Thanks, Bill, but I would be one of the last people to claim that this
list is anywhere near complete, and I am one of the compilers (and was on
the panel you mention). This list only deals with mysteries featuring
museum settings in some way, not any other form of fiction. Anita
Cohen-Williams' list is similarly limited to archaeology themes, but
covers more genres than ours. In this year's panel, we did a film list.
Both the mystery and film lists are available in the 1995 AAM Sourcebook.
And they are not complete: we can use all the help we can get, and we
mostly get it right here on MUSEUM-L, thanks to everyone. Next year is
children's lit, which we find so far to be generally more accurate in its
impressions of museums. I'm not really joking too much when I say that
the next step is to write a book on the subject. Keep those e-cards and
letters coming.

Sally Shelton
Director, Collections Care and Conservation

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|                 San Diego Natural History Museum                      |
|                          P. O. Box 1390                               |
|                San Diego, California   92112  USA                     |
|             phone (619) 232-3821; FAX (619) 232-0248                  |
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On Tue, 8 Aug 1995, Bill Bodine wrote:

> At the Seattle AAM ('92 or '93) there was a session devoted to the public
> image of museums as portrayed in literature.  Aaron Elkins (a Seattle
> resident) was on the panel.  A nearly complete listing of fiction/mysteries
> which contained references to museums was made available at the session.  I
> have a copy somewhere, but it might take some digging.  I'm sure that the
> annual meeting folks at AAM have a copy.
>
> >Oy! Anita's thoughts are rather muddled at the moment (it is 115 degrees
> >here). Mary's suggestions are a good idea. I have found one other book, DEEDS
> >OF THE DISTURBER by Elizabeth Peters, about a murder mystery in the British
> >Museum. Also, Aaron Elkins has written a few novels about a museum curator.
> >
> >I will be spending my reference desk time (from 3-5pm) working on this very
> >question, so I may get back to you by Monday with some suggestions.
> >
> >Also, have you looked at my bibliography, Archaeology in Fiction? It is on th
e
> >ARCH-L filelist. Send a message to [log in to unmask] with the command
> >GET ARCH-L FICTION BIB. That should retrieve the file.
> >
> >Anita Cohen-Williams; Reference Services; Hayden Library
> >Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ  85287-1006
> >PHONE: (602) 965-4579              FAX: (602) 965-9169
> >[log in to unmask]  Owner: HISTARCH, SPANBORD, SUB-ARCH
> >
> >
> William B. Bodine, Jr.
> Deputy Director and Chief Curator
> Columbia Museum of Art
> 1112 Bull St.
> Columbia, SC  29201
> (803) 799-2810
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>