Dear Museum L'ers:

Thank you to all of those who responded to my original weaving query!  Now
we are trying to put together a weaving definition or vocabulary list of
sorts.  We are looking for terminology definitions such as: weaving, warp,
weft, loom, shuttle, etc.  Any suggestions or actually lists ppl may have
access to -- please feel free to email to us!  Thank you all again and thank
you in advance to those who respond to this query!

Sincerely,
  Ginger M. Young (Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum Intern)
  email: [log in to unmask] or to personally reach me: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: JHANDLEY <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, August 06, 1998 11:34 AM
Subject: Re: The Value of an M.A. - $7.25/hr?


>Personally, I've taken my efforts elsewhere. I've written AAM and my letter
(I'm
>told) will be published in the Nov/Dec issue of Museum News.
>
>John Handley
>Museum of Ophthalmology
>______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
>Subject: Re: The Value of an M.A. - $7.25/hr?
>Author:  [log in to unmask] (Katherine Steiner Stocker) at
INTERNET
>Date:    8/6/98 12:25 PM
>
>
>Sorry for continuing this thread, but had to respond to a couple of these
>comments.
>
>>Take any one of the trade's, carpentry, metal working, plumbing is a great
>example.  Plumbers can make anywhere from $100-$400 an hour.  Does their
>work have more intrinsic value than a museum worker?
>
>Only if you have burst pipes, or sewage seeping into (dare I suggest) the
>room where you display your collection of 16th century artwork.
>
>> Do they have to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours at
>college?  No, they are just organized and they believe in the value of
>their work.  They are willing to extend the extra effort of unionizing,
>which may not always be the best choice but it is one that insures that
>they will be able to support their families.
>
>Here in the sunny South, we don't have a tremendous amount of union
>activity. Many tradespeople are non-union, but command high salaries, not
>because they believe in the value of their work, but because the people who
>pay for their services do.  It seems our culture places a higher value on
>not standing ankle deep in sewage than on art and history. Sadly, before a
>culture is civilized enough to support museums, we have to rely on people
>without expensive college degrees to pick up our garbage, snake our
>toilets, build our homes, slaughter our beef, etc, etc, etc.  And by the
>way, I hope the gentleman who thinks we should be paid the salaries that
>schoolteachers get isn't going to be my union rep---sheez, I think that's a
>group of people who are truly undervalued.
>
>>Instead of replying that we all have
>>'crappy pay', maybe looking at ways to change the standards would be more
>productive.  We need to create camaraderie not draw battlelines among
>ourselves.
>
>Now this, I agree with, and appreciate, but until we figure out a way to
>band together and get more funding for museums, we're stuck.  You can't
>squeeze blood from a stone.  Bottom line is that even though we'd like to
>think museums are above bourgeois economics, we, just like for-profit
>concerns, are to some degree, a business, ruled by supply and demand, and
>sadly the money that is supplied to us just never seems to be what we'd
>like to demand.  We as employees suffer, our exhibits suffer, our visitors
>suffer, our buildings suffer. . . Our only choice is to suck it up and try
>to improve things, in the full knowledge that we may never be valued
>appropriately, or strike out into the business world, where the values are
>somewhat different.(Take that any way you'd like)  I suppose all I really
>mean by this is that the reason I dare to be tired of this conversation, is
>that I see a lot of people (to paraphrase an old expression) doing nothing
>but sitting on the pot.
>
>Katherine Steiner Stocker
>[log in to unmask]
>"If the world were a logical place, men would ride side-saddle."  --Rita
>Mae Brown
>
>American Academy of Ophthalmology
>http://www.eyenet.org
>