Dear Mr. Morris,

Thanks for the note.  At first I was nervous about being so blunt, but I
decided I had to be.  I have not given up on a museum job, but I am
willing to look other places.  I am forcing myself to be realistic.  The
attitude on museum-l bothers me for
several reasons.

First, just because something exists, its existence is not justified.  For
example, expecting people to work for poverty wages and require them to
have a graduate education is ridiculous. How many jobs have you seen
that pay $19,000 and require at least a MA?  Now I am not asking that I
make
million of dollars, but it is NOT unreasonable for me to expect to make
enough money to pay my loans, feed and cloth myself, and provide a roof
over my head.  Women, and most museum professionals are women, no longer
have the luxury of marrying rich and have their husbands provide for
themselves so they can go off and pursue their interests.

Second, I think that universities are graduating too many people.  I think
graduate programs should be harder and accept less people.

Third, museums might as well stop collecting things if they cannot afford
to pay for people to take care of them.  As part of their non-profit
status they have an obligation to properly care for the items bestowed
upon them.

Fourth, so many of these unpaid internships only allow limited learning.
For example, so many students spend their time at the copy machine instead
of putting their educations into use.  I am one of the fortune ones.  I
was handed a collection of over 1000 objects and told to finish all of the
collections management.  In return I have unlimited access to the
collection to use for my MA thesis. I am truly treated like a staff member
and not an intern.


You are right "deserve" is a shakey word.  But I know that I will get paid
better and maybe even treated better in other fields.  There is a much
lower work standard in the musuem field than other places.

I think that many people on this list think that a number of us
recent grads or current grads think we are all a bunch of babies who want
free carrots.  This, I repeat, is not the case.  But getting paid for work
is not a CRAZY concept.  Work in exchange for money is a NORMAL
expectation.  But the road to museum employment is a crazy balancing act.
You have to have experience, but you can't get
experience without an education and vice versa.

Things will never change if voices are never concerned.  But we can't just
complain.  We have to be very clear about our ideas and goals. No one
likes a wishy washy person.

I am learning that so much of life is chance.  By chance I got a part-time
job at a Foundation that supports grass roots groups dealing with poverty,
welfare and the like. We are living in a world that believes that if you
work hard you succeed and if
you did not succeed you must not have worked hard.  Some people work hard
their whole lives and never achieve success due to circumstances beyond
their control.  But I know that giving up is not the answer, but a healthy
dose of realism is required.


Elizabeth


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