The impulse to give or bequeathe my collectible bikes to a receptable museu
m is for me as effortless as breathing. All the misgivings of less than
enthusiastic familial recipients is foregone and the tradition of appreciat
ion written in centuries is the the stuff of museums. I play the lute an
d museums are the repository for all things related to this instrument.
I should also add that we are at a point of historical institutional change
, much of it affecting the bicycling culture. The sheer energy of engine
ering innovation that bicycles inspired in the 19th and 20th century is a r
ecord of things that have their own growing mystique in this world of hugel
y expensive fossil fuels pushing us into directions of renewable and non-po
lluting sources of energy. Our appreciation of the minimalist beauty of
the bicycle walks point just as more folks seek to refurbish their garage r
efugees and their legs. Find the museum -- and here in California Dan
Kehew and UCDavis are easy to find -- and make your pitch. In the mid
-'80's when the internet was in its infancy and graphics meant Mosaic, and
defense moneys were used to coordinate collections amongst major universiti
es, I plied my trade as a librarian using Maritime Administration and DOD c
omputers to review library collections across the country. At that time
there were no search engines and Lockheed's proprietary system, Dialog, w
as the closest thing to an agreed index of terms. At some of the institu
tions you could access simple Library of Congress terms, but a collection o
f holdings accessible outside of the institutions was not yet there. I c
ontacted the Special Libraries Association and pressed for a consolidated s
earch index and coordinated participation by all major institutions. No
luck and no foresight. Trying locally to coordinate holdings via the sim
ple Mustang siting program amongst institutions, I had to quit when my
wife's Huntington's Disease reached end stage. The point of all this is
that the lack of foresight amongst my fellow librarians let a huge opportu
nity to create a search engine for the internet slip away. We are at tha
t point with icons of human imagination and good sense; your gift to museum
s has special value, foresight being one of them. What librarians do und
erstand is this: a gift is also good-bye because you don't call the shot
s once given. That bike may well be used as trade bait to enhance the fo
cus of the museum's collection; you have to love your bike enough to give i
t without strings.
Hon Lee
Stockton, California -- where we continue to
have a lock on first place amongst foreclosures --
Estados Unidos much
as veces