>I would like to know what do you think about something:
>looking from the plain visitor's view, which shell museums do you think it
>worths to visit around the world?
>
>I know great Natural History Museums use to house big collections, but only
>a little part use to be accesable to common people (by the way, how
>little -or big- is that part in main musems?), anyway, I'm thinking more
>about museums specifically devoted to molluscs.
>
>Any opinion welcome.


In my opinion public museums are the pits. There is an increasing
trend to "pop" museums, with near zero natural history and absolutely
zero information. I avoid them.

Apart from the Baily-Matthews, the only dedicated shell museum I know
of is Piet Hessel's
Stichting Schepsel Schelp
<[log in to unmask]>
in netherlands... Piet cruised twice through NZ and I gave him some
material; I think the museum is mainly fossil material. Can't
remember his website URL.

The Geology Dept (Otago University), my workplace, has a small
geology museum which is by default at least half dedicated to
fossils... and as I am the default curator, the mollusc proportion is
growing more disproportionately large with time! Anyone visiting NZ
and passing through Dunedin is more than welcome to come in for a
look and a chat...

The Otago Museum, one minute's walk from Geology, recently set-up a
new gallery in a new wing, and this is largely dedicated to fossils
from southern NZ. I and my boss were heavily involved, and almost
every specimen is on loan from us... the only specimen deisplayed
which is owned by the musum is a penguin bone; the only other 2 not
owned by Geology belong to me! There is a lot of mollusc material, a
large Cretaceous plesiosaur (holotype of a new genus/species),
several whales, a large Carcharodon with 154 teeth, a giant 4-5m
moonfish (Lamprididae new genus)... admittance is free.
--
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.
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