re: museology

[L Nyveen <lawrence@dsuper.net>]

I don't really have much to add about how a museum should be, but just let
me toss in four displays that have stuck in my head - four instances in
which I thought "gee, that's really cool."

1) The reconstructed armored throat of the Stegosaurus skeleton at DMNH.
Wow.  Hours of work, no doubt, and it looks great.  It also informs - how
many people do you think know about that little feature?

2) The Archelon on the wall at Yale's Peabody.  I spent a lot of time in
that building, and every time I passed through the Peabody, I couldn't help
staring at the size of that thing.

3) The preserved megamouth shark at the LAMNH.  One of a kind.

4) The Tyrannosaurus in the lobby of the SFMNH.  You can get right up close
to it.  I've seen a lot of T. mounts, but I always liked this one.  DMNH is
similar, but I prefer SF - maybe the pose, I don't know.

I guess I like the unique.  I'd swoon over a display of pathologies, or
over a focus on evidence of paleobehaviour - like tooth wear, trackways,
bite marks, healed bones, etc.


Laurie Nyveen                                  lawrence@dsuper.net
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