I agree with Cass across the board. 

In addition to Cass's excellent suggestions: 
- consider asking one of the volunteers (even the difficult one?) to be the key volunteer responsible / in charge of the restoration or a portion of it. Let him know you are asking him to take on this role because the results will be a long-term representation of his service to the organization, the museum and the world of tractors. He may step up to the way you are reframing the project in surprising ways. 
- ask the volunteers to help you and the 'expert' agree on a target timeline for completion;
- after providing the training sessions Cass suggests, include the expert in the agreed upon restoration review / evaluation meetings.  Revise all as necessary; 
- Give the volunteers bragging rights. Offer ownership of the restoration and a lot of praise and acknowledgement in many forms - parties, plaques, certificates, etc. This is not expensive or difficult. It's about them being proud of their work;

In my opinion, one of our key responsibilities is to be expert people managers and understanding what motivates. How can we grease the slides for volunteers and others to offer their very best work? 

This is a great opportunity!

Best of luck -- please keep us posted.

Kay Voyvodich
 
On Sep 16, 2010, at 10:09 AM, Cass Karl wrote:

If I'm not mistaken, your question is how to deal with the volunteers, not how to care for the tractor.  I have had this problem at every one of the many institutions I have worked at, and various things have worked for me.  Here are some ideas:
-Hold a workshop for volunteers about restoration.  Stress the importance of using authentic materials/techniques.
-Have someone in a position of authority (if there is someone with more authority than you who agrees with your views) talk to them.
-(You're going to hate this one) Have a MAN talk to them about it.  I hate to say it, but especially if you are a *young* woman, they may not listen to you no matter what.
-Play good cop/bad cop.  You mentioned that you have a consultant nworking on the project?  You are paying that consultant for his/her advice adn it will be easier (on you) to insist that the volunteers follow the recommendations of the consultant.  The consultant is the one who is calling them out- you are just doing your job.
-Agree to disagree.  Don't let them get their hands on anything that is really *crucial* and let them do what they want with the rest.  At the last museum I worked at, we actally had a class of operational artifacts for which we had a different standard of care.  This allowed us to take advantage of voluteer labor and re-purposed or modern materials in the care of these items, but keep others (sometimes another copy of the exact same item) in true original condition.
 
Hope this helps...
-Cass

On Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 11:24 AM, N'Gadi, Ann <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
How about contacting the American Institute for Conservation (http://www.conservation-us.org); Conservation OnLine (http://cool.conservation-us.org/); BCIN (http://www.bcin.ca); AATA (http://aata.getty.edu/nps/); NPS (http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/admin_policies/policy1-part1.htm and many more...)



-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Julie Blood
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 10:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Problems with volunteers

I work for a museum that has a large collection of agricultural equipment, especially tractors.  Many of these tractors come in unrestored and we have a group of retired guys who volunteer their time to restore these tractors.  Unfortunately, their idea of restoration and my idea of restoration are not the same thing.

The tractor they are currently working on is a Holt 75 that Museum staff would like to have running for demonstrations.  I have been told by other museum staff that a few of the restoration volunteers have referred to the artifacts as "junk," luckily these staff members have informed the volunteers otherwise.  Even though I have been working with a "friend of the museum" in acquiring accurate replications of parts for the Holt 75, I am finding that my restoration volunteers are using scrap pieces of materials to make parts for the tractor which are inaccurate.  I have provided them with parts lists/pictures and the care and operations manual for this tractor.  The "friend of the museum" is also serving as a consultant for this project, but cannot be out at the museum to assist in the actual restoration.

Unfortunately, this is only one example of the many poorly restored projects they have done over the years.  One of the last tractors that was restored had a cap from the fly-wheel chiseled off instead of just unscrewing the cover to remove this cap.  This was a problem that the previous Collections Manager faced for MANY years and I would really like to break  the cycle.  How to you get through to these guys that our artifacts are not "junk"?  I am in the process of writing a restoration policy for the museum, but just because I write one doesn't mean that they are going to follow it.  Since this project began, I have had to be in the restoration shop supervising their work (a total of 6 hours/week) instead of being able to do other necessary job duties.  I would like to be able to trust them enough where I can go out to the shop for about a few hours, take photos, get updates and make decisions and answer questions they have.  I do have a few volunteers who understand and love being able to accurately restore the equipment and I don't have to worry about them, but they aren't rubbing off on the others.

Since these are all volunteers, how do you handle this situation diplomatically?  I would really like to get rid of the bad apples, but know that may not be possible.  We have a guy who is kind of their leader, but he isn't doing the best of job in directing the volunteers... he is older and has health issues, so I am also playing a waiting game on that too... hoping it will improve once he isn't involved anymore.  What is the nicest, but firmest way to let them know that they need to change their thinking and  do things correctly?  Any suggestions you provide would be very helpful, as it would really help my stress level.  Also if you have a restoration policy you would like to share, I would appreciate that too!

Thanks,
Julie

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