In a message dated 3/27/2003 3:32:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< Museums will always have subject matter
 experts around. They don't always have good educators. >>

Deb, I have to disagree with that statement.  It's ironic that after I read
your post, the announcement about the massacre at the Museum of Northern
Arizona came hot on its heels.  There is an unfortunate trend in many museums
to eliminate "subject matter expert" positions, from the extreme of
abolishing entire curatorial departments to mere neglect, such as allowing
professional positions to disappear through attrition.  Indeed, one of the
most prominent roving lecturers on museums (who shall remain nameless) told
me privately that he thinks curators are obsolescent, "and not a minute too
soon," he added.  While I don't know if he articulates this to his far-flung
audiences, I think it's a dangerous mindset.  As museums increasingly
emphasize "educators" (dare I call them "generalists"?) over "experts," the
demand for museum scholars and qualified curators and collection managers
with subject expertise tends to decrease, jeopardizing collections and
altering the fundamental character of museums.

In my own museum many curatorial positions have disappeared over the years,
and entire collecting fields are struggling along without qualified staff to
oversee them.  We cannot assume that subject experts "will always be around."
 In many museums around the world they are increasingly considered irrelevant
and museum scholars are becoming an endangered species.  Museum education at
the lower levels is important, but not, I think, at the expense of higher
education and scholarship--and the qualified subject expertise needed to
maintain high standards of collecting, collection care, and interpretation.

David Haberstich
National Museum of American History

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