[Museum] Great Universities have Great Museum

["Marta Lourenco" <mclourenco@museus.ul.pt>]

(peço desculpa a quem receber esta mensagem duas vezes)

Foi recentemente criada uma plataforma associativa internacional (género
PP-CULT, mas mundial), com o objectivo de sensibilizar as pessoas para a
importância do património universitário, particularmente nos Estados Unidos
cujos museus têm sido fortemente ameaçados devido à crise financeira.

Porém, como sabem, o problema vem de muito longe e não afecta apenas os EU -
as colecções, museus, jardins botânicos e herbários das universidades
europeias estão hoje mais vulneráveis do que nunca e uma percentagem muito
significativa do que existia nos anos 80 já desapareceu, silenciosa e
irreversivelmente.

A criação da plataforma - que se chama Task Force on College and University
Collections - parte da Association of College & University Museums &
Galleries (ACUMG) e integra a American Association of Museums (AAM), o
Comité Internacional do ICOM para os Museus e Colecções Universitárias
(UMAC), a Association of Art Museum Directors e a College Art Association,
entre outras.

A primeira iniciativa dessa plataforma é uma petição intitulada 'We Believe.
Great Universities have Great Museums', que transcrevo na íntegra em baixo e
se encontra disponível para subscrição em:
http://www.acumg.org/
Encorajo-vos vivamente a assinar a petição, que será amplamente divulgada no
Outono, tanto directamente às administrações das universidades americanas
como ao público em geral, através de anúncios de página inteira em diversos
jornais.

Um abraço,

Marta Lourenço
Museu de Ciência
Universidade de Lisboa

*A Message Concerning University and College Museums*

We the undersigned believe that:

Great colleges and universities look both forward and back; they shape our
shared future by being stewards of our shared past.

They perform this service not merely through the commitment of countless
faculty and other resources to the cause of teaching, learning and
scholarship, but also by building, preserving, providing access to, and
interpreting tangible objects, ranging from manuscripts and rare books to
works of art and biological and natural-history specimens and artifacts.

Our college and university collections, found in our great academic
archives, libraries and museums, are deep repositories of past and present
human creativity, in all its diversity and richness.

These collections present students, teachers and local communities with
unique opportunities to experience, to learn, and to grow. They speak to the
youngest child and to the lifelong learner. They advance teaching and
learning across the arts, humanities, and social and natural sciences, while
also inspiring new and exciting forms of interdisciplinary scholarship.

They engage entire communities in the perpetuation and dissemination of
knowledge, in their understanding of society and culture, in the value of
cultural and scientific literacy to our democracy and, thus, in the practice
of developing good and educated citizens.

Archivists, librarians and museum professionals--and the array of services
they provide--play an essential role in the educational enterprise by
facilitating access to, as well as the appreciation and interpretation of,
our college and university collections.

At the heart of many of our great colleges and universities stand museums of
art, science, archaeology, anthropology, and history, as well as arboreta
and other collections of living specimens. Along with our libraries and
archives, these academic museums advance learning through teaching and
research. They are the nation's keepers of its history, culture and
knowledge. They are essential to the academic experience and to the entire
educational enterprise.

Founded, like universities, to serve humankind, museums are no more
disposable assets than are libraries and archives.

Great Universities have Great Museums.

The Boards, Officers and Members of the:

American Association of Museums, Ford Bell, President; Carl Nold, Chair
Association of Art Museum Directors, Michael Conforti, President; Janet
Landay, Executive Director
Association of College and University Museums and Galleries, David Alan
Robertson, President
University Museums and Collections, International Council of Museums,
Cornelia Weber, Chair
College Art Association, Paul Jaskot, President; Linda Downs, Executive
Director
Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Max Marmor, President