In the October 20, 2016 issue of The New York Times, Graham Bowley wrote about the Smithsonian Institution’s Kickstarter crowd funding campaign to raise $300,000 to study and conserve its pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the movie The Wizard of Oz (“Smithsonian Seeks $300,000 to Save Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers”). After the article was published, a number of laypeople expressed great astonishment to me about the amount. Yes Toto , the price of conservation can be quite high– but the end result is worth the expense.