Libraries and Museums Books

Not the best book in the Coffin series, but a fun read all the same. This is a reliably entertaining series whose characters keep me interested and reading without relying too much on broadly drawn eccentricities or far-fetched plot points.

Detective John Coffin, with new digs and a new job, finds murder a little bit close to home when a severed head in an urn is found on the steps of his new building. When a hand to match the head turns up in the apartment of his neighbor Stella Pinero, then Coffin is pulled into an investigation that is to have far-reaching implications for the entire district.

Overall, I liked this book, particularly the detail Butler put into the Second City universe and the care she used in portraying the novel's characters. Some of the segues from scene to scene were interesting in an almost cinematic way, and I appreciated how it enhanced the story line.

I thought, however, that some of the clues should have clicked together in Coffin's mind long before they did, instead of being saved for a somewhat rushed wrap-up at the novel's end. Other than that, my only complaints are Butler's indulgence in confusing head-hopping and annoying comma-spliced sentences.

In historic house museums, the author provided useful information and tips for the operation of a small museum on a shoestring budget. The authors extensive experience in the museum industry is evident from the suggestions offered. Many resources were listed for the museum staff to consider, however there are no web addresses which severely limits the usefulness of the book.

I selected this book for a report for a museum studies class -- and because I volunteer at a small "historic house museum". Because such museums often operate with meager staff and an even more meager budget, I expected the book to be something of the "How-to-do-an-exhibition-with-string-and-Scotch-tape" genre. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that, on the contrary, the author presented what seem to be the currently-accepted professional museum standards, with suggestions as to how the small historic house museum can rise to meet them. I was equally pleasantly surprised to find suggestions throughout the book that the museums also recognize their limitations and if they find that they can't meet minimum standards, to consider turning over their collections to an institution that can care for them properly.
Information included in the book covers the soup-to-nuts, from the mission statement to housekeeping and with a few minor exceptions (and one surprisingly larger one), the information on caring for the house and items in the collections is virtually identical to that which has been presented to us, by guest professional lecturers, in our grad school classes. One small suggestion which seems to conflict with what I have frequently read and been told was the author's suggestion to use clear nail polish as a base coat in marking objects -- something we were told not to do. The other thing that I would have liked to see left out of the section on cleaning chandeliers was to put several layers of padding and a piece of plywood on a dining room table (if made of "hardwood and in stable condition") beneath the chandelier...then "place a step ladder of suitable size on top of the plywood in order to reach the chandelier". Not on MY dining room table you won't!
Other than that very surprising bit of information, I found the book to be an invaluable, thorough and professional reference that is going to be a permanent reference at our small museum -- and it is even printed on acid-free paper, for a longer life!

Presidents don't just drop off the face of the earth when their term ends! "Homes and Libraries of the Presidents" takes a look at the homes, libraries, and other endeavors of the presidents. In a newly revised third addition, Homes and Libraries of the Presidents" contains new information that is promoted as less than a week old when the book went to press. A must for anyone looking for the most up to date information possible on the post-administration lives of the presidents, "Homes and Libraries of the Presidents" is highly recommended for community library reference shelves.

I didn't read the entire book, and most people I would guess also wouldn't read it cover to cover. This book is more like a travel guide to the burial sites, libraries, and birth homes of the presidents. I was interested in the book to see if there were any presidential sites near me (there are only 2), so the usefulness of this book was limited by the fact that I cannot visit 99% of the places discussed. For each of the presidents the author gives a brief snapshot of the person. There is about 1-2 pages devoted to each of the `lesser known' presidents and about 5-10 pages for the likes of Washington, Lincoln, etc. You are also given travel information - city/street maps to locate the places (which aren't very helpful), and museum hours, admissions, etc. The best part of the book were the color photos of the presidents' homes and the US map that shows the distribution of the presidential monuments. I'm not really sure I even get the purpose of this book - it doesn't offer any information that is new or interesting. I wouldn't recommend this book because all of the information it contains can be found with far better accuracy and depth on the Internet; via the museum or library websites you would get much more background information about the President you need information on with up-to-date info on hours, admissions, etc. *This review is for the 1995 edition*

(A version of this review first appeared in the August/September 2008 issue of First Things.)

