January 19, 2000
CONTENTS:
- Egypt jails Australian for smuggling antiquities
- Tomb Raider: The Lost Artifact (raiding tombs and stealing
artifacts: a game??)
- Robert E. Lee Portrait Vandalized at Art Show (Inclusion in
Lee-Jackson-King Day Display Was Controversial)
- Press Release about Galina Blinova (Roger Wulff)
- Calgary Museum to Return Sacred Aboriginal Artifacts
Egypt jails Australian for smuggling antiquities
A court in Egypt has reportedly jailed an Australian Muslim leader for
a year for attempting to smuggle antiquities to Australia.
The court in southern Egypt was told that the 49-year-old
Egyptian-born Australian and several associates had conspired to
illegally buy archaeological artefacts and conduct digs in isolated
spots.
The Australian, named by Egyptian court sources as Mufti Tag el-Din
Hamed, had apparently planned to export the antiques in his luggage.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-18jan2000-13.htm
Tomb Raider: The Lost Artifact
By Jason Ocampo
January 18, 2000, 04:00 PM PT
Eidos Interactive is launching its own value line of PC games. The
first game will star the company's iconic heroine, Lara Croft.
Eidos announced that it would release Tomb Raider: The Lost Artifact
in February for its Premier Collection, which will feature re-releases
of older Eidos games at a lower price, and a few new games as well.
The Lost Artifact falls in the latter category, because it's basically
a standalone expansion to Tomb Raider III. Though it won't contain any
of the original Tomb Raider III levels, The Lost Artifact will extend
the Tomb Raider III story line by adding five new levels. The Lost
Artifact will not require the original Tomb Raider III to run.
MORE:
http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,0-3642,00.html
Robert E. Lee Portrait Vandalized at Art Show
Inclusion in Lee-Jackson-King Day Display Was Controversial
Jan. 18, 2000
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A portrait of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee
hanging at an outdoor gallery devoted to the city's history has been
vandalized, police said.
Joel Lawson, a police arson investigator, declined to describe the
nature or the extent of the damage to the portrait. The case was under
investigation.
The City Council voted last summer to display the portrait following
a debate over whether Lee's role in defending slavery in the South
made his image offensive to blacks. Lee lived briefly in Richmond
after the Civil War.
City Councilman Sa'ad El-Amin, who is black, threatened a boycott of
the entire historical display, prompting organizers to alter plans and
choose a depiction of Lee in civilian clothes.
The gallery is along a downtown floodwall. Other images include
Abraham Lincoln and Gabriel Prosser, who led a slave revolt before the
Civil War.
In Virginia, Monday was Lee-Jackson-King Day, commemorating the lives
of Confederate generals Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and civil
rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/2000/01/18/leeportrait0118_01.html
From: Roger Wulff museplan@erols.com
Subject: Press Release about Galina Blinova
__________________________________________
PRESS RELEASE
____________________________________________
Museum Services International is honored to announce the availibility
of the Consulting Services of Ms. Galina Bilnova, formerly the Head of
the Electronics Alarm Group and Head of the Fire Protection Group at
The State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Blinova began her
service at The Hermitage in 1979 and, until very recently, was working
with Honeywell in the coordination and supervision of all design,
installation and services related to the electronic fire alarm and
extinguishing systems at this historic museum complex.
Please contact MSI (below) for further information, consulting fees
and scheduling of her consulting services.
*********************************************
Visit our NEW "ONLINE" MUSEUM BOOKSTORE AND
TREAT YOURSELF TO A BOOK - VISIT OUR NEW "ONLINE"
INTERNATIONAL CRAFT SHOP AND ASSIST THE CULTURES
WHICH PRODUCED THOSE OBJECTS
at: http://www.MuseumServicesIntl.org
Museum Services International is a non-profit organization which
provides services in all areas of the planning and development of
cultural institutions and museums - especially in the new area of
"Economuseology."
**********************************************
From: dabooks@telusplanet.net
Subject: Calgary Museum to Return Sacred Aboriginal Artifacts
Priority: normal
Dear Ton,
Here is a summation of an article appearing in Toronto's "The Globe
and Mail" of January 17, 2000. (The story will be held in the paper's
archives until Sunday, Jan. 23. It can be found at the following
ridiculous URL: http://archives.theglobeandmail.com/search97)
* * * * *
Calgary Museum to Return Sacred Aboriginal Artifacts
In what has been called "the largest restoration of native religious
artifacts in Canadian history", the Glenbow Museum of Calgary, has
announced the return of some 251 religious objects to Blackfoot
nations in southern Alberta.
A new Provincial law, to be introduced in February, has been
recognized as the catalyst which will complete the complex
negotiations between Blackfoot elders, Glenbow officials, and
politicians which have been ongoing for a decade. The bill, endorsed
by Premier Ralph Klein, will ensure the return of every sacred
artifact held by the museum, including pipes, medicine bundles, sacred
paints, clothing and weapons. In addition, it will ensure that the
transfer is unconditional and will not require the recipients to house
the items in museum-quality facilities. The result will be a return to
traditional methods of preservation and gradual replacement of holy
items. Robert Janes, the recently retired head of the Glenbow Museum,
commented "Most museums keep collections for posterity, and most
museums keep everything forever. We believe posterity has arrived and
that we must give these back to where they can truly be used."
Some sacred bundles, in some cases unopened for years, contain tipi
designs holy to the Blood and Peigan tribes in the area. "What we got
back is the equal of putting back missing pages of the Bible,"
commented Blood tribe counsellor Narcisse Blood. "It means so much
more than the general public out there will ever realize." Many items
were given to museums and private collectors during the early part of
this century, when obliteration of North American Indian cultures was
an openly propounded goal of both the American and Canadian
governments. Mr. Blood hopes the Glenbow's culturally responsible
actions will spur others to do the same. "I've seen some of our elders
just break down when they see the objects [held in collections]. Why
does it have to take so many tears, so many deaths, so many suicides?"
* * * * *
David Armstrong, Bookseller
Box 551, Lethbridge, Alberta
Canada T1J 3Z4 (403)381-3270 dabooks@telusplanet.net
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/dabooks
Modern first editions of all genres
Books by, for, and about Canadians