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?).

The reason there was a debate about this subject seems to be that the
popular writing which is available to the average person on the
"continents" is inadequate at best and sloppy at worst. It would appear
that geographers don't even take the issue very seriously, resulting in
conflicting "lists" of the continents, some of which don't even include
Antarctica, possibly based on what seems to me the irrelevant fact that
no one lives there. Incidentally, I found support in two places for the
notion of "Oceania" as a continent. My Hammond Atlas calls Oceania a
continent, then lists Australia under the heading, as if it were a
subsidiary continent, totally without explanation. Encyclopedia articles
talk about continental plates, but don't clarify where or what they are
and how they relate to the conventional, historical naming of
continents. I've made no effort to check more specialized or scholarly
sources because it almost seems as if it should be unnecessary with
regard to such a fundamental subject.
  Anyway, while it's clear to me that some explanation in this field
addressed to the general public would be of value, I'm curious as to how
a museum exhibit might serve as the right vehicle. Any takers?

 --David Haberstich