We treat our volunteers as "volunteer staff," and give
     them name badges which say that.  Our policy forbids
     collecting in competition with the museum, not "...in
     the same areas..."  The difference, in my view, is that
     we only collect historical items which have
     documentation, so most everything that our volunteers
     collect at flea markets and auction sales wouldn't
     constitute a conflict in the first place - it has no
     documented history.  One of our collector volunteers -
     who by the way brings a vast knowledge of some items to
     our place - is now advising the county historical
     society on its acquisitions and helping them become
     more professional.

     If volunteers are competing with the museum for which
     they work, losing them should be a priority, not a
     concern, seems to me.

     Chris Dill
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C. L. Dill, Museum Director
State Historical Society of North Dakota
612 East Boulevard
Bismarck  ND  58505-0830
P: (701)328-2666
F: (701)328-3710
E:  [log in to unmask]
Visit our Web site at: http://www.state.nd.us/hist/
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