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.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3773
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2007 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
