Sorry if anyone has already posted about this while I was
away ... I haven't checked the archives.
 
The February 1994 issue of _The Grapevine_ (News from the
Smithsonian Forum on Material Culture) contains several
items of potential interest to this list.  The three main
(short) articles are "The Stuff People are Made Of:  Musing
on Issues of Community-Based Collecting" by Steven Cameron
Newsome, "Waltzing with Walt" by Tom Freudenheim (more on
Disney in VA, etc.), and "Gem, Jewel, and Icon:  Looking at
the Hope Diamond" by Adrienne Kaeppler.
This newsletter also briefly reports on the charter meeting
of the Material Culture Studies Caucus of the American
Studies Association on November 4, 1993 in Boston.  The
Material Culture Caucus has a new email network called
ARTIFACT.  To subscribe to ARTIFACT, send email to Listserv
at UMDD.UMD.EDU.  Put nothing in the subject line; the
message should read "Subscribe ARTIFACT (your name),"
all on one line.
 
About _The Grapevine_:  to get on the mailing list contact
Cindy Ott (202) 357-2781; for questions and suggestions
contact Carla Borden (202) 287-3540.
 
The Chairman of the Smithsonian Forum on Material Culture
is Cynthia Adams Hoover (202) 357-1707.