----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 11:23 PM
Subject: petition


> From:[log in to unmask] (Eisenmann, Vera)
> >Subject:Pétition
>
> Here is the text of the letter that I plan to send  to the
> Smithsonian with as many signatures as I can get.  I am pasting it
> into this email since I know that some of you have trouble with
> attachments.   Here is what I want from you:   1.  Please distribute
> this email to other  interested colleagues and ask them to email me
> back if they want to have their  names on this letter.   2.  If you
> want to sign on, please email me  back to that effect, followed by a
> four line statement with  your name, title, department and
> institution.  Make is so that I can  cut that section and paste it into
> the text.  I already have the names of  Joukowsky, Kohl, Matney,
> Rubinson, Russell and Stein.   The letter will be sent to the trustees,
> secretary  and the members of congress and the senate who sit on
> the appropriate  committees.  It will be addressed to Renquist, who
> is the chair of the  board of trustees.   The board of trustees will
> meet on May 6, so I will mail the letters off on May 1, with however
> many names that I have, in alphabetical order.  The letters will carry
> no letterhead, since they represent a broad group.   Here is the text:
>
>
> The undersigned strongly urge a reconsideration of the decision by
> Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small to close the Smithsonian
> Center for  Materials Research and Education (SCMRE). SCMRE
> performs a critical role in the  two central missions of the
> Smithsonian: 1. to enable the holding of "artifacts  and scientific
> specimens in trust for "the increase and diffusion of  knowledge",
> and 2. To serve as "a center for research dedicated to public
> education, national service, and scholarship in the arts, sciences,
> and history."
>
> The collections of the Smithsonian attract large numbers of visitors
> every  year who expect to increase their knowledge of the arts,
> science and history  through their interaction with the exhibits. The
> long term care of these  collections must, then, be a top priority in
> meeting the Smithsonian's  responsibility for the stewardship of the
> nation's treasures. At its inception  SCMRE (then known as the
> Conservation Analytical Laboratory - CAL) served as the  only
> conservation laboratory for most of the Institution. With the
> development  of individual museum based conservation programs,
> SCMRE's mandate was changed to  focus its efforts in collection
> care on developing new techniques of  conservation, examining
> larger questions of the long term viability of materials  in museum
> environments, and building a high impact training program in
> conservation and conservation science. The work has been of direct
> benefit not  only to the constellation of arts and science museums of
> the Smithsonian, but to  museums around the country and the world.
> Surely leadership in the science of  object conservation is a natural
> and expected role for the Smithsonian. In fact,  there is no other
> center for conservation science in the country that fills this  need.
>
> SCMRE also plays a critical role in bringing scholars in the arts and
> humanities together with the techniques and approaches of the
> natural and  physical sciences. Materials research conducted at
> SCMRE applies cutting edge  analytical methods, such as neutron
> activation analysis, electron microscopy and  molecular biology to
> the study of archaeological artifacts, skeletal remains,  and other
> materials. Through this process, the artifacts held by the
> Smithsonian  and at museums and universities worldwide, can be
> made to tell far richer stories relating to the history of technology,
> methods of manufacture, the  process of trade and exchange, and
> the evolution of our own species. The  training and outreach
> component of this work, engaging Native Americans and  Latinos in
> the study of their own material cultural heritage, has served as a
> model for the inclusion of wider constituencies in scientific
> research. Once  again there is no other comparable center in the
> United States since the range  of expertise represented, and the
> range of techniques developed in the SCMRE is  not possible in a
> university setting where the departmental structure makes such
> interdisciplinary work very difficult.
>
> It seems to us extraordinarily short sighted to cut an internationally
>  respected research center with so broad and critical a role for the
> maintenance  and study of museum materials. The proposed cuts
> would not only greatly diminish  the Smithsonian's ability to maintain
> and study its own collections, but would  leave the Nation without an
> institution that would ensure that these skills were  passed on to the
> rest of the country. Again, we strongly urge you to reconsider  the
> decision to close the SCMRE.
>
> Dr Véra Eisenmann, Laboratoire de Paléontologie, 8 rue Buffon,
> 75005 Paris.
> Tel : 33 1 40 79 30 22,
> Fax : 33 1 40 79 35 80,
> Tel domicile : 33 1 43 83 69 49

Maria-João Valente
Auxiliary Professor
Departamento de História, Arqueologia e Património
Universidade do Algarve - Portugal