Similar to what Ellen said — several other museums have been  
mentioned with tractors in their collections. Perhaps a conservator  
from one of those museums could talk to your volunteers. Rather than  
having a MAN talk to them, have someone with expertise with the same  
issues of the same types of objects. Chances are it will be a man,  
but you want some common knowledge and not just some random guy.  ;-)

-Carol


On Sep 17, 2010, at 1:14 PM, Carrlee, Ellen M (EED) wrote:

> As far as credibility and getting people to listen to you, I have  
> found that it has been helpful for me to admit where my expertise  
> ends and the expertise of volunteers and others begins.  For  
> example, there are important historic aircraft in the Alaska State  
> Museum collection.  One aircraft in particular was up for some  
> restoration by an outside entity. But I know next to nothing about  
> aircraft, and the folks who wanted to see work done have a lot of  
> knowledge.  We contracted a conservator from the Henry Ford Museum  
> who know airplanes to come and do a condition assessment and  
> treatment recommendation for the aircraft.  Soon after, that  
> conservator was selected to be the head of the conservation at the  
> National Air and Space Museum.  You can imagine the credibility  
> that his report has with the folks who want to restore that  
> airplane, compared to the weight they might have given my report.

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