It wasn't my intent to tell anyone to overlook anything. The school that you
mentioned as having the first school offering museology courses certainly
deserves all credit due to it by a correct historic record.  My intent,
poorly executed as it may have been, was to allude to the fact that vague
superlatives (oldest, longest continuously operating, birthplace of...,
biggest, first, etc.) run rampant in Museums. And while some may make little
sense (World's Oldest Weather?) and some try to objectify purely subjective
experiences (Mount Washington's claim to have the "world's worst weather.")
and some are contradictory (There are at least two museums that claim to be
the birthplace of American Railroading that I know of and goodness knows how
many claim to be the birthplace of American Industrialism), they are all
earnestly believed by the institutions involved and all are probably
technically correct if one defines terms in just the right way. I suspect
the same is true of universities and their claims of uniqueness.

I meant it to be a flippant observation on the foibles of museum PR
departments. (I tried to add a little happy face at the end to denote a
joking demeanor).

My sincerest apologies for not more clearly illustrating my intent. I will
be more clear in the future.


--
Matthew White
Director of Museums
The Mount Washington Observatory
North Conway, New Hampshire




Adrienne DeAngelis said:

> OK, you're saying that we should overlook incorrect statements, willful or
> not, for the sake of promoting the museum, or in this case, the offer of
> the teaching position?  I wasn't saying that the present program is
> dishonest in its representation of itself; who knows, maybe everyone there
> had forgotten all about their predecessors. And, my understanding of the
> job market is that pointing out such mistakes will do nothing to impede the
> many applications that will be directed to Ms Ellis and the program.
> Adrienne DeAngelis

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