Hi, all,

This list has been remarkably quiet about the Field Museum's recent acquistion
 of Sue, the dinosaur.  Fortunately, for those who might be interested, much of
 what *could* have been said here has been said, instead, in the local papers
 -- in particular in the Chicago Tribune.  There wasn't much new for old-timers
 like many of us, but it has been interesting to see it all being said in
 public, for a change.  (It might also be of interest to a museum studies
 class....)

The Tribune has a Web site (http://www.chicago.tribune.com/) and an America
 Online site, as well.  If you visit either and search using "Tyrannosaurus" or
 "dinosaur" or some other related term, you can dig up about a dozen articles
 like the ones listed below.  (Be warned that the titles on the Web site
 articles are often generic -- at least look at everything you turn up!).  The
 following listings include titles, dates, and the first few paragraphs (for
 review purposes only, of course).  I put the articles in reverse chronological
 order, because the ones most interesting to the list have been published most
 recently.

I'm kind of proud of the reporters who work for our old Tribune -- I think they
 picked up on most of the major issues surrounding Sue's purchase.  However, on
 behalf of the entire City of Chicago, I apologize for all the awful puns in
 the headlines!

Eric Gyllenhaal
[log in to unmask]

*****

CULTURE'S NEW DEEP POCKETS
ARE CORPORATE TIE-INS AND BLOCKBUSTER SHOWS SAVING OR DESECRATING MUSEUMS? (a
 pair of "pro" and "con" articles)
Date: Monday, October 13, 1997
Section: TEMPO
Column: Commentary.
Copyright Chicago Tribune
     A NECESSARY EVIL
     By Charles Leroux, Tribune Staff Writer.
   "To blockbuster or not to blockbuster?
   "For Chicago's major museums, the question is moot, made so by the economic
 realities of our time. As has been the case over the past three decades,
 collections in the foreseeable future will be dominated by big-thunder
 attractions...."

     JUST PLAIN EVIL
     By Howard Reich, Tribune Arts Critic.
   "With public support for the arts and humanities apparently withering,
 perhaps it's no surprise that cash-strapped museums have been turning to a
 different source of support: corporate America.
   "Museums, theaters and concert halls realized years ago that the days of
 counting on beleaguered government agencies such as the National Endowment for
 the Arts were coming to an end. In the lean, mean, fend-for-yourself '90s,
 America's curators and artists began flocking to the nation's board rooms
 singing that golden oldie, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"...."

MUSEUMS' CORPORATE TIES RATTLE SOME BONES
Date: Sunday, October 12, 1997
Source: By Stevenson Swanson, Tribune Staff Writer. Tribune staff writer Susan
 Chandler in Chicago contributed to this report.
Section: NEWS
Dateline: NEW YORK
Copyright Chicago Tribune
   "When a new science and industry museum opened in Oregon in 1993, an auto
 manufacturer paid the museum to put one of its new vehicles on display. The
 museum, which had no related car exhibits, agreed.
   "Over the summer, the American Museum of Natural History here drew large
 crowds with a glitzy exhibition, sponsored by another car company, that was
 linked to the Steven Spielberg movie "The Lost World: Jurassic Park." The
 exhibition included displays of scientifically shaky Hollywood versions of
 many dinosaurs. And, of course, a car.
   "Last week, Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History paid a staggering $8.3
 million for the tyrannosaurus rex skeleton known as Sue. Much of the money
 will come from two Fortune 500 corporate sponsors, and a new fossil
 preparation lab in the museum's main hall will be named after one of those
 companies...."

FIELD TOLD IT WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR DINO NAME
THAT $8.3 MILLION DIDN'T INCLUDE SUE
Date: Friday, October 10, 1997
Source: By Sue Ellen Christian, Tribune Staff Writer.
Section: METRO CHICAGO
Copyright Chicago Tribune
   "The Field Museum of Natural History may not be able to call its new, $8.3
 million Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton by the only name it has ever known, Sue,
 without getting the permission of the private fossil-finding institute that
 first christened the bones.
   "The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in Hill City, S.D., which
 recovered the bones in 1990, is claiming trademark rights based on past
 marketing of Sue paraphernalia, officials said Thursday.
   ""We've used the name Sue since the fall of 1990, from almost the moment we
 took her out of the ground," said Marion Zenker, marketing coordinator at the
 institute. "We're one of the few places that has ever named a dinosaur.
 Usually they are just given catalog numbers."..."

