There is one activity that the county museums can do far better than the large museums in city centres and that is develop collections related to their regions. In the province of Ontario for example we have slightly under 200 community based museums recognized by the provincial government. They are more effective in preserving provincial history than the Royal Ontario Musuems of the world but under the present political climate 'those thats got, gets'. So the rest of us starve because we cannot muster the hype and the connections. Yes we do suffer from exhibits that in many cases are boring and passive but do not forget that in those storage rooms are the collections that will in time provide the material of understanding. Maurice D. Smith, Curator, Marine Museum of the Great Lakes.