You need to provide more information to get some accurate estimates:

What is the cost of living index at your location relative to say, the
midwest, southwest, etc.

What is the size of your museum's budget?  Is the Director/Curator
responsible for planning and budget?  Or is that done by the Board?

What is the extent of your Director/Curator's responsibility.  For
instance, if he/she screws up and leaves the door unlocked and somebody
trashes or robs the place, what is the extent of the monetary damage.  The
same could be asked about neglect of collections.  If you are a collecting
institution, what's the value of your collections.  That is a pretty good
gauge to determine responsibility and salary should be based on the
position's level of responsibility.


------
Robert Handy
Brazoria County Historical Museum
100 East Cedar
Angleton, Texas  77515
(409) 864-1208
museum_bob
[log in to unmask]
http://www.bchm.org

----------
From:   Carucci, James CIV[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Tuesday, November 10, 1998 7:33 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Salary Range for Director/Curator??

Listfolk:

I am a member of the Board of Directors for our local museum here in the
Central Coast area of California.  Our museum is fairly small, and is
located in a town of about 45,000.  Current membership (drawn mainly from
the local community) is about 400 to 450.  Currently, there is really
only one, full-time professional on the museum "staff".  Except for a
little bookkeeping help, and a small number of dedicated docents and
volunteers, the Museum Director/Curator does it all.

The Board of Directors recognizes that we have a number of problems to
fix, not the least of which is adding a great many new members, hiring a
second staff person [not many years ago, the museum had a staff of
three], and paying the current Director/Curator a reasonable wage.

My plea to all you experienced museum people:
What is an acceptable salary for an active, vibrant, community-oriented
small town museum that is currently staffed by only one professional?
 The current wage for this person is about $32,500; when insurance and
other [minor] benefits are considered, the current wage would work out to
about $35,000.

Admittedly, there are many facts and things to consider.  But, in
general, would you think that a paid salary of $37,500 [considering
benefits, total would be $40,000] would be equitable for this job?  If
not, what salary range should this job be?

If this is a topic for general list discussion, then please post to the
list.  If you would rather post to me privately, please do so.  What I
hope to get from you all is a number of informed responses, speaking from
personal experience, that I can print out, summarize, and carry to my
next board meeting.  Your input will help us determine what a fair raise
would be for our Director/Curator.

In your posts, please make certain that your name, title, location
[museum, department, etc.], phone numbers, etc., are listed.  I would
especially be interested in getting comparative salary information from
others at "one-person museums", museums here on the west coast
[especially California], and museums in rural communities under 100,000
persons.

thank you

jim

James Carucci, Ph.D.
Historic Structures Specialist/Environmental Planner
30 CES/CEVPP  -  Program Planning
806 13th Street, Suite 116
Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA  93437-5242

Voice (805) 734-8232  ext. 6-2860
  FAX (805) 734-1339
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