Interesting point, Ross. Still, I think the ground here is boggy.

Mr. Webster agrees with you, giving as a first and second meanings the act
of taking vows into a religious community, and as the fourth meaning the
practice or claim to be versed in a calling of profession.  This may mean a
profession is what you profess...

There seems to be some kind of consensus that advanced and specialized
education (whether acquired in a classroom or through other means), and
especially the possession of specific certifications in the shape of
advanced degrees) is prerequisite for membership in all "professional"
fields, and certainly in museum work.

The Getty study of 1985 on art museum education, called "The Uncertain
Profession" focused on the improvement in such credentials (among other
things) as the first step toward improvements in collegial standing and an
adequate (if not generous) salary structure.

I would disagree that "if museums suffer in the eyes of their communities,
it is because they have done sensational things in the name of marketing.
To that extent, they have stretched their mission and serious philanthropy
obviously doesn't stretch with them."  I am not sure that museums ever
represented secure and meaningful value to the largest part of the
population. The recent silliness providing fodder for the journalists is
not, in my opinion, eroding values.  Museums have traditionally been the
refuge of the educated and wealthy away from the teeming masses, and the
social, spiritual, and ideological values that the elite perceived in
museums were aggressively instilled in successive generations as part of the
preparation for managing the material inheritance.

The Rockefeller Foundation published some research around 1994 that showed
that billions of dollars were about to change hands as the generation of
WWII gave way to us boomers, and that the boomer generation would be the
first in a couple of hundred years NOT to have internalized the obligations
of philanthropy.  This of course, from the point of view of cultural,
charitable and other nonprofit institutions, represents a disaster in
funding expectations and planning.  The relationship between this situation
and the increased reliance on sensational draws and a reorienting of
missions to include entertainment and more ephemeral, populist values, in
addition to (and sometimes displacing some) traditional scholarly and
educational objectives, is way too complex for me to think about right now,
but it figures in my larger outlook.

As for the communities and value:  We know we have "value" -- what we don't
have is the ability to command high prices.  In other words, intrinsic value
and market or dollar value are two different things.  There are a number of
reasons that the museum profession has, until very recently, been filled by
individuals with trust funds and other expectations to fall back on.  And
this class structure also explains why the most meaningful salaries are
confined to top administrators and curators and while the staff -- the
educators, preparators, handlers, registrars, etc. -- are paid domestic
service wages.

What to do?  Why keep plugging away at the problem, of course!  And accept
the fact that certain career choices are likely to guarantee financial
hardship, employment insecurity, and marital and family stress will
providing enormous personal, intellectual, and spiritual satisfactions.

And my two bits on the training programs?  Such professional programs are
jumping up everywhere, but I am not sure they are growing in response to a
market.  I kinda wonder if they are mostly appearing as museum people give
up and try to parlay their knowledge and experience into a related job.
There never have been that many museum jobs, and there have hardly ever been
decently paying ones.  The picture has gotten bleaker since Reagan was
elected president, and I am not looking for improvement any time soon.

But the eternal optimist expects this prognosis to be wrong.

Ellen B. Cutler
LNB Associates: Writing, Editing, Resesarch Services
Aberdeen, MD

Without
----- Original Message -----
From: Ross Weeks <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 7:42 AM
Subject: Re: Value to the Community


> Ellen:
>
>     Historically, "professions" have involved some imprimatur that
certifies
> one is qualified to serve that profession.  Lawyers, doctors, clergy, and
> those academic disciplines that accredit.  There are accredited museums.
I
> know of no certified, licensed or accredited people known as "museum
> professionals."
>
>     Journalists call themselves professionals but subscribe to no common
> ethical code.  The same with public relations practitioners.  The AAM Code
> of Ethics is optional and must be adopted by governing boards to be
useful.
> We are a collection of specialists, as you observe.  Some are even
> fundraisers and publicists.  To be accredited, the last I knew, a museum
has
> to have its act together with a plan for the future.  Whether its staff
> consisted of degreed specialists isn't necessarily material to
> accreditation, but it helps.
>
>     My point was, and is, that if museums suffer in the eyes of their
> communities, it is because they have done sensational things in the name
of
> marketing.  To that extent, they have stretched their mission and serious
> philanthropy obviously doesn't stretch with them.
>
> >Uh, Ross, while you may not believe that there is such a beast as a
museum
> professional, I think I lot of people beside myself do, and some of them
> work with dinosaurs and controversial art.
>
> >And, if you are looking for a definition, it seems to me that a museum
> professional is a specialist in some field dedicated to advancing that
> discipline in the context of a museum.  You know -- just like a scholar of
> English literature might be dedicated to education through classroom
> teaching.
>
> >You are right that scrabbling over the crumbs of a shrinking pie makes a
> whole lot less sense than figuring out how to bake a bigger pie, though.
>
> Ellen B. Cutler
> LNB Associates: Writing, Editing, Research Services
> Aberdeen MD  21001
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ross Weeks <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2001 2:40 PM
> Subject: Re: Value to the Community
>
>
> > Museums, I believe, are perceived as quite valuable in their communities
> > (except when they veer off into dinosaurs and sensationalist art to
> attract
> Ross Weeks Jr.
> Historic Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer Park
> Tazewell, Va.
> http://histcrab.netscope.net
>
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