Sarah, perhaps the best way to approach your subject methodically
   would be to take a museum with a long history and follow the success
   or failure of different directors.  Thanks to the kind folks on this
   list, I have been reading Dinosaurs in the Attic, about the American
   Museum of Natural History.  For the first 50 years or so of its
   history, it was run by scientists of various sorts (keeping in mind
   that the professional natural scientist was a relatively new
   and fluid concept at the turn of the century in America).
   By the aftermath of the Depression, the museum had its first
   non-scientist administrator, hired for his administrative acumen and
   fund-raising capability.

   It certainly is not an easy question to answer definitively.
   Different museums require different leadership at different times.
   Right now, I would say that there is a marked dearth of people with
   both curatorial and fundraising acumen.  This is probably because
   modern fundraising is so different from even 20 years ago, and
   requires considerably more attention and expertise.  There was an
   article on this very subject in the Times Arts and Leisure several
   months ago.  It was a conver story about the several museums that were
   then looking for directors, maybe just after MOMA had hired its new
   director.

   But it is a very good and timely question to be researching, and I
   would be grateful for the results of your research.

   Good luck.

   Eric Siegel
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