I agree entirely with Elizabeth and some others.  Yes, museums "ought" to
try to pay more.  Many "ought" to learn to get by with fewer staff, and pass
the savings on to those whose positions are essential.   Hundreds can afford
only one staff member, not always fulltime.  These are wonderfully rewarding
places for a professional to work.

No, it's not simply a matter of trustees raising more money, as someone
suggested.  There are too many cultural organizations in most communities
competing for the same pool of philanthropy.  Yes, lots of our most
thoughtful trustees and donors COULD give lots more money.  So could
corporations.  They probably won't, and never have.

To encourage museum people to organize, in the fashion of dockworkers and
coalminers,  as one writer suggested,  will simply shut many of our
institutions down.




-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Stith <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, July 28, 1998 12:25 PM
Subject: Re: The Value of an M.A. - $7.25/hr?


>I really disagree with the idea that museums do not value the degree - or
whatever level of education - their employees have.  I do know that funding
always hase been and always will be problematic for all but a rarified few
of us.  It seems to me that in most museums staff are paid to the best
ability of the organization.  I have never experienced anything else.  If
people new to the field feel that starting salaries are too low then I
invite them to rethink their choosen careers.  I made a decision many years
ago that related to the quality of my life and one part of that decision was
an understanding that I was never going to make a fortune doing what I want
to do.  It's called life.