Hi,
I 'm called the Curator by my board, but I have many executive Director
functions. We have two parttime employees from the Senior Texas
Employment Program (STEP) who are paid by that prog. for 20 hours work a
week. We have one docent a day come from 11 am to 2 pm., during which
time the STEP employee and or myself can go to lunch, pick up packages,
mail out packages etc.
We have one facility, a former post office built 1925-26. We are open 6
days a week, 10:30 am to 5 p.m. Before we had the first STEP employee, we
were open with voluteers only 3 days a week, Thursday-Saturday, with each
Docent in the buildding on three hours shifts. Getting another set of
volunteers to open and close the building (some of who sat a shift some
of whom did not) was a really monotonous pain. It was with great relief
that we allowed the STEP person the opening and closing honors.
I personally am hired for 32 hours a week. Since we do not at the present
have one of the STEP employees, I concentrate my in-builing activities
during those 21 hours as much as I can. In recent weeks, one of the three
docents has not shown, so I could only lunch break by closing the
building or brown bagging.
We are nine years old from charter, eight from opening first exhibits,
five from our first professionally prepared exhibits. Our annual budget
is about $35,000.
If you do not have enough docents now, get a docent committee chairman
who can find you some. We have gone through five over the years. AARP and
Retired TEacher meetings are a possible source. The more some of the
volunteers find the kind of help you need, the more they may ask their
friends. Some come in pairs so they will not be board when no one comes
to the building. Be creative, be grateful for those who help, and
encourage any members who express interest in your facility and who have
lingered over you exhiibits how much you could use their assistance.
Good Luck!
Mary Kirby
Historic Upshur Museum
Gilmer, TX
On Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:08:51 -0700 Issaquah Historical Society Info
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
> Hi,
>
> I'm the director of a small historical society museum. I am here
> full-time
> and we have a part-time assistant (20 hours a week) as well as a
> number of
> volunteer docents (who mostly do not have keys to the buildings). We
> operate
> two museums. Currently, one museumis open three days a week, from
> 11-3
> (Thursday-Saturday). The other is open Sat and Sun, 11-3, with the
> hope we
> can increase the open hours to Fri-Sun. We are waiting until we have
> sufficient docents to increase open hours any more.
>
> My board is wondering why we cannot have one museum (where my office
> is
> located) open from Monday through Saturday since the office is
> staffed the
> whole week. I shudder to think of how I can get anything done if we
> have
> visitors here all week long. I'm also not thrilled with the idea of
> being
> stuck in my office and not being able to leave for other functions,
> etc.
>
> So the point of my e-mail is - how many hours are museums of similar
> size
> open? What rationales can I offer my board for not increasing open
> hours
> until we have the volunteers to support that?
>
> Thanks for your help,
> Erica
>
> Erica S. Maniez
> Museum Director, Issaquah Historical Society
> [log in to unmask]
>
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