I have been in the same situation in a small rural town in eastern 
Washington.  Clear
focus between the Board and Staff have to be defined, that is the board sets 
up the
policy and guidelines, and be "invovled" in fundraising, etc.  The ED/Staff 
follows that
policy, but operate the day-to-day operation of the museum/organization.

If you want to contact me off-line, I can go into more details, and have a 
lot of
resources for you in dealing with small, rural museums, management, etc.

John







>From: Erin Crissman <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Museum Exhibit Focus Excludes Artifacts
>Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:01:13 -0400
>
>I agree that this situation sounds frustrating.
>
>Remember that:
>
>A) you are not in charge
>
>B) Sometimes we work for people who's ideas we disagree.  However, because
>of chain of command we often to do not have the power to be heard .. this 
>is
>out of our control.. we can put up with it or get new jobs.
>
>C) no one can *make* another person do anything.
>
>Where is your mission? Do you have a formal exhibition development process
>at your museum?  This if often helpful in making sure that the exhibition
>content meets the institution's mission, that it reaches target audiences,
>and (if it is deemed a priority by your museum) uses artifacts from the
>collection.  It also specifies who, inside or outside the institution, is
>part of the exhibition development team.
>
>Some of these difficulties are part of a learning process.. you may not be
>able to change what is happening this time, but you can learn for next
>time.. I agree with Claudia... Permanent does not really mean permanent.
>Perhaps the best thing that will happen for your institution as a result of
>this process is not the exhibition that results, but the policies and
>procedures that you will develop as a result of this process.
>
>Good luck!
>Erin.
>
>Erin Elizabeth Crissman
>Curator
>Historic Cherry Hill
>523 1/2 South Pearl St.
>Albany, NY 12202
>p.518.434.4791
>f.518.434.4806
>
>
>
>On 6/22/07, Marc A Williams <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>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
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org)
>> >
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