Members pappyld04 Posted June 12, 2008 Members Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Strange Questions That The Smithsonian Museum hasReceivedThe Smithsonian Museum's phone answerers usually get questions like "How do you getthere?" "When are you open?" Etc. More detailed questions get shunted to departmentssuch as Anthropology. But every so often, you get funny ones. Here are some CordeliaBenedict of the Smithsonian's telephone information services and Marilyn London ofthe anthropology outreach and public information office have gotten over the years: There's a mastadon in my back yard. Can you send some scientists to dig it up?"There was literally a mastodon buried on her ranch," Benedict says. "She was right.We referred her to the vertebrate department, I think." Do you have the Original Bible? You know, 10 Commands, tablets, Moses, etc? What's the name of the guy who invented the wheel? ("How do you know it was a man?"London replied.) Where do you keep the flying saucers you've captured? Can a small plane land on the Mall? The caller was sure it could since "all thoseplanes in the Air and Space Museum had to get there somehow." Is Fawn Hall's underwear on display? This from "two men in a Texas bar who obviouslyhad a lot to drink," says Benedict. Where is the Ark of the Covenant? (Try Indiana Jones movies.) Does the Smithsonian display Civil War planes? Is the Smithsonian interested in buying the carcass of Bigfoot? Will the Smithsonian sell the starship Enterprise, used for the popular "Star Trek"television show? "She only wanted it if the transporter was in working condition,"Benedict says. (The only life-size Enterprise at the Smithsonian is the spaceshuttle of the same name). Can the Smithsonian set up a caller with a hula teacher? "Actually, I tracked onedown for her," remembers London. "We have a curator involved in South Pacific andHawaiian culture, so she knew one." How do you say "I'm thinking of you" in Apache? Can you send "all the information you have on human evolution, even the secretstuff?" from a grade school letter writer. How about the coin George Washington tossed across the Delaware River? Could the Smithsonian take a "petrified whale" off a caller's hands? He was referredto paleontology. "I told him that means `very old biology,' and he said, `goodbecause this is a very old whale,'" Benedict recalls. And one of Benedict's favorites: an offer to donate a collection of potato chipsresembling "famous people and animals." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ladylove Posted June 13, 2008 Members Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Love the Smithsonian. Spent hours there. me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pappyld04 Posted June 14, 2008 Author Members Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 From what I hear you could spend a lifetime in their archives and never see it all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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