Any comments from curators at the Smithsonian or from U. Penn's archaeology
museum? I'm sure this issue is not as cut-and-dried (bad metaphor) as Mr.
Prouty suggests.
Wendy Botting
Asst. Curator, College of Architecture, Art & Planning
Cornell University
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In message Wed, 17 Aug 1994 07:40:40 -0700,
Guy Prouty <[log in to unmask]> writes:
> Even though this response does not directly answer your question, I
> would like to address an important and sensitive issue: displaying human
> remains. As an archaeologist here is Oregon, we are required by law and
> by Native American requests to treat all burials that we encounter with
> care and respect. In no way would we put on display any burials in our
> museums, whether Native American, Egyptian, Peruvian, Chinese, or anybody
> else. Doing so is not only disrespectful but unethical in most minds of
> archaeologists and museum specialists here in the USA. How is this issue
> viewed in Australia? Has there been any serious discussion about this? I
> believe that one country displaying human remains and another unwilling
> to do so is a double standard and not good for the anthropology field as a
> whole. I appreciate your comments. Thank you very much, Guy Prouty,
> Oregon State Museum of Anthropology.
>
> On Wed, 17 Aug 1994, Geoff Holden wrote:
>
>
>> We are contemplating a display for 1996 which will hopefully include
>> some mummies (Egyptian, Peruvian and possibly Chinese). The exhibition
>> area concerned has air conditioning which could only be described as
>> medium quality - and it would cost much too much to upgrade it to a
>> highest quality level. Sooooo - we are wondering if it is practical to
>> put the mummies in a very large display case which IS properly
>> controlled. But I wonder if there is a possibility of misting on the
>> glass, either on the outside surface or the inside. Would double
>> glazing help?
>> Has anyone any experience in this area? We would welcome comments,
>> experiences and even "but surely you realize that"s.
>>
>> Geoff Holden
>> Curator of Communications and some very odd projects indeed
>> Scienceworks
>> Museum of Victoria
>> Australia
>>
>>
>
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