Since I beat life into the dying embers of the "Internships - paid or
unpaid?" thread, and also am partly responsible for the "The museum field
sure pays lousy, doesn't it?" thread, I am going to end them (at least for
now).

I have been reading *A Cabinet of Curiosities* by Stephen Weil.  Weil
is, IMHO, one of the most astute observers of the museum world, as well
as one of the most articulate writers on the subject.  In this collection
of essays, he saves the best for last--his speech in acceptance of the
Katherine Coffey Award given to him by the Mid-Atlantic Association of
Museums in 1990.

With apologies for probably violating his copyright, and surety that he
would approve, I present his reasons why museum people are different from
other people who work.

        "For one thing, as I have written elsewhere, nobody does this kind
        of work for the money.  It is just not there.  The only people who
        work in museums are people who really want to, people who are
        enthusiastic about their occupation even to the point of making a
        substantial economic sacrifice to pursue it.  A working world
        made up of such people feels very different from one that is
        populated by the sometimes bitter, trapped, and alienated person-
        alities who assure you in the law, advertising, and elsewhere that
        they would leave in a minute if it weren't for the money.

        "Although museums may occasionally compete for donors or for
        particular objects, they rarely compete for market share.  That
        permits museum people a degree of candor and supportiveness in their
        dealings with one another that might not be possible in a more
        basically competitive situation . . . It is just this atmosphere
        that has made possible such training programs as the Museum
        Management Institute and other mid-career efforts that rely
        heavily on the willingness of participants to be forthcoming
        about their day-to-day working experiences in museums.

        "That the museum field contains an interlacing of so many different
        skills and backgrounds gives it a tremendously cosmopolitan
        aspect.  I am by no means alone in having arrived in museum work
        by such a wholly unexpected and accident-filled route.  Hundreds
        of our colleagues, and certainly many of you here today, came to
        museums in just that same almost-random way.  All of us, I think,
        have been greatly enriched by this diversity of background and by
        the myriad interactions that it regularly fosters.

        "Finally, the very museum enterprise itself is to a degree
        bottomed on notions of respect, caring, and decency.  Museum work
        necessarily assumes that the natural world and the accomplishments
        of its inhabitants are worthy of preservation and transmission.
        It also assumes that there will be future generations with the
        responsiveness and interest to benefit from the work that
        museum people do in preserving and transmitting their heritage.
        Such assumptions are acts of faith.  Institutions infused with
        faith and built on such qualities as respect, caring, and decency
        must inevitably strengthen and bring to the fore those very same
        qualities in the people who work with and for them."

He winds up by saying:  "Proud as I am that you have chosen to recognize
me in this way, I am prouder still to be able to count myself as one of
you."

'Nuff said?

Claudia Nicholson
Curator of Collections
South Dakota State Historical Society
Pierre

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