[photo-3d] Re: Please don't sell Seton Rochwite's life on eBay!!

[Bruce Springsteen <bsspringsteen@xxxxxxxxx>]

George sees my point exactly, as usual, though he may not know it! ;-) :

> Why don't we try to get the facts first before getting into
> speculation?

Because this is Photo3D. :-) The thread had been underway since last
Thursday, and the impression left so far in the postings is of a stereo
and photo community caught sleeping.   That's just how it looks, and I ask
again to be corrected.  George himself wondered at one point:

> Are you going to ask Seton Rochwite's family why
> they decided to sell these in an estate sale
> instead of selling them (or donating them) to a
> museum?

Yes, did they contact organizations that might be interested?  Did Mr.
Rochwite specifically ask that that not be done?  We don't know so far on
this list, so the mystery remains.
 
> And why didn't Seton (who had the foresight to prepare
> his own obituary) did not leave instructions about
> the disposal of these documents?

Other posters have seemed equally in the dark and prone to speculate.  No
broad clarification or perspective has come forward on this list from
anyone who claims to know the situation first-hand or even second-hand. 
So we are left to speculate, until the current impression is dispelled. 
Meanwhile, the material in question was being readied for resale.  Can you
blame people for being a bit dismayed?  Maybe it's none of our business.

George also asked:

> Another question: If collections sit in museums'
> basements without being exhibited and without the
> public having knowledge or access to them, how is
> this different than being held by individuals?

Because it may be more likely to remain a "collection", rather than a
dispersed assortment of objects in changing hands with a scattered record
of provenance, uncertain care, and little context.

Because museums are generally accessible to a wide range of people, are
more visible, and convey the notion that history is a shared asset, while
individual collections *tend* to remain out of view and be seen only by
those who personally know the collector. 

Because individual collections are at the mercy of the personal events of
the collector, while an institution or organization generally is more
stable in its commitment and capacity to retain, preserve, and promote the
history in its care.  Because museums have professional staff who can
catalog material for ready retrieval, whether on display or not, and can
communicate and coordinate with other institutions or organizations -
correlating their holdings through a network of exchange and scholarship
(in the ideal scenario anyway).

How would an eBay auction to anonymous individuals, however interested
they may be in their particular purchases, be likely to accomplish
anything of this kind?  The point isn't preservation for preservation's
sake - it's retaining the materials in a way that relates them to each
other and makes them readily locatable by anyone who has an interest.

Now the idea of a book is very appealing, and a huge amount of work to
pull together on short notice and under the gun.  Quentin's proposal is
ambitious beyond the likely resources and energy of anyone we know.  Look
how difficult it was to create the first SSA Yearbook, a much less
grandiose undertaking.  If there were no sense of urgency - if these
question had been answered long ago,  if the "collection", however defined
and selected, were to be preserved, then anyone who wanted to do
scholarship based on SR's effects - write articles, books, commentary, now
*or* later - would have a chance of doing so.  The cat may be long out of
that bag, though, unless I really have misread the situation.

So, George - what are your plans for your unique and personal stereo
effects, in the event that stereo gods are not immortal?  I would hate to
lose the material legacy of the man on P3D who most loves stereo (based on
the volume = value equation). ;-)

Bruce

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