Museum props

[BMur]

You ever notice when visiting a small county museum they list literally every antique gun totally wrong? I'm not claiming to be a guru but to me when they list an 1890's H&R as an 1860's dug-up or a Smith & Wesson spur trigger as a Hopkins & Allen you wonder how accurate all the other props are?

I'm here for a large gun show and have some time to burn before the show.

Check out the " CAN YOU FIX THIS PHOTO".
Thought the target collectors might appreciate it.

That gunsmith looks like he's 16 years old going on 80! Tough life back then.

Murph

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My best friend was at the JMBrowning museum in Utah. He noticed some inaccuracies and talked to the curator. They were glad to find someone who actually knew what he was talking about! [and made corrections on the spot!]

Ivan

 

[Inusuit]

I've been firearms historian for our state museum since 2018. I do find gun errors in the database. Some that I've made. Understand there were no college degrees or professional training for museum employees until fairly recently. Curators at small county museums are unlikely to have either.

Staff at my museum have at least masters degrees. They are responsible for over 90,000 artifacts in the collection with additional items coming in by the hundreds and thousands every year. I'm fortunate to operate with a very narrow area - firearms - and still make mistakes.

I say the intake staff has to deal with everything from buttons to bulldozers and are charged with making identification on the fly. Much easier now the internet exists, but still a challenge.

The cool thing about small county museums is they tend to have everything they own on exhibit. We have less than 2% at any one time.

The other problem is the stories that come with artifacts. We have a Colt SAA that the donor said belonged to Tom Horn, the Wyoming range detective and serial killer. Elaborate story about how the gun was passed from Tom Horn through other people to her family. Unfortunately, the Colt was shipped in 1906, three years after Horn was hanged for killing the teenaged son of a sheep rancher.

So be forgiving of the mistakes you notice. I sometimes wonder if, in 50 or 100 years, anyone will care that I determined the correct submodel of a common military rifle.

 

[smoothshooter]

I doubt that having Master's Degrees have much to do with the presumably high quality of your staff.
Some of the dumbest and lacking common sense people I have met over the years have had Master's Degrees and Doctorates.
All it takes to get a Master's is some time, money, and a good memory. Heavy on the memory part.
In other words, I think they are vastly overrated for the most part. A lot of grade schools seem to think you need a Master's Degree to teach 4th graders.
That's just dumb.
Rant over. It's a sore point with me, and I have a Batchelor's.

 

[gmborkovic]

Mr. smooth, good giggle. English degree?

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My Associates of Arts in Biblical Interpenetration should qualify me for just about any gun related job. We need to pray that our gun possessing rights are still here after every election!

Ivan

 

[BMur]

Trying to help!

My best friend was at the JMBrowning museum in Utah. He noticed some inaccuracies and talked to the curator. They were glad to find someone who actually knew what he was talking about! [and made corrections on the spot!]

Ivan

I wish they were all so receptive. The world would be a much better place. Way more prosperous.

Might be a Murphy's Law issue on my end since no matter how nice I try to be the reception seems to always be "Who are you and what are your qualifications?" Or, our gun guy is extremely knowledgeable so we are going to stick with his assessments.
Dude, I'm not making a penny here, just trying to help you out!

I've reached the age where I can literally laugh it off. Some things can't be remedied or repaired. The top of the list is arrogance! And taking offense no matter how you say it or how it's presented, someone's feelings are going to be devastated. Common as a $1 bill.
An open mind seems to be the true rarity. How about this approach instead of taking offense?
"We greatly appreciate your input can you please elaborate on your references?" That would be the intelligent approach with genuine and shared interest.

Sometimes I can get them to wager, I'll bet you're wrong! Nothing like having a phone/computer in your hand.

Murph

 

[Kguy]

Mr. Smooth; please consider a proofreader. Having one is wonderful.

 

[Inusuit]

I doubt that having Master's Degrees have much to do with the presumably high quality of your staff.
Some of the dumbest and lacking common sense people I have met over the years have hah Master's Degrees and Doctorates.
All it takes to get a Master's is some time, money, and a good memory. Heavy on the memory part.
In other words, I think they are vastly overrated for the most part. A lot of grade schools seem to think you need a Master's Degree to teach 4th graders.
That's just dumb.
Rant over. It's a sore point with me, and I have a Batchelor's.

Not sure of your point. Education in museum science and artifact preservation does not guarantee accurate identification of items but does provide the tools to do so.

I see a number of grammatical and spelling errors in your post. Seems odd to criticize those with advanced degrees. Where did you get your bachelor's degree?

 

[BE Mike]

I doubt that having Master's Degrees have much to do with the presumably high quality of your staff.
Some of the dumbest and lacking common sense people I have met over the years have hah Master's Degrees and Doctorates.
All it takes to get a Master's is some time, money, and a good memory. Heavy on the memory part.
In other words, I think they are vastly overrated for the most part. A lot of grade schools seem to think you need a Master's Degree to teach 4th graders.
That's just dumb.
Rant over. It's a sore point with me, and I have a Batchelor's.

A lot depends upon what the degree is in and where it was obtained. Mine is a Bachelor of Science degree. I'm assuming that you weren't an English major! Don't feel bad. I can't spell baccalaureate without spell check.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I try not to be too critical, but I did tell a Lady in a Civil War Museum that
Ain't no Civil War Knife!
World War Two, absolutely, 100%, beyond any doubt.

 

[kwill1911]

The George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A&M has his S&W Victory Model on display with an Army web belt and holster. I offered to donate the right holster and invasion bag if they would correct the display. They declined.

The Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg (now part of the Museum of the Pacific) has some small arms errors which they did not acknowledge when I pointed them out.

 

[ImDrRich]

Actually, I have an earned doctorate, two masters degrees, and my bachelors.

With all that knowledge, I've learned to shut up and listen - then research - and decide what is right.

"Shallow brooks are noisy."

 

[Rotorhead1026]

The George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A&M has his S&W Victory Model on display with an Army web belt and holster. I offered to donate the right holster and invasion bag if they would correct the display. They declined.

The Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg (now part of the Museum of the Pacific) has some small arms errors which they did not acknowledge when I pointed them out.

The best way to get errors fixed is to write a nice letter, stating what the error is and why it should be corrected. Interacting with museum staff in real time is just going to get a defensive reaction, usually.

 

[kwill1911]

Exactly what I did.

 

[BE Mike]

It probably took a year before a museum corrected an error that I pointed out by written letter. The mistake applied to me! Yeah, I'm that old!

 

[opoefc]

In my many years of traveling around the US to gun shows, etc., I always tried to stop at small local museums and often find firearms misidentified. I usually commented to whoever was on duty that day and sometimes got a request to write down the correct info, but not always. Several times when I saw a nice gun, whether correctly identified, or not, I offered to buy it and sometime did, as their treasuries were broke. There's a small town in the east that has a killer Gustave Young gold inlayed engraved S&W Model 1 & 12 in their small museum, given to Buckland when he retired from S&W, The town's annual budget was about $35,000 and I offered them an insane amount for the gun. which bowled them over. I'm still waiting for them to get back to me.

 

[smoothshooter]

Mr. smooth, good giggle. English degree?

No. Business Degree. Which was also kind of a waste as far as practicality goes.
I only got it to be eligible for military promotions. Had to get my ticket punched, so to speak

 

[smoothshooter]

Mr. Smooth; please consider a proofreader. Having one is wonderful.

I am usually a pretty decent proofreader, but I am getting old and sometimes other things distracting me when typing.
What surprises me is how often I see errors in news articles that you would think should have been caught before publication.

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

My PC has spellcheck automatically underlining the word when wrong.