The NY Times is once again covering museums. The latest article, “In Texas Tradition, Museums That Enshrine the Quirky,” underscores how any collection of things can be displayed and called a museum. Apparently, collectors in Texas take seriously the American Association of Museums’ criteria that to be a museum it must make a “unique contribution to the public by collecting, preserving, and interpreting the things of this world.”
This gives us The Eight Track Tape Museum and the Devil’s Rope Museum or Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum. Some of these museums seem more durable than others. Some seem to have descended into obscurity, leaving only a website to mark their passing. They force us to confront again what distinguishes a museum from a personal collection, and when does a personal collection become a museum.