In (premature) defense of the USNM

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

Greetings,

I know that many of you find the idea of showing Dinotopia art at the
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History a bit
disturbing.

I have not yet seen the exhibit, nor was I involved in its preparation.
However, I would like to point out that their recent exhibit on Beatrix
Potter did not, to my knowledge, confuse anyone as to whether or not British
rabbits, toads, and so forth really have a technological society.
(Actually, I was quite impressed by Potter's original scientific art: vastly
better than I could ever dream of doing, and truly indicating that she knew
her biology!!).  I would imagine (hope) that the Gurney display is similar:
clearly demarcating fact from fiction, but showing how the former was used
to create the latter.  (In the same light, I don't think that the
Smithsonian exhibit of the Far Side a decade or more ago caused any decline
in level of understanding by the visitors).

Of course, this is all written "sight unseen"; I may change my mind
post-viewing.

Now if only we could get Jim Gurney to start feathering the coelurosaurs...

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796