I have not followed this whole thread, but as the director of a small public history program that has placed nearly all of its graduates in museum positions, I would like to add a few thoughts. First, in my experience, telling people who have an interest in a museum career that jobs are few and the salaries less than they might like does not persuade most people to not enroll. I try to be very candid with prospective students and I suspect most people who direct programs are - but at the time of enrollment many are not ready for the information. Many people think that they will be different, I guess, or their enthusiasm blocks their ability to hear what is being said. While there are many advantages to larger, established programs, there are advantages to smaller ones too -- we can devote more energy to helping students develop an effective course of study, find appropriate internships and other experiences to make them stronger candidates for jobs, and work with them on placement. We have a great deal of flexibility to customize a program, within some broad parameters. One reason we have kept our program small is to help insure we can place the people we graduate. There is no point in a large, but unplacable graduating class. All that said, if you are interested in substantial financial rewards for your work, museums (or college teaching for that matter) are probably not careers you should pursue. It may not be just in a larger, cosmic sense, but it is the way it is and I see little likelihod that it will change any time soon. There are jobs, but they are often not in larger cities or in larger museusm and the starting salaries are not high, but they offer a lot of other rewards and a start to a career. Bill Mulligan William H. Mulligan, Jr. Associate Professor of History Director, Forrest C. Pogue Public History Institute Murray State University Murray KY 42071-3341 270/762-6571 Fax 270/762-6587 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).