A looming question on my mind, of late, is who exactly owns the past? In a simple way, I would respond that we collectively own the past and all of its artifacts. As humans, we live, work, play, worship, and interact within a community of others. What we do, and what we say, is contingent upon, and a result of, interactions with significant people we meet and know.
None of us can take our worldly goods with us. Any material goods will remain on the earth, in some form, until the earth itself is no longer. For this reason, it strikes me a little “funny” when certain people want to place proprietary rights of ownership, or usage, on items that like everything else are just passing through their hands.
Lately, it seems that whenever someone announces an intent to study a particular topic of textile history, a statement is made that appears to carry the same message, almost akin to the growl of a dog. In other words, “Stay away.”
My point is this: today, quilt research seems to revolve largely around money, particularly for museums who see quilts as an untapped resource for themselves to somehow attract the public and somehow make money. Yet, no one person can ever truly “own” a quilt held in a facility, any more than an individual (or museum) can have exclusive rights to a fabric in an old quilt, just because they happen to want to reproduce it.
Money is a necessary component of everyday life. It becomes evil when its acquisition comprises the sole gist of our existence.
To my way of thinking, all of history and all historical artifacts, whatever they may be, truly belong to us all. It is sinful to withhold information about the past that could help any of us in our understanding of life and its affects.
It is equally unreasonable to assume that if “X” person is studying “Z,” then only “X” person should be the one who is studying “Z.” So much for the idea of “proprietary scholarship!”
And now, back to my sick bed. The flu is not fun!
