Does the Pioneer Museum Need Saving?

The Pioneer Museum has a rocky history, filled with many calls to the public to "save" it. Is this crying wolf or does the museum need saved again? There's a big, beautiful building on the end of the street so things can't be that dire can they? Well, yes. A big, beautiful building devoid of community interaction and the trust of the community is its own eyesore and not beneficial to Lander.

• Having a building does not make a museum, as museums are founded on the idea of the public trust and serving as places where a community's memories are stored. If there is a building that is not built on the principles of public trust and sound museum ethics, it is nothing more than a warehouse from which a community's history can disappear at the whim of county staff. Lander never wanted an untrustworthy warehouse ... they wanted a MUSEUM.
  
• A museum that does not use basic museum standards of care and cataloguing is no different than a library that is allowed to arrange its books by color instead of LOC or Dewey decimal. Or would we want a police force that is not trained in CPR or First Aid? Or would we stand to visit a courthouse that organizes and allows access to its records at a clerk's whim instead of by a standardized system? We've all watched as a county has scrutinized how the fair sells its tickets, but the atrocities going on behind the scenes of the museum are much worse, and veiled in a defensive board more concerned with their own image rather than doing what is right.
• Mostly, when the community was last asked to "Save our Museum" we did so based on the idea of a place where our treasured artifacts would be safe and a museum that promoted the interactions of a variety of non-profits as well as community events and involvement. We wanted better than we had previously instead of worse, and have a cadre of volunteers ready to help. We are not even getting that. Volunteers and community involvement are being pushed away and museum standards are sitting at pre-1990 levels.

So yes Lander, our museum needs your help again. More over, the Pioneer museum holds artifacts from across the county and records of the county's earliest history and we need your help! Call, write or attend a meeting and let those in charge know that we expect more of them!