Preservation, philosophy

T he primary function of a museum is to preserve the objects of our past (I). This can only be accomplished after comprehensive study by a combination of museum professionals of the history, art history, ethnography, and aesthetic value of the objects as well as of their technical, physical, and chemical condition. Such study constitutes the foundation of preservation philosophy, science, and technique. 

Storage systems and units and the location and size of the study room and the caretakers area near the storeroom are largely dictated by available funds, architectural restrictions, the estimated number of visiting students per week, the frequency with which each object is to be handled, and the available number of caretakers. The collection can be organized in such a way as to enhance preservation regardless of the elaborateness of storage facilities available, but this is unlikely to be accomplished unless the museum fully embraces the preservation philosophy set forth in this paper. 

Hayashi, R. 1990. Application of high pressure to processing and preservation Philosophy and development. In W.E.L. Spiess and H. Schubert (Eds.), Engineering and Food, pp. 815-826. London, U.K. Elsevier Applied Science. 

At the outset, one must note the fact that the public health values of the agricultural chemicals far outweigh the health hazards in their use. The conquest of the insect-borne plagues with the aid of insecticides can now be foreseen. Agricultural chemicals make possible greatly increased production and preservation of food. The Malthusian philosophy of starvation is being discredited effectively with the aid of modern chemistry. Society can and should use the agricultural chemicals with complete safety to health. 

Discussions of the value to be attributed to the preservation of a natural system invoke two distinct sources of value extrinsic and intrinsic values. Extrinsic value arises from the fact that the environment increases the satisfaction or utility of humans. In this utilitarian philosophy, nature has value insofar as it is useful or agreeable to humans. The intrinsic value of a natural system exists irrespective of its usefulness or amenity to humans. This view explicitly grants rights to exist to nonhuman species or to the environment as a whole. The intrinsic value approach may thus require decision makers to make decisions knowingly counter to their own present on future interests (Pannell and Schilizzi 1999). 

After Constantine proclaimed Christianity to be the official cult of the Roman Empire around A.D. 330, the Christians sought to eradicate pagan philosophies, including alchemy. Most likely they would have succeeded if members of a heretical Christian sect, the Nestorians, had not preserved alchemical writings. After Nestorius, the leader of the sect, was excommunicated around A.D. 430, he fled to Syria with his followers. The Nestorians took as many pagan manuscripts and books with them as they could and kept them in the mon-... 

One astute way to obtain macrocyclic systems with TTF is the stepwise method of deprotection/alkylation of cyanoethyl-protected TTF-thiolates. With this method molecular units can be built but with the precaution of preserving one cyanoethyl group in order to be able to iteratively proceed with the oligomerization. Combining such units, larger units can be produced. An example of a TTF dendrimer containing 21 TTFs is shown in Fig. 2.15 (Christensen et al, 1998). Here only the main philosophy of the synthesis is discussed. 

At the Library of Congress current estimates indicate that for materials presently identified as rare, with permanent research value, complete conservation will require about twelve thousand five hundred man years of work. Other parts of the collections are in equally serious condition (1). However, archival conservation in a library setting diminishes the role of restoration of individual artifacts in favor of carefully selected actions more immediately directed toward the greatest possible prolongation of useful life—hence our philosophy and practice of phased preservation. In practice, useful life may be projected as a thousand years or more for some items, or as little as fifty years for others. Thus, in the broadest sense, conservation comprises methods of buying time, of putting off that inevitable day when organic materials are reduced to dust. 

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