In response to Pamela Sezgin's question, I naturally think of my own museum's name change 20 years ago, from the National Museum of History and Technology to the National Museum of American History. While the "history" part was always understood to be American history, the "technology" aspect was largely international in scope. After two previous directors had emphasized our "American" side to a greater extent than their predecessors had and most of the technology curators did, the new name, National Museum of American History, became official while Roger Kennedy was director. In a meeting with a staff organization which I attended, Kennedy stated that the name change would make us sound "sexier" to Congress and lead to increased federal funding, but that it really wouldn't modify our programs. I don't know if he really believed that or was merely joking, but of course eventually the name change had profound effects, and our international collections, many of which are of great importance, are being progressively obscured by the emphasis on American objects and "stories". Many significant technological artifacts are no longer on display, and I personally think this is a shame. So I guess that's a negative, despite how positive we may feel about "American history". It's interesting to consider how this name change has contributed to the current Smithsonian turmoil, much of which concerns the nature of our particular museum and how American history should be interpreted. Roger Kennedy's prediction was incorrect (and we didn't get substantially more federal funding anyway). 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).