With regards to naming exhibits and halls..

Things can get out of hand.  In 1894, our first president, Harlow
Higginbotham, purchased a large gem collection and donated it to the Museum.
The Gem Hall was then named Higginbotham Hall, "in perpetuity."   The name
followed us to a new building, long after Harlow had passed on.  Some 90
years later, we solicited a large donation from the Grainger family, and in
return offered to name the Gem Hall after them.  Higginbotham's descendants
pointed out that this was inconsistent with Webster's definition of
"perpetuity."  So we ended up with an exhibit titled "The Grainger Gallery
of Gems" inside a space called "Higginbotham Hall."

Of course, everyone just calls it "the gem room."

My favorite is "The Kellogg World of Mammals" exhibit, inside "Carl Akeley
Memorial Hall," inside "The Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Wing."  And no, we did
not build a new wing.  Around 1993 we simply took three or four halls which
had existed since 1921, with no apparent architectural unity, and declared
them "a wing."

Again, everyone just calls it "the mammal hall."  Donor names are very
subtly displayed and never used for wayfinding.

Eugene W. Dillenburg
Coordinator, Special Projects
Exhibits Department
The Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago, Illinois  60605-2496
V: (312) 922-9410 x636
F: (312) 922-6973
E: [log in to unmask]

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