So far I think some very good points have been made.
Some other issues:
1. If the city does decide to hire someone, it may not necessarily be you.
Generally, cities have a very bureaucratic hiring process, and that could
wind up eliminating you as a/the best candidate.
2. Does the museum actually want paid staff? While a lot of us are probably
thinking "If the city will pay for it, why wouldn't they?," that's not a
given either. Some all-volunteer run museums are very much against their
museum becoming professionalized. (Whether or not they'll tell you that is a
different story.)

Given the above, I don't think it's your role to convince the City -- I
think you'd have the best chance of success convincing the museum that this
is in their best interests, and helping them convince the City to cover the
costs of employing you. (Because if you were actually successful in
convincing the City on your own, you could wind up an outsider the museum
feels is being unfairly forced on them.)

In my experience, an all-volunteer museum is that way because a) they want
to be, and b) they certainly don't have the money to be otherwise. I don't
recall hearing of any cases in which something like what you propose
happened. Normally it starts with a part-time staff member, usually after
years of having flush budgets and discussions about hiring someone (and the
part time initial staff member is usually someone well-known to the
old-guard museum volunteers and board).
Look up their 990 on Guidestar. If they don't have one, they're either not a
non-profit, or have a budget under $25,000 and haven't been required to file
before 2010. Either way, that might suggest some other research or
discussions.

The other thing you should be aware of is that many cities don't care enough
about museums to begin investing in them in this economy. Does this city
care about their museum? (If they're not already funding them, the answer
may be no.) Why would the city care if the museum has fresh displays? How
does that benefit them? You should be working the Chamber of Commerce (in
addition to the museum) to show how this will help the city's image, budget,
tourism, etc. City administrators are not (usually) museum people. They're
business people and public administrators. Talking about transferring the
catalog to an electronic database is not going to excite them.

Good luck!

Kaia Landon
New Muse Media
(another very skeptical commenter)

On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 9:56 AM, Andrea L <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Greetings all,
>
> I have just moved to a new town last week and seeking employment at the
> local museum (I am educated and experienced in museum management). After
> speaking with the staff I learned that the museum is 100% volunteer run and
> does not have a curator or paid museum professional.
>
> As the museum could use the hand of a knowledgeable and skilled museum
> worker I am thinking of approaching the Board and Town informing them of my
> capabilities and what I can do for their community. The museum could
> certainly use some smaller updates: fresh displays, typed labels, lightly
> cleaned artifacts; as well as some larger projects, such as transferring the
> catalog to an electronic database.
>
> I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions or has done anything like this
> before and how they went about it? How can I convince the Town that an
> investment in myself and the museum is worthwhile?
>
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