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“Deaccessions are fairly common,” said PILH Registrar and Assistant Curator Felipe De Paula. “That is when a museum, from time-to-time, find an item that perhaps does not belong at that museum any more. Deaccessions can happen for many reasons. Sometimes because the goals of a museum change, other times because a more suitable home is found for a particular artifact. When it’s determined that an object needs to be deaccessioned, we always attempt to find it an appropriate home in a nearby historical museum. This reciprocity among museums is vital towards preserving our area’s history and culture.”
In the most recent case, appropriately happening on Florida Heritage Day on Saturday, March 25 at the lighthouse, the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, the Port Orange Historical Trust, and the Port Orange Railway Society donated or received significant artifacts for and to each other’s collections.
On behalf of the lighthouse, Mr. De Paula gave the Port Orange Railway Society a metal railroad water pitcher and a red globe kerosene lantern. The water pitcher would have been used on an American railroad dining car in passenger service while the lantern was usually used to signal locomotives to stop or as a warning. Pictured are from left, PO Railway’s Billy Bates, PILH Registrar Felipe De Paula, Railway Society President Larry Powers, and Ed Roloson, Society member.
Besides these railroad pieces, a piece of art containing pressed plate etches of both the lighthouse and the Pacetti Hotel exchanged hands on Saturday. The etchings, done by artist Clark Garsney during the 1930s, was originally given to Gregory and Martha Gore, descendants of the Gardner and Pacetti families of early Ponce Park. The Gores donated it to the Port Orange Historic Trust, who in turn have donated it to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and Museum. Drew Kaplan, president of the trust, presented the framed piece to Mr. De Paula and the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and Museum during the events on Florida Heritage Day.
