What is the value of collecting works of art and artifacts fo artistic and historical nature for the academic museum? Why is it desirable to expend efforts and resources in the maintenance and care of objects that help us define ourselves or our past? These are the questions whose answers describe the university or college museum's intention to bring these values to the students and the campus community. The role of the collection in the academic environment is to provide an ongoing opportunity for works of art to be viewed and, more importantly, studied, providing a dialogue among members of the art audience to learn about cultural and aesthetic values. Collections begin the moment art objects are acquired by the college. Some are from generous donors whose interest in particular types of art brought them pleasure during their lives to be shared with others in the future. Some collections are provided with an interest in impacting upon the visual environment of the campus with works of art that engender discussions. Others may afford a provocative view of art and society either in the recent or distant past. Art is never meant to "decorate," but intends to facilitate our passage through life. The museum collection has never been more successful to this end than in the present, however, it must be noted that the notion of building and art collection appeared more than 2000 years ago with the Greek Hellenistic reverence for the treasures of their own culture and the preservation fo relics of their past: About 290 B.C. Ptolemy I established a center of learning [in Alexandria] dedicated to the muses (hence "museum," house of the muses, "mouseion" in Greek). It consisted of the famous library in addition to collections in all of the museum fields, and astronomical observatory, and facilities for research and for establishment and was, in fact, the first real museum. Thus, the museum and its collections were deemed important in the preservation of art and artifacts of the past, even in the Ancient World. Earlier still, in 5th century B.C. Greece, we are told fo the Pinakotheke, a building on the Athenian Acropolis that is known to have supported a picture gallery. The northern wing of the Propylaea contains a large rectangular hall that provided, according to architectural historian Marvin Trachtenberg, "the first room known to be built especially for this purpose. Light was admitted through the central doorway and the flanking windows; the pictures themselves were displayed on boards fastened to the walls." In our present day conception of the collecting and exhibiting of art in the academic environment, we realize the significance fo providing our public with the opportunity to study the objects in the collection, an important function of the Lore Degenstein Gallery. Not only do we display special exhibitions from collections outside the university, but we make available the works that are maintained within the Gallery's collection. An example of this effort can be noted in our use of the Joseph and Ann Silbaugh gift of French Posters. A photograph of each poster is currently being entered into a database and will subsequently be stored on a CD-ROM disc that can be borrowed from the Gallery for for the purpose of studying the artwork. An added measure of interest in this collection is the benefit of sharing some of the work with other institutions in travelling exhibition. An exhibition organized by the Gallery with the assistance of museum studies students and interns, entitled "Marketing Mamas: the Provocative Woman in French Advertising Art," has travelled to Colgate University where it was shown in the Picker Art Museum. Since the Lore Degenstein Gallery's inception in 1993, numerous gifts and collections of artwork have been brought into the permanent collection. The present exhibtion invites a brief glance at some of these objects, demostrating the strengths and the treasures that they represent. Among the various gifts, we show a small group of ancient artifacts that were given to the university many years ago. The donor's name and the provenance of these pieces (the history of the objects' posession through time) are, at present, unknown, however, we display the objects in the hope of learning more about them. Featured in this group is a small pinched-lip pitcher -- and "oenochoe" from Ancient Greece. It is a red-figure terra-cotta vase in the style that originated around 530 B.C. and was used for pouring liquid, perhaps water or wine. Noting the profile of the face on the front of the vase, the image of a greek deity comes to mind. Although little is known about its provenance, it provides a meaningful dialogue with its viewer. Other artworks given to the university since 1993 invite an appreciation of the artists who created them. Though the exhibition is diverse in its offerings, it shows the variety of aesthetic approaches in the collection. Dr. Valerie Livingston Red-figure Oenochoe. Greek. Terra cotta. c. 6th-4th century BCE. Permanent Collection of the Lore Degenstein Gallery.