>All I can say is, we now have seven good people on our staff who started
>out as volunteers.
>--
>Janis Beth Wilkens
>Curator of Collections/Interim Director
>Museum of York County
>4621 Mt. Gallant Road
>Rock Hill, SC  29732
>803-329-2121    Fax:  803-329-5249
>Email:  [log in to unmask]

That's the one thing I don't understand. My husband, who has a B.A. in
biology and another in anthropology, and nearly an M.A. in maritime
history/nautical archaeology started out as a volunteer at a children's
farmstead and later at a small zoo in Northeastern Kansas. He worked his way
up to paid management in both situations (ended up as assistant curator at
the zoo), and now he's back to looking at internships because no one in the
museum profession seems to think that managing children's programs around
animals, managing an assortment of volunteers and staff, designing wild
animal exhibits, and keeping exhibits ALIVE translates very well to the
"museum field."

It's similar training, but, so they say, just "different" enough to not
warrant consideration for a museum job. When people say to me that he
doesn't have the background for such and such an exhibit or type of work, I
just think back to that line in "Jurassic Park", only modified - "Yeah, but
when your Pirates of the Caribbean-type ride breaks down, the pirates don't
try to eat the tourists!" Tigers and snow leopards and bintorung are prone
to do that.

I guess my beef is: does the internship and/or job experience have to be SO
SPECIFIC to the position? Are our personnel departments not creative enough
to understand that some types of experience translate? I understand that I
don't have the background to be an art history curator, but I have the
background to be a history curator. I realize HE doesn't have the background
to be an art history curator, but what about the volunteer co-ordinator
positions, or the exhibit design positions, etc.? I'm venting my
frustrations here (sorry), but it's annoying that there's a rampant bias
against experience that is not "traditional museum" specific.

Amy Marshall