Submitted by Alyce, Feb 7, 2007 17:21

I work for a museum, and I agree that museums want to control as much as they can. However, I disagree that the motive for this control is meanness of spirit. The museum I work for--an ourdoor living history museum--employs hundreds of skilled craftsmen who are paid well for their labor. The museum needs income from ticket sales and gift shop sales to maintain these wages. Sure, people can take advantage of museum programs without trying too hard (just by looking over fences in some places). When our docents crack down on these guests it is not out of spite. It is to protect the valuable work that our interpreters do. The more money the museum gets, the better funded our research and programming departments are and the better we can serve our paying guests and our community. Besides, going to MoMa costs what, $20? You get so much more out of an afternoon there than you would at a couple of Hollywood movies for the same cash. I think the author did a fine job of explaining the differences between public domain art and private art. By all means photograph what is available to photograph, but please respect the wishes of private donors. Thanks for the great article. It was well-researched, focused, and cunningly written.

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