I am partial to A.E. Parr's work on professionalism (three articles in
_Curator_, 1958, 1960 and 1964). I think he had a very realistic and
worthwhile take on the museum profession issue.

"The best way to promote the welfare and progress of museums, and of all
who work for them, is not by attempting to homogenize our careers and
force us all into the mold of a single profession. In that direction lies
stagnation. OUr common interests do not spring from our highly
diversified tasks and qualifications, but from the cause and the goals we
work for. If we frankly recognize that many different professions, and
sometimes conflicting professional interests, are represented among us,
we should be able to achieve a far more effective and mutually beneficial
solidarity ... than we are ever likely to attain by trying to pretrend
that we are all fellow members of a single professional guild."

"A Plurality of Professions," _Curator_ 7, 4 (1964): 294-5.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Eileen Mak         |        Here I am stuck in the city,
Dept. of History   |          still going nowhere.
UBC                |                (Edward Bear,
[log in to unmask]  |                        "Down in Mexico")
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX