Title: | The Paradox of Preservation |
Author(s): | Cloonan, Michèle V. |
Subject(s): | Preservation |
Abstract: | This article explores historical, political, and professional paradoxes
that underlie efforts to preserve cultural heritage. These paradoxes
are illustrated through five case studies: the discovery of the Nag
Hammadi bindings, approaches to the preservation of Auschwitz,
the Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad, the destruction of the
Bamiyan Buddhas, and the creation of a protective structure for
the Hamar Cathedral ruins. Although it is not possible to preserve
everything, it is suggested that the shift from the traditional custodial
model of caring for collections to one with greater community input
may lead to new preservation strategies—and to new ways of defining
preservation. Through our attempts to preserve under highly
complex circumstances and equally complex issues, our standard
notions of what constitutes preservation come into question, and
some aspects of preservation remain paradoxical. |
Issue Date: | 2007 |
Publisher: | Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. |
Citation Info: | In Library Trends 56(1) Summer 2007: 133–147. |
Genre: | Article |
Type: | Text |
Language: | English |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3773 |
ISSN: | 0024-2594 |
Publication Status: | published or submitted for publication |
Rights Information: | Copyright 2007 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois |
Date Available in IDEALS: | 2008-03-14 |