Dave:  Excellent --- I totally agree.  I've heard so much about
professionalism and standards in the field, but when you try to
follow them, people are worried about people and caring less
about the objects.  That is my job, as director, to protect the
artifacts in my care.

Now, I care for my volunteers to.  I did talk with the person, and
they agreed to wear one glove.  It is that so many volunteers
have been so involved, they loose track thagt we are a museum
and not an personal entertainment or there to provide fun for
them.  Hard, it seems, but the line has to be to preserve and
care for the collection, if we do not do that -- we have no right
in the business.

Thanks

John Martinson
Fort Walla Walla Museum
At 05:27 PM 5/8/96 EDT, you wrote:
> I too have been following this thread (an appropriate metaphor for a
>glove discussion) with interest and some dismay. Pardon me for being
>hardnosed and unequivocal, but I think this is a no-brainer. A museum
>professional simply cannot--must not--should not--dare not--knowingly
>permit anyone to mishandle collection material. To do so is
>unprofessional and is poor stewardship. A volunteer who refuses to
>cooperate and follow instructions and professional, approved procedures
>is indeed a "goriller" and in my opinion could be "fired" for
>insubordination. Who needs such a volunteer? Now if you can't bear to
>get rid of the uncooperative volunteer because he/she is otherwise nice,
>fun, rich, or influential, just take the material away that they
>mishandle and let them do something safe like filing office
>correspondence or answering phones.
>  Seriously, it's often possible to wean people away from the material
>that they are not handling properly, give them something else, and do it
>tactfully. I've had the problem of volunteers and interns who mean well
>but just don't have the manual dexterity to handle certain kinds of
>objects safely. If you don't have the tact and human qualities to
>interact with people, plus the will power to protect your collection
>from mishandling--whether by marauders or bunglers--you don't have any
>business supervising volunteers in a museum environment.
>   Now that I've addressed the gloveless volunteer problem, perhaps
>someone can help with the problem of STAFF who won't wear gloves at the
>appropriate times.
>  I once pulled rank on a new employee who was uncooperative and refused
>to wear gloves while working with glass photographic negatives;
>admittedly, he was conscientiously trying to hold them only by the
>edges, but in so doing he was risking dropping and breaking them. I
>wrote a strong "or else" memo, he apologized, and complied. But then
>there was the CONSERVATOR whose full handprint is still visible on one
>of my color photographs because this person pressed an ungloved hand on
>the surface to emphasize a point. It's my understanding that this person
>still doesn't wear gloves with photographs. Any reactions? --David
>Haberstich
>
>
_____________________________________________________________________________
John Martinson                          [log in to unmask]
Work: Fort Walla Walla Museum           School: Norwich University (VT)
755 Myra Rd
Walla Walla, WA  99364                  (509) 525-7703 (Work)

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