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 -- romantification...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]