P3D Dan's 2 cents on the museum thing...

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dan writes about the NSA library and the valuable service it performs:

>That library is well on it's way to being a
>serious museum in and of itself. I hope to personally help it grow
>extensively in the future. We could all donate a bit here and there (and
>get write off's if that matters to you) and help to build up one of the
>world's largest, and potentially most valuable 3D collections.

I only have one question:  How far can it grow before it becomes
unmanageable?  

Just one example:  Harold Lloyd took over 300,000 stereo slides (!!!)
in his lifetime.  That could fill a small room and require one full
year just to view them.  (View, not catalog - I assume a person can 
view 1000 slides a day, that's a lot of slides!)  Who has the time to 
do this?  If they are all donated to the NSA library and I am visiting 
and want to see some of Harold Lloyd's slides, where do I start from?

David Starkman has reported that most of Lloyd's slides were snapshots
of rather poor quality.  Is this something worth putting on a library/
museum?

People have to be selective about what they would like to donate
to places like that.  It is nice to have access to the slides taken,
say, by Seton Rochwite (inventor of the Realist) but I understand that
he too took many thousands of stereo pictures.

>(BTW, I believe that the majority of the information available at the
>NSA library will make it to the web, or whatever replaces it allowing
>for a much wider distribution base for the information and pictures
>contained there. I do not know when, but it is being thought about...) 

Again, we have the same problem.  We cannot put everything.  Someone
has to decide what goes.  And someone has to find the time to do it.

Ron Fredrickson is the PSA historian.  He is asking people to donate
their PSA awarded slides to PSA.  He is managing this collection.
I do not know how many slides he has and how can someone access this
collection.  Again, I see the same problem.  If some donates thousands
of slides I don't see how one person can manage this collection and
what happens to the slides that do not among the best?

There seems to be plenty of room for individuals (not institutions) to
preserve our stereo treasures.

George Themelis


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