a century now, this has been a world-class museum, 

 eminent both as a research institute and as an agency 

 of public education. Meanwhile, community com- 

 position and community needs have changed. The 

 suburban population, split otf from the central city, is 

 less likely to use the Museum's resources. Blacks and 

 Hispanics, now a majority of Chicago's population, 

 have been underserved by the Museum's programs and 



parents can release babies from backpacks and stroll- 

 ers, at the same time providing older children with a 

 child-centered exhibit and the opportunity for imag- 

 inative play. Oversize photographs surrounding the 

 area suggest the universality of parent tasks; here's a 

 father giving a bottle, a robin with worm and eager 

 babies, a mother breastfeeding twins. Both parent and 

 child visitors are led — casually, without didacticism 



underrepresented among its visitors. The very splen- 

 dor of the building, its classic dignity and formality, 

 may well make it less attractive to the present genera- 

 tion of visitors. Always solid, comprehensive, rich 

 and varied in its holdings, the Field Museum has ac- 

 quired an image awesome rather than exciting. Today 

 the stated aim — while preserving its established tradi- 

 tion of scholarship — is to reach a new generation of 

 museum-goers. Centennial Directions, a looking- 

 forward document published in October, 1986, sets 

 forth an agenda for the future: "to offer informal ex- 

 hibits and programs, providing direct, hands-on ex- 

 periences with natural history materials and themes"; 

 to attract a broad range of museum-goers, from casual 

 lookers to serious scientists; to make the Museum's 

 vast resources more usable; above all, "to lighten the 

 public face of the Museum, making it more human 

 and approachable." 



Families at Work is a brilliant first step in this 

 direction. On the most obvious level, it's a refresh- 

 ment for the gallery-goer: an attractive space where 

 14 



— towards an understanding of family structures and 

 practices. The free arrangement of exhibits — fox and 

 cubs next to a photo of father with backpack — invites 

 reflection. What have animal and human families in 

 common? How do they differ? What do the toys of 

 China, Indonesia, South Africa tell us about the cul- 

 ture of those countries? How do parents in all parts of 

 the world prepare the young for adult roles and 

 responsibilities? Unlike conventional museum labels, 

 with their facts and figures and Latin names, the 

 labelling here is offhand, provocative. The exhibit of 

 Khoi-Khoi dolls, for example, provides no pedestrian 

 data. (Assumption: you can see what there is to see.) 

 Rather, it asks: "What does this doll family teach chil- 

 dren about adult life?" A child who tires of racing 

 through the tubes or manipulating beads on the mar- 

 blechase, can choose any exhibit (all cases are at 

 child's eye-level) for a moment's quiet observation. 

 Oh boy, oh boy, look at that sivord. Do Japanese kids 

 really get to play with stuff like that? Or The baby 

 rabbits look like mice. When do they get their fur? 



