people as well as the minds of their leaders came to the fore in Dr Richard Lcakcy's agonising account of contemporary problems in East Africa ('Political Perceptions and Support for the Natural Sciences') while Dr Tim Radford, Science Reporter of The Guardian, provided a splendidly forthright analysis of the relationship between Natural Historians and the Media. Sir Robert Ma> Chief Scientific Adviser to the United Kingdom Government, reviewed 'National Funding--Government's Attitude' with uncompromising clarit> including its attitude to systematics research and the aftermath of the Rio Conference, while the Manchester Resolutions were introduced by Dr John Nudds. The role of information technology was then addressed bv Dr Meredith Lane and Dr John Busby, while the Natural History Museum, London, recounted its experience in exploiting commercially its resources (Dr Martin Jakobowski: 'Museums and the Oil Industry' and Dr Richard Herrington: 'Marketing Museums to Industry').

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1. Lunch break in the sessions of the 'Second World Congress on the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections' held in Cambridge (UK), August 1996. The Sedgwick Museum is to be seen in the background.

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2. The trade fair accompanying thc 'Second World Congress of the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections' was mounted in the I)cpartnlcnt of Earth Scienccs, alongside the Poster Sessions, with some 20 companies exhibiting.

The huge collections often accumulated bx oil and mining companics, for shor t - te rm commercial purposes which have now come to an end, are still major scientific resources, but those companies arc rarely prepared to allocate resources

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in the long term for their continued preservation, and the Natural History museums are in danger of being swamped by them if they are transferred to them without adequate resources being made available. Dr Des Griffin (Australian Museum) tackled the controversial issues of 'Who owns the collections?' and Professors Gary Carnegie and Peter Wolnizer (also from Australia) provided a succinct exposition of 'Enabling Accountability in Museums' (both to be published in this Journal). Thereafter, the sessions turned to the more narrowly- based aspects of the physical care and management of collections and the particular problems being experienced in Eastern Europe, Cuba (Dr Gilberto De Silva's paper is published in this issue), Korea, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Mexico, while approaches to the 'International Financing and Valuation of Natural History Museums' were covered by Dr Nell Chalmers (Natural History Museum, London), Dr Terry Little (ICCROM and the PREMA Project) and Dr William Vartorella (strategic philanthropy--published in this issue). The concluding morning of the Conference focussed instead on international cooperation, including the role of ICOM (Chris Hill), the World Council Collections Resources, and the way forward.

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Museums & Heritage Show 1997

A series of successful museum trade fairs, and associated seminars and professional workshops, mounted in London, has been organised on a commercial basis by The Museums & Heritage Show Ltd. since their inception in 1992, and the 1996 Museums & Heritage Show was no exception. With 119 exhibitors and a 15% increase in visitors over 1995, this is now thc largest ismseum-related trade fair in the United Kingdom and in the English-speaking world second only to that accompanying the annual meetings of the American Association of Museums. It is organised in association with AIM (the Association of Independent Museums) and the Museums Association chose the 1996 Show as the venue for the launch of its new periodical, Museum Practice, backed by its first Museum Practice Seminar--devoted to storage--and two workshops on 'Copyright Law' and 'Funding Sources'. Verx sensibly, the timing of thc Show was altered to 27-28 March 1996 so that museum and heritage attraction managers could attend with a clear conscience before Easter and the beginning of the 1996 season, and this arrangement is to bc retained for the 1997 Museums & Heritage Show which is scheduled to take place at the Horticultural Halls, London, 25-26 March. Once again, a programme of professional seminars will be offered, involving the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), SIBH (Society for the Interpretation of British Heritage), AIM, the Museums Association and the Museums Trading and Publishing Group, while the 'Card Interactive' promises to combine light refreshments with advanced multi-media interactive display technology.

For more information contact Joanna Brown at Museums & Heritage Show Ltd, The Town House, Leigh, Worcester WR6 5LA, UK (Tel: 01886-833505; Fax: 01886-833144).

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