[sfaford85]

I work in a small county museum in Illinois and unfortunately artifacts were not always properly respected.

I had heard stories about the staff and volunteers eating lunch together on a large table that was part of the museum collection. I thought this was odd, but as we now eat in the kitchen (on card tables) I never really thought much about it beyond that.

This summer we had a change in directors, with the former board president taking over the executive role. My first task...find the large table and bring it back out for a more proper lunch room setting. By this time I had become familiar with our collection and politely told my boss no such table existed. She asked to be shown the storage room and immediately pointed to a large desk in a corner, proclaiming that was the table. When I saw what she was pointing to I couldn't believe it; they had been eating lunch on the desk used by President Grant to sign the Treaty with Russia that gave us Alaska. (This was purchased at auction with proper paperwork and given to us by a local resident several years ago.)

I was able to convince her for awhile that the desk was a valuable piece of history and our collection and shouldn't be used for meals. However, any time we have a special event coming up I am still asked (and forced to politely decline) to bring out the large table.