>>Would anyone please suggest an excellent guide to the art of the preparator? >>There must be some favorite sources out there. > >>Preparation is an art and it requires an >>apprenticeship (and an inordinate amount of patience). Can anybody define the term for me, please? In Europe, at least in the Netherlands and Germany, 'preparator' is a term related to 'taxidermist'. It is in fact the term used for a conservator in a natural history museum. I got the impression from the answers to the initial question that in the US the term is used in a different and/or wider sense. Am I right? The AAT also suggests a broader scope. Peter van Mensch senior lecturer of theoretical museology and museum ethics Reinwardt Academie Amsterdam e-mail [log in to unmask] website http://www.xs4all.nl/~rwa