During our visit to the Royal Geographical Society, we were greeted to a table full of artifacts dealing with the content preserved at the RGS. Our speaker used these artifacts as vehicles for conveying information about worldly discoveries, tragedies, and amusing anecdotes from fields of study relating to RGS. A boot, some maps, an old biscuit, some photographs, and so on were left on a table. If these artifacts were found on the side of the road, someone would assuredly toss them in a garbage can. They are worth nothing, yet so much.
RGS provides the context for artifacts. It takes a map that seems to simply be painfully out of date or incorrect, and provides a context for the errors. It takes a dirty boot and turns it into proof of an event that hadn't been proven before its discovery. It takes some random notes left in an obscure location and explains how these notes prove that a group of people were successful or unsuccessful in their endeavor. Context. RGS takes "one man's trash is another man's treasure" and turns it into a scholarly endeavor where more and more of our understanding of human history is illuminated via context--via artifact or map or letter.
That context adds value. No one would think twice about taking a picture of an abandoned boot on a street corner, but a boot at RGS has immeasurable value because of its context. No one would dream of taking an unauthorized picture of it. A boot. on a table.
RGS provides context, and that context provides value.
RGS provides the context for artifacts. It takes a map that seems to simply be painfully out of date or incorrect, and provides a context for the errors. It takes a dirty boot and turns it into proof of an event that hadn't been proven before its discovery. It takes some random notes left in an obscure location and explains how these notes prove that a group of people were successful or unsuccessful in their endeavor. Context. RGS takes "one man's trash is another man's treasure" and turns it into a scholarly endeavor where more and more of our understanding of human history is illuminated via context--via artifact or map or letter.
That context adds value. No one would think twice about taking a picture of an abandoned boot on a street corner, but a boot at RGS has immeasurable value because of its context. No one would dream of taking an unauthorized picture of it. A boot. on a table.
RGS provides context, and that context provides value.