Elln Bulger wrote,
> The people who think seashells are rocks aren't going to learn or retain
much from any exhibit. They are out there, but they are oblivious to the
natural world and no display will change that. If the museums are going to
be designed with the lugnuts in mind, well that's a sorry state of affairs.
The trend is big stupid exhibits for the public and the collections for the
academics only. Yale's Peabody is all about collections for study and the
mere civilians can't get near it. Never mind how we were dazzled as children
by large collections on display. And heaven forfend everything isn't
interpreted and force fed.

I miss the old exhibits too. And museums where people expected children to
be quiet and self-disciplined, and somehow enjoyed the experience too.

As to that, it's not just the museums. I recently attended a concert of the
Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, a small professional orchestra that is heard
on National Public Radio now and then. They played a popular piece, Dvorak's
New World Symphony, so the hall was nearly filled, but the audience was well
dressed, including young and old people, and they sat still and listened
quietly through the whole piece. It was heavenly after years of enduring
increasing amounts of chaos in movie theaters and concert halls and museums.

> What the curators don't get is that there are many things besides their
particular agenda that people can get from viewing an extensive collection.
The viewers reaction might be an aesthetic one. Artists and designers
benefit and writers and philosophers. But no, the scientific academics are
the only ones allowed.

Ellen, the curators are no longer in charge of most museums of natural
history. If you check out the job ads for directors of museums, you will see
qualifications that emphasize effective management, grant-getting, and
public relations: It's all about business these days. As for the exhibitors,
I have a lot of respect for them but I do think that the curators and
exhibitors ought to eat lunch together more often to discuss ideas. However,
please don't imagine that either exhibitors or curators run the show at most
museums anymore.

> It goes hand in hand with the eco-fundamentalism that supports shelling
bans. The thought process is there is one valid way to have a relationship
with the natural world.

And only one way to exhibit shells, eh?

> To get off my rant for a bit, the best place to see the marvelous
diversity of shells these days is to hit a shell show. Plan your vacations
around something like the Astronaut Trail club's shell show, or the COA
convention. Much more exciting than weaving through strollers past giant
fiberglass shells.

Huh. After cursing the darkness, you light a candle! I like that.

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama