Eric, the *first* sentence in my message and *only* the first  sentence,
is the *full* text of the NMAI wall panel. They *extracted* that
seemingly complimentary fragment from Twain's boorish, racist, essay,
which mocks both Indians and Irishmen.
    The long passage is *my* resurrection of the context from which NMAI
ripped the *misquotation*. Please *read* messages before you react to
them! While I do *not* as you assert below, give any "blanket
condemnation" of modern museum accuracy and balance, your misreading of
my message and your irrelevant response to it could serve as examples of
the quality of information handling I frequently find in exhibitions.
 
 
On Thu, 3 Nov 1994, Eric Siegel wrote:
 
>           Thanks for that long excerpt from Twain. I have to say that
>           it *sounds* as if Twains ironic tone is carried through on
>           the wall-panel, though I don't know what the panel refers
>           to (haven't had a chance to get to the Battery yet).
>
>           If the panel is meant as a description of white people's
>           treacly romanticisation (is that an ugly neologism --
>           romantificat/ion...romanticizing!) of the Indians, then it is
>           true to the original's intent, I think.
>
>           If it is intended to be a description of the beauty of
>           Indian crafts, then not only is it a distortion, but it is
>           poorly chosen. I mean, who can read the word "dainty"
>           without thinking that there is some ironic intent.
>
>           Anyway, I think that your blanket condemnation of the
>           accuracy of museum texts, and your implicit tone that they
>           have all descended into mediocre PC-ness, deserves
>           challenging. I personally think that the attempt at being
>           inclusive in both medium and content is worth pursuing, and
>           that the intellectual level of museum exhibits and
>           interpretation is worlds above the blockbuster-era and
>           earlier extravaganzas. But then again, I'm here in NYC,
>           which may be different than Washington (howzabout that for
>           a gauntlet thrown!).
>
>           Anyway, its nice to have such an engaged and partisan
>           consumer of museum stuff on this list.
>
>           Eric Siegel
>           [log in to unmask]
>
>
 
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