"Hey hey, ho ho. Western culture's got to go!" So went the chants on the campus of Stanford University in 1988, criticizing the classical canon. Well, it's going -- literally. Antiquities of questionable provenance held by many museums are being "repatriated" to their source nations, sometimes as the result of a mere threat. When a claim is made, should museums comply? "The world is divided on this question," explains James Cuno, with "museums, private collectors and art dealers" on one side, and "archaeologists, academics, and source nation cultural ministers" on the other. Cuno defends the museum side of the issue, and he is well suited to make the case. Cuno, once director of the Harvard University Art Museum, is currently director of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The hero of Cuno's book is the Enlightenment-inspired "encyclopedic museum," such as the Louvre or the British Museum. The villain is nationalism, which is fortified by recent laws that keep archaeological discoveries within national borders or demand their return. These laws, says Cuno, are an unenforceable "bouillabaisse of good intentions and bureaucratic ambitions," and their "trajectory of retention is tightening, from protection to prevention to return." Cuno's alternative is the legal scholar John Merryman's triad of knowledge, preservation, and access. Museums that best meet such benchmarks should get the goods.

The book is packed with informative tangents but will do little to mollify those who suspect Western museums of purchasing or retaining illegally exported antiquities. Because UNESCO resolutions have not prevented looting, Cuno calls them a "failed regime." We could say the same of "Thou shalt not steal." Cuno laments violent, divided humanity, and he promises that museums "serve as a force for understanding, tolerance, and the dissolution of ignorance and superstition about the world." Museums are indeed wonderful, but while there are no easy answers to the antiquities question, there may be more compelling explanations for human imperfection than the fact that not enough people spend afternoons at the Met.

Some ancient art belongs to the world, not necessarily to the present nations who now claim it. Several times over the years, I have seen, studied, photographed, and talked about the Elgin Marbles in London's British Museum. During my long life I have heard about and have read about the Parthenon, but I have seen it only once--two years ago. Should I now try to go to Greece to see the Elgin Marbles? At age 81 and here in California I think of the Elgin Marbles as being from ancient times that are basic to our civilization and not just to the present Greek nation. Should the British "give them back"? I don't think so. The book, "Who Owns Antiquity..." by James Cuno ©2008 legitimately takes the museum point view which I enthusiastically share. John L. Sommer.

Anyone who has ever been enthralled visiting one of the world's great archeological museums would benefit from James Cuno's book. So would archaeologists, museum directors, curators, antiquities dealers...and journalists who have signed on to the out-of-control drumbeat demonizing museums and collectors. Source country bureaucrats and power-wielders should read it as well, but they probably will not. Cuno's is a refreshing, insightful and intelligent counterpoint to mainstream misinformed denigration of the world's great archaeological museums. It convincingly argues that nationalistic retention laws for antiquities neither preserve sites nor objects, nor do they benefit the larger interests of civilization and mankind. There is probably more here than the non-specialist is interested in, but the beginning and end of the book are more than enlightening, and the reader can go back to middle chapters for background and revealing histories of the modern nations of Turkey, China and Italy. This book is an eloquent plea to save the inspiring fragments of mankind's long history which belong to us all. Cuno believes using them for nationalistic agendas is not the way.

The book underlines the attitude behind Cuno's outspoken cultural superiority. In a recent AP interview, Cuno said: "Cuno: I think any of these modern nations can exercise a greater claim than any other nation on antiquities found within their jurisdiction. But not in terms of an identity with those ancient people. It is not on the basis that they are the modern heirs to the achievements of these ancient peoples, that they descend from them in any kind of continuous or natural way and that the modern culture is akin to the ancient culture."

This is a century old canard that claims an ethnic group has only a tenuous tie to their ancestors. His words about a "continuous and natural" descent are offensive and bigoted, reminiscent of some particularly odious racial theories from the 19th century which read a mixture of bloodlines as reason enough to dispute strong connections with ancestral pasts. What, after all, does Cuno mean by "a natural way"? Is language not enough for him? That some nations use artifacts for political reinforcement of nationalist goals is not reason enough to dismiss a people's ethnic and cultural affinities with these same artifacts.

Take the case of the Elgin marbles, for instance. He worries that cultural artifacts may be destroyed if located in a singular place. Yet Lord Elgin destroyed the marbles themselves in removing them, lost many in the Mediterranean, and the British Museum allowed patrons to spill wine on them during fundraisers. To insist on spreading the wealth of the Parthenon marbles is as smart as perhaps cutting Lincoln's face off the memorial and giving it to Singapore, or amputating the arm holding the torch on the statue of liberty, and sending it to Uruguay.

