ABSTRACT
The presentation of information in museums, whether through exhibitions, lectures, trunk exhibits, etc., has a reputation of being accepted by the public as inherently accurate and true. A concern is that often what is presented is essentially the opinion of an individual or those of a small group acting in concert to make the presentation. Historically, such offerings have been shown to be less than accurate or, at best, represent only the state-ofthe-knowledge at any given time. Although it is evident that this is both acceptable and expected, the question arises whether there is a responsibility on the part of museums to indicate to their audiences that opinion, assumption, and conjecture play an important role in interpretation. Is a statement by the exhibit/lecture/program makers to that effect needed, and if so, how should such a “disclaimer” be presented without becoming an equivocation?
