"Preserving Our Past" at Saratoga Springs NMR

I'm crazy about museums, as you'll no doubt glean from my posts. Anyway, a very cool new exhibit opens in Saratoga Springs at the National Museum of Racing. It runs until the end of the year, but if you're headed to The Spa for the Shadwell Travers or any racing weekend, you'll want to take this in.

They've taken what is now becoming the usual approach to fundraising and brought it straight to the public. The exhibit, entitled "Preserving Our Past" is made up of items in the NMR's collection that are in need of conservation. Within each little exhibit is the cost of what it would take to properly save and conserve the object on display. Curator Beth Sheffer says that she was inspired in 2006 to mount this kind of display and it makes complete sense. Show the visitors what is in the collection, let them be inspired and sometimes saddened about the condition of an artifact, and hope they'll step up to help sponsor it. It really brings the issues front and center to visitors and asks for their help in conserving the various pieces.