I agree - and I think it's their dedication to the truly ordinary that makes them so appealing. One of the most successful exhibitions I've ever seen was one done by my friend Ed Laine, an historian at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. - which was successful for, inter alia, precisely this reason. "Cradle to Grave" was an eclectic collection of materials of popular culture, ranging from the 1790s to the present, used at every stage of life from birth to death. There are VERY few artifacts in our Canada (history) Hall to which visitors can relate from their personal experience; what made "Cradle" very appealing was the high proportion of objects to which visitors - of ALL ages (and this is important!) could relate, and around which tell stories to their families and friends. We saw this all through the life of the exhibition. While a number of our colleagues called it "boring", "a mish-mash", a "cabinet of household junk", and a few even less friendly names, it was a VERY popular exhibition which quite obviously allowed visitors to use it as a teaching and communications tool in their relationships with other visitors. For me, this represents ultimate success in an exhibition, especially one of popular culture. Harry Needham Canadian War Museum