Cuno is a defender of the so-called "universal museums", now called "encyclopaedic museums" and perhaps more correctly, imperialistic or totalitarian museums. The museum that never has enough of anything and seeks a total control of all cultural objects by all means, including the use of force by the army of the country where the museum is situated-Louvre, British Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. These museums now lament the end of the imperialistic and colonial period in which they amassed most of their stock. This was the period when the Europeans could take virtually from any country whatever cultural object they desired. That period is, mercifully, at an end and Cuno and co are agitating for the return to that system, so-called partage system which enabled the Europeans to take away massive archaeological objects from countries like Egypt. Cuno labels those who seek the return of the stolen cultural objects as nationalists but what about those who fight to keep the objects in the museums of the West, are they internationalists or what?
This new book does not advance in anyway the debate about the restitution of cultural objects. On the contrary, it will only help to solidify the known positions. That leading museum directors do not understand the desire of Africans and Asians to recover their stolen cultural objects, is a sad commentary on the cultural landscape of the world. The perspective would have appeared better without the addition of this book which will only serve as additional object for heated controversies and it comes from a museum director of one of the leading museums of the Western world.
Kwame Opoku. 22 May,2008.

I ordered this book on line through Amazon.com and as of now have not received the book. Your help in expediting the delivery of this book to me would be appreciated.

This is a text book on museum science. It covers all phases of designing, building, financing and operating a museum from the very basics. I have used it extensively to develop policies and procedures for the Minnesota Transportation Museum as we grow from a trolley ride to a major museum site. Everyone in the museum/history center/science center business should read this and see that other members of the trustees and employees have read this as well. Most valuable is the discussion of the responsibilities of the board of trustees, executive director, curator and other employees. Though the book is small, it gives you a good foundtation to build upon for any phase of museum work.

I thought this Book was GREAT!! I Spent Playtime hours with my Two Children Creating and Building Tops. We Made some Great ones. They didn't need me there because the projects are simple. But the time spent making them together was PRICELESS.

There are some good ideas here, but the materials used to make the tops (mainly pencils and paper plates) are bulky and too big for young children to spin.

I liked the American Girl dolls and books, and had a couple, and Rose (now Rosa) by Magic Attic is a pretty doll... so I got the set a while back. Oh, ow, these books aren't nearly as well done as the American Girl books. That said, maybe what to me seems cheesy and shallow is fun and appealing for those of today's girls who are not interested in the lively, well researched, well illustrated historical books that go with the American Girl dolls. There is also a Dear America series, which is a bit harsher. If one thinks that the American Girl books are too "sweet," perhaps try them. But I'd sooner read almost anything than these dreadful Magic Attic books.

These books provided such entertainment for me as an early teenager!!! No they are not the American Girl Doll books, I also read those and liked them just as much, there is just something about the Magic Attic series that sparks a childs imagination. The wonderful idea of dressing up taking you somewhere to match the clothes you put on is the image that almost every little girl wished for. So no they are not the American Girl Doll books, they are something totally different and I think any little girl would be lucky to read them!

The book left me wishing I knew a little German. The translations into English don't fully communicate the original design intent. The many illustrations are quite nice, though. You get to see a few examples of well made European exhibit design.

My husband and I gave my father-in-law, Noritsugu Uyeno, age 80, this book for Fathers Day (6/18/06) yesterday, and within 30 minutes he had found an error related to the Jerome, Arkansas internment camp. On page 232, the text states that there were no guard towers at Jerome, yet in contradiction to itself, on page 60, the book shows a photo of a guard tower at Jerome! My husband's parents were both imprisoned at Jerome, (where they met, actually), and they have the yearbooks and the reparations to prove it. According to them, not only were there guard towers at Jerome, but a Japanese American male was shot and killed there by the guards from the towers when he approached the fence too closely. Although this work contains some fascinating period photos and interesting encyclopedic information about a critically important historical subject, I wonder how many other errors it contains... However, if you do not own a variety of other sources that deal with this topic, the work could be implemented as a good overall introduction, especially for high-school aged people or for a general audience, as the book does contain evocative images and personality-focused aspects to it that many will find moving. However, fact-checking is recommended for any college-level or professional scholarly activities.

Karen is so excited! Her class is going to New York City to see their Pen pals, have a picnic, and see real dinosaur skeletons! Karen can't wait, until her step-brother, David Michael, gets into a fight with her. The adventures in this book include a huge city tour bus, Stuart Little, and getting lost. I definitely recommend this book.