A whole "frozen shadow" room--wow!  Now I've learned something.  In our
museum's now-defunct Hall of Photography we had only a "frozen-shadow"
COUNTER, and we thought we were so original!  We called it "The Lingering
Shadow," and the point was to demonstrate both high-speed electronic flash as
well as the temporary photographic effect.  A long, narrow counter at table
height with flash units above, its images were usually just visitors' hands
(occasionally feet, for the more adventurous--and I hope no one ever got any
more adventurous with body parts), so it was literally a hands-on exhibit.

That reminds me of a story, about the flash, not the shadows--I think I've
related it before, a couple of years ago, so Museum-L veterans, please bear
with me.  One day Harold Edgerton, the inventor of electronic flash, came to
visit, so I showed him the display while a solitary teenage girl was
concentrating on making creative hand-print designs with it.  He caught her
attention and, with a mischievous grin, pulled a postcard out of his pocket
and thrust it at her.  It had a reproduction of one of his famous frozen
milk-drop pictures.  Since she looked confused and a bit alarmed, as if a
dirty old man were showing her dirty pictures, I jumped in and said, "This is
Dr. Edgerton.  He invented electronic flash."  She gaped at the picture, then
at him, and yelped, "Oh, wow!"  It really made his day.  His memory lives on
in your frozen shadow rooms.

David Haberstich

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).