I heard a very thoughtful and moving talk by Ralph Appelbaum on the
subject of necessary sensitivity involved in the design of exhibits at
the Holocaust Museum.
 
Sally, is he on your panel?
 
Kathy
 
On Wed, 20 Jul 1994, San Diego Natural History Museum wrote:
 
> The wax museum near Dallas  burned a few years ago, so take it
> off the list. I heard that the fire in some rooms was hot enough to melt
> wax, but not to burn clothes, so that Elvis and Michael Jackson wound up
> as well-dressed pools of wax. Nearby was the firefighters museum and hall
> of fame....
>
> No, I don't think that these wonderfully ghoulish museums should be a
> source of worry. I would be more worried about attempts to edit the past
> in the name of present-day (and astonishingly short-sighted) "political
> correctness." Just the volume of responses to this request shows that it
> is a subject of deep fascination for people, and yet we mostly DON'T grow
> up to be axe murderers or chicken thieves. Those who forget the past are
> condemned to read Santayana again.
>
> We are presenting a panel at the 1995 Texas Association of Museums
> meeting on a related subject: just what do you do with museum objects
> that are, for one reason or another, unsettling or offensive to someone's
> sensibilities? Is censorship the dark side of deaccessioning in such
> instances? Be there!
>
> Sally Shelton
> Collections Conservation Specialist
> San Diego Natural History Museum
>