I really only see a few problems with the situation.

Nobody cared or noticed these offending feathers when they were displayed at
National Geographic or Duke University or when they were owned by this
mysterious and unkown collector.  When did somebody decide to make a fuss?
OH, when the offending piece belonged to the Secretary of the Smithsonian!
What a coincidence!

Oh, and the Washington Post should probably try to do a little research and
be a little more responsible in their reporting, try finding out what the
"trust fund" at the Smithsonian really is before you put it into print.  (By
the way, they are NOT "private" funds)

On another line, about this "tribal" feather piece.  Was it made before or
after the birds that were previous "owners" of the offending feathers became
endangered?  Shouldn't that be taken into account?  Just some fuel for the
fire.

Trish




>From: Indigo Nights <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Scandal at the Smithsonian
>Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 06:32:49 -0800
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>There have been a couple of newsworthy museum stories
>in the last 24 hours that I'm surprised this group has
>bypassed.  The biggest of these involve Lawrence
>Small, head of the Smithsonian:
>
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37118-2004Jan21.html
>
>Another article on this story can be found on the
>MuseNews lists:
>
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MuseNews-Art
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MuseNews-General
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MuseNews-History
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MuseNews-Science
>
>
>=====
>Indigo Nights
>[log in to unmask]
>
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