BRINGING T. REX TO CHICAGO
Date: Friday, October 10, 1997
Section: EDITORIAL
Copyright Chicago Tribune
   "Sometime about 65 million years ago a huge Tyrannosaurus rex--among the
 most fearsome creatures ever to roam the planet--died in a streambed in the
 middle of South Dakota."
   [big cut]
   "There were disquieting aspects about the purchase, raising concerns about
 more auctions with more exorbitant prices for dinosaur remains--at once
 encouraging amateur explorers to pillage fossil beds for gain and selling the
 remains into private hands.
   "There ought to be such concerns, but there also ought to be celebration
 that this particular tyrannosaur will stay in the public domain. And there is
 no more worthy public domain than the Field--already renowned for its dinosaur
 exhibit--where Sue will go on display after two years of painstaking
 preparation, an event that also will be open to the public...."

PALEONTOLOGISTS PICK BONES OVER PRICEY FOSSILS
Date: Thursday, October 9, 1997
Source: By William Mullen, Tribune Staff Writer.
Section: METRO CHICAGO
Copyright Chicago Tribune
   "The $8.3 auction sale of Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex fossil to the Field
 Museum of Natural History may have created a monster that will scare even the
 most intrepid dinosaur hunters in the future.
   "That is what some of the biggest names in the dinosaur business were saying
 Wednesday as 900 scientists gathered at the Ramada Congress Hotel for the
 four-day meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
   ""I try to find the upside of it (the Sue auction), but I can't find it
 yet," said John Horner, the model of the paleontologist hero of the "Jurassic
 Park" book and movie...."

THE WHEELING AND DEALING THAT SNARED A TYRANNOSAUR
Date: Tuesday, October 7, 1997
Source: By Stevenson Swanson, Tribune Staff Writer. Tribune staff writers
 Susan Chandler in Chicago and V. Dion Haynes in Los Angeles contributed to
 this report.
Section: NEWS
Copyright Chicago Tribune
   "The three were top officials of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History,
 and they had just seen the Tyrannosaurus rex fossil nicknamed Sue at the
 warehouse of Sotheby's, the auction house.
   ""It was as spectacular as we had heard that it was," said John Flynn, head
 of the museum's geology department. "Overall, the bone is exquisitely
 preserved."
   "The museum's leaders brought six months of intense behind-the-scenes
 negotiating and planning to fruition Saturday. Outbidding many competitors,
 the museum bought the skeleton for $8.3 million, most likely the highest price
 paid for a fossil...."

ACQUISITION OF DINOSAUR MAKES BOY A FIELD FAN
TYRANNOSAURUS REX COMING TO MUSEUM
Date: Monday, October 6, 1997
Source: By William Mullen and Dave Newbart, Tribune Staff Writers.
Section: METRO CHICAGO
Copyright Chicago Tribune
   "Troy Connolly, an 8-year-old 3rd grader from Channahon, had exactly the
 kind of reaction the Field Museum of Natural History hoped to elicit when it
 spent an unprecedented $8.3 million to buy Sue, the celebrated tyrannosaurus
 rex skeleton.
   ""Troy is just crazy about dinosaurs," said his mother, Teresa, as she
 shepherded her family through the Field's dinosaur exhibit Sunday afternoon
 while her son ran ahead of the group. "He had been following the whole story
 about Sue being up for sale.
   ""He got incredibly excited yesterday when he heard that the Field Museum
 was the winning bidder. He insisted so strongly that Sue would be here today
 we decided to come. He's still excited just being here, even though Sue
 isn't."..."

FIELD MUSEUM CLAIMS SUE AS ITS OWN
$8 MILLION AT AUCTION WINS PRIZED T. REX
Date: Sunday, October 5, 1997
Source: By Stevenson Swanson,Tribune Staff Writer.
Section: NEWS
Dateline: NEW YORK
Copyright Chicago Tribune
   "In an auction that was charged with high-stakes drama, Chicago's Field
 Museum of Natural History outbid eight competitors Saturday and bought the
 dinosaur fossil known as Sue for more than $8 million.
   "Sue, the largest and most complete tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in existence,
 will become a permanent display at the museum starting in 2000, according to
 museum President John McCarter, who announced plans for the fossil following
the auction at Sotheby's...."