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Thu, 14 Mar 1996 09:36:30 EST |
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Sarah, perhaps the best way to approach your subject methodically
would be to take a museum with a long history and follow the success
or failure of different directors. Thanks to the kind folks on this
list, I have been reading Dinosaurs in the Attic, about the American
Museum of Natural History. For the first 50 years or so of its
history, it was run by scientists of various sorts (keeping in mind
that the professional natural scientist was a relatively new
and fluid concept at the turn of the century in America).
By the aftermath of the Depression, the museum had its first
non-scientist administrator, hired for his administrative acumen and
fund-raising capability.
It certainly is not an easy question to answer definitively.
Different museums require different leadership at different times.
Right now, I would say that there is a marked dearth of people with
both curatorial and fundraising acumen. This is probably because
modern fundraising is so different from even 20 years ago, and
requires considerably more attention and expertise. There was an
article on this very subject in the Times Arts and Leisure several
months ago. It was a conver story about the several museums that were
then looking for directors, maybe just after MOMA had hired its new
director.
But it is a very good and timely question to be researching, and I
would be grateful for the results of your research.
Good luck.
Eric Siegel
[log in to unmask]
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