WHY A MUSEUM COLLECTS AND PRESERVES ARTIFACTS

Land of the Free - Patriotic Button - Collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley - gift to the Musuem from James Fecht

Often artifacts, even small ones like this patriotic button in your Museum's collection, demonstrate important issues of their time. Here an American eagle soars in red, white and blue. The button is about four years old.
Now, take a closer look! See where the button was made.
Today, to support the war in Iraq, without an increase in taxes or the sale of war bonds, trillions of dollars are being spent. The dollars are being raised by the sale of US Treasury notes, and one of the major buyers is the People's Republic of China. This in effect puts present and future generations of Americans into debt to a foreign nation to fund a war - the first time in the history of the Republic.
Future generations will ask questions about today's political policies. Your Museum collects contemporary artifacts to help them answer their studies.