Michelle, I thought that your proverbial 2 cents were very fine, with one exception. I don't think that its true that [paraphrase, my email doesn't do quotes] "museums, particularly in this country, are public institutions." In my experience, museums, particularly in this country, are private institutions, which function with decreasingly significant public support. Now, these institutions have a public mandates, usually by charter, mission, and other things (like IRS determination of nfp status), but the boards are decidedly private, and they are the final arbiters of museum policy. Even in the instances where museums are public, like LA County Museum or Detroit Institute of Art, private funding and private board membership are the norm. The Smithsonian, of course, is an exceptions, which is where the Enola Gay controversy get's kinda fuzzy in my mind. This contrasts pretty distinctly with museums throughout Europe and, I think, most of the world, where the institution tends to be publicly funded and operated. I don't know that this really has a tremendous impact on the exhibition and interpretation decisions that museums make, but the difference is there. Eric Siegel [log in to unmask]