David Haberstich schrieb:
>  I know, I know, you're thinking, didn't we bury the "continents"
> debate? I don't want to revive the debate, but have been ruminating
> about this since I read Dr. Mueller-Straten's message of Sept. 23,
> suggesting an exhibition about continents, and I wondered if anyone
> could suggest what such an exhibition might look like. If you were going
> to curate such an exhibition, what, if anything, would you display in
> the way of original artifacts (let's assume, just for the sake of
> argument, that you're one of those old fuddy-duddies who thinks it's
> important for museums to display historical artifacts). If you were
> going to do a museum exhibition devoted to explaining the nature of
> continents, what would you show? Does this subject even lend itself to a
> museum exhibition, or would the written word--in a book or an
> article--be the best vehicle. Perhaps a movie would be the best
> medium--I can envision a PBS special (or perhaps they've already done
> it?).

Dear David,

I do not dare to anticipate creative thinking on the subject of a "continent
exhibition", but there many ways to find the respective material. Just to start
with:

Give a short introduction on the word
also on the history of the discoveries of the continents (much material)
Illustrate this with old maps and atlasses, also with log books and discovery
journals (much material)
Continents seen from "the other side": What was the understanding of the
cultures in India, China or Japan for examples of Europe, Africa or the
Americas?
Continents and races: Secrets of blood factors (much interesting material)
Give a short introduction on the symbolic representations of the continents in
western iconography (much material)
Today`s use of the word: background of different list of continents (just to
start at the end of the eMail discussion)... Not to forget:
The civilisation and the sauvage, theories of cultures, the geographical point
of view.

Of course, there is much more to think of. As I made clear, the term c. cannot
be understood alone from the geographical point of view.

Best regards


CMS

Verlag Dr. C. Mueller-Straten, Kunzweg 23, D-81243 Muenchen,
Tel/Fax: 089-839 690 43, http://WebMuseen.de/VERLAGCMS
MAGAZINES AND BOOKS IN MUSEOLOGY (GERMAN/ENGLISH)+ GERMAN THESAURI