On Tue, 28 Jun 1994 09:34:29 EDT,
<[log in to unmask]>  ED PERSHEY wrote:
 
>The best approach over all is to keep our sense of humor about all this.
>. . . after that, my wife and I were walking in the local mall and I was
>approached by a young person doing a marketing poll. She asked my profession,
>and I told her "museum curator." After jotting down a few more bits of
>info, she stopped short and asked "What was that 'c' word?"
 
In 1979 Mississippi Governor-elect William Winter, an educator and
excellent historian, was trying to convince the Legislature that the
Governor's Executive Residence (a superb example of 1840s Greek Revival
architecture _and_ a National Historic Landmark) required a full-time
curator. During the floor debate one of the honorable representatives
responded, "Why in heaven do we need a *curator*--nobody's died in
that place fer years . . ."  Needless to say, as the Mansion's first
Curator (1980-84), I realized that--if for future funding alone--we had
some work cut out for us! ANNE D. CZARNIECKI