Jerrie:
You are correct that many, many historical museums depend on the volunteer
hands of good hearted people with little formal training who want to handle
the items entrusted to them correctly. I am essentially retired from museum
work, and for several years have offered a workshop series specifically
prepared for volunteer collections personnel who otherwise do not have
access to training. It includes trustee responsibilities, legal
requirements, conservation and collections management objectives, two
reference notebooks, and sessions of hands-on processing of your own
three-dimensional objects, manuscript materials, photographs, leather and
textiles, book collections and original art. I assist historical societies
and museums in the development of collections policies and procedures,
including deaccessioning and photo use policies.  Many of my workshops have
been attended by people who own and care for historical family collections,
and most of the museum volunteers are post-retirement age. I will be happy
to respond to you off-line as well, with a resume, if you would provide a
direct e-mail address. I would be pleased to have a place on your list of
potential workshop leaders.  I have never offered an on-line workshop,
because I believe that hands-on demonstration and immediate observation and
follow-up are crucial to teaching volunteers of the age you describe.

Micki Ryan
Museum & Archival Services
[log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Jerrie Clarke
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2005 1:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Best book for Museum Studies???/Training for volunteer
museum staff


Utah, like many other states I'm sure, is full of
small volunteer-run, local history museums.  A group
of us are looking at a training course for these
people who, because of age (we're talking 70s and 80s)
or economics are not able to return to school or are
not interested in a masters degree but want to do the
right thing for their artifacts and historic cabins
and homes.  I've been asked to find some Internet
resources that would be useful to these people and/or
professionals who would present workshops for these
people.  I've found some very good leads for
bibliographies and Internet sites by watching this
thread.  Thank you for answering on-line.  And,
Christopher, thank you for asking the question.  You
just never know when your question will be answered
even before you ask it.

Jerrie

Jerrie Clarke
Contract Curator
Salt Lake City, Utah

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