>Hear, hear!!
>
>Tom E.
>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: Conchologists of America List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
>>  Behalf Of Ellen Bulger
>>  Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 2:42 PM
>>  To: [log in to unmask]
>>  Subject: Re: "Pop" shell museums and Crescent Beach.
>>
>>
>>  I do find contemporary museums a dumbed-down bore. Only the iceberg tip
>>  of most collections are on view and the bulk of the space is given over
>>  to giant "Gee-Whiz, Water is Wet!" exhibits. The assumption seems to be
>>  that the typical museum visitor is only as bright as a twenty-watt
>>  bulb. That is not true, and visitors who are that dim aren't going to
>>  learn anything despite all the 12-foot tall giant ears and force-fed
>>  monosyllabic interpretations with lift-the-flap quizzes. People bring
>>  their kids out of a sense of obligation, but by and large adults are
>>  bored.
>>
>>  I'll take something like the Cambridge Peabody's victorian collections
>>  over giant rubber models any day.

Absolutely! My boss keeps trying to limit the amount of material in
our Geology Dept museum... printing up A3 sheets with captions
(taxonomic name only, for teaching purposes) for a few specimens. I
keep adding new taxa when I have collected and prepared them... so
there is a lot of material. I think this is what people want to see
(I know *I* do)... specimens.

>Our new fossil hall opens May 22, 2004.  It will include about 400 real
>fossil invertebrates all displayed in elegant wall cases......And for the
>unenlightened we'll also have about 100 of those pesky vertebrate fossils
>on display too.

Yeah, vertebrates take uop too much room. We have fossil whales all
over the place.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 473-8863
<[log in to unmask]>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut
________________________________
I want your sinistral gastropods!
________________________________
Opinions in this e-mail are my own, not those of my institution
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A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
Q: Why is top posting frowned upon?