I don't know the staffing structure of your organization, nor its specific 
bylaws around governance, but if you have a professional Executive Director 
who is hired (as opposed to a Board member), this committee head (is he also 
a Board member?) may be violating governance procedure.  Usually, day-to-day 
operations are the responsibility of the staff chief executive (usually an 
Executive Director, but possibly another title).  The Board should not 
meddle with their authority.  If they have a contract, it may specifically 
state something to this effect.  The Board is supposed to deal with more 
global governance issues, and some sort of legal pressure may be possible 
against the offending person.  This depends upon your specific situation. 
If you have a Board President and an Executive Committee (assuming that this 
person is not the Board President), it would seem that they would want to 
support the opinion of the staff, particularly if that opinion was 
unanimous.  But small towns can be tricky, with what one Getty educator 
called the "dysfunctional politeness" of many museum Boards.

If this is not possible, and staff does not want to lie down in front of the 
train, think big picture.  It is unlikely that this person will be involved 
with the organization for many more years.  When they lose interest (or pass 
on), things can be changed.  In fact, museums have to change continually if 
they want to meet their mission to educate.  It may even be possible to 
facilitate changes while this individual is still involved, as after a few 
years, their passion for this particular exhibit may have waned.  Good luck!

Marc

American Conservation Consortium, Ltd.
     4 Rockville Road
     Broad Brook, CT 06016
     www.conservator.com
     860-386-6058

*Collections Preservation Consultation
*Conservation Assessments & Surveys
*Low-Tech Environmental Control
*Moisture Management Solutions
*Collections in Historic Structures
*Collections Care Grant Preparation
*Conservation Treatment of:
     Furniture
     Painted Wood
     Horse-Drawn Vehicles
     Architectural Interiors

Marc A. Williams, President
     MS in Art Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program
     Former Chief Wooden Object Conservator, Smithsonian Institution
     Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC)


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "archives" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2007 10:40 AM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Museum Exhibit Focus Excludes Artifacts


>   We have a expensive new permanent museum project in the works for our 
> small town
> historical society headquarters that is focused on a very narrow subject 
> (land
> preservation-our county has 16% of its area under conservation easements). 
> Agreed, that
> our county history was peopled early with those rich enough to have 
> plantations, and
> that there were/are enough rich people left to get sliding-scale zoning 
> passed in the
> late 1960s is a great story, and their foresight has saved us from the 
> exploding urban
> sprawl of our surrounding counties, but it leaves out the history of all 
> the other
> people who made our county what it is today.
>    The head of the committee (who is well off) is dedicated to telling 
> this story, to
> the exclusion of the wider county history. He is very narrow in what he 
> feels needs to
> be shown to support his vision, and he is the driving force (and 
> contentious force)
> behind this whole project.  Even tho our board members have had quibbles 
> about the
> project, they are not going to confront this man or try to rein him in 
> because they
> might have to take over.
>   At the moment 16 sq. feet of rotating exhibit space is what we have 
> desiginated in
> the whole building (and this is debatable as the chairman feels it would 
> take away from
> his story). As their historical society archivist/curator, I (and the 
> museum design
> team) are frustrated that I/we cannot make this man understand that if the 
> permanent
> exhibits are only to support his story, that two things will be apparent: 
> 1. it will
> limit our audience (most of whom will never own a historic house or own 
> 600 acres of
> land they can put in easement; besides it seems to be a political stand 
> which a hist.
> soc. should not be involved with); & 2. it will dry up the flow of 
> artifacts into our
> society when people know that 99.5% of our artifacts will be in permanent 
> storage and
> never seen, because of the tight focus and permanency of the displays.
>   At this point in the project, a lot of people are almost hoping that the 
> project
> funds appeal will not raise the funds to go into the second stage (at 
> least not in this
> narrow configuration).
>   If indeed this project comes to fruition, what can I or the members of 
> the society
> do to reach possible donors and make them understand that we still do care 
> about their
> artifacts (archival materials will not be affected as I have that well in 
> hand) and
> wish to have them in our collection.  I would hate not to get an artifact 
> tomorrow that
> might be very significant to a new exhibit in the future.  Any other 
> suggestions on
> this would also be appreciated.
> M.T. Morris-CCHA, Virginia
>
>
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