~Museums used to rely on the curators to mount exhibits as they were the
only ones who knew the material in the collection, its authenticity,
relavance to the field, etc.  A curator developed a thesis on the subject
of her specialty and illustrated it with artifacts.  Today, anyone
imaginable chooses what is put up in a museum gallery from prgram
directors, to development people, educators, directors, pr people,
security guards, shop managers, board committees, etc. as we proceed into
the exhibition-by-committee or "team process" that has been the fad of
late. Curators, however, are specialists in a particular field who are
responsible for the collection.  When curators are once again invited into
the exhibition process as a means of interpreting the collection, they
have been diminished in their role, often only being asked to provide
authentication and some aspects of label copy as the exhibit designers and
educators become more dominant in their participation in the exhibition.


Regards,

Paul Apodaca