Anthologies (i.e. collections of texts and other printed matter) are a special type of widely distributed books. Like museum curators, anthologists select for exhibition items that are considered of cultural importance and/or sales value; by arranging the exhibits, they project an interpretation and evaluation of a given field and invite readers to make use of the cultural store. Translation anthologies serve essentially the same purposes internationally. The case study traces the fate of Poe (prose and verse) and Whitman in the 600-odd German anthologies containing specimens of American literature (1859-1985) which have been surveyed so far.