Brian,

I’m going to guess that you are newly-minted museum professional. Perhaps in the last five years or so? Anyway…

Congratulations on announcing your displeasure with your coworker. Nothing creates a happy working environment like public criticism.

Then again perhaps you believe your curator, any of his friends, or your boss don’t subscribe to Museum-L.

While I won’t spend time rehashing the absolute necessity of being relevant or the need to balance interpretive programming and curatorial practice (which has the side-effect of making collections and information available to future visitors), I do think I can offer a few suggestions to help you navigate your current situation.

First, if your coworkers are truly so grating, change jobs. Nothing says you have to stay there. And frankly, you're not going to "save" the place all by yourself.

If that is not an option, and you feel the need to take your righteous indignation out on someone, I would suggest aiming it at your director. Directors are the single most important position at any museum. They lead everything, sometimes by action and sometimes by inaction. If you think the curator isn’t living up to modern museum standards, it’s not your job to bring them along. It’s the director’s. If they’re not trying to do it, then, from an organization standpoint, the curator's shortcomings are their fault. So I say blame the director.

Good luck!

 

T.H. Gray, Director-Curator

American Hysterical Society

http://peabodyslament.wordpress.com/

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From: Brian Rayca <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 9:26 AM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Who came first - the curator or the educator? (Was Gripe comment)

Deb,

 

The pure curator who is simply a researcher is all well and good for the Met

and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and large institutions that can afford a

separate Curatorial and Education department.  But as you and Candace

mentioned this is the ideal not what is practical for all museums.  So while

we here struggle without an interpretive arm we are stuck with too many old

school curators.  People for whom museum practice hasn't changed in 30

years.

 

This has gone wildly off topic.  But I will go back to my main point.  In

order for the collection to be worth conserving, in order for the public to

want to invest money in keeping it, through taxes, or donations or admission

fees, in order for the curator to have a collection to research, the PUBLIC

has to see a value in the collection.  The public has to find it

educational, and useful to their lives.

 

It goes back to the adage from The Right Stuff.

No bucks, no Buck Rodgers.

 

So keeping the public engaged and interested in the collection keeps the

lights on, the collection conserved and allows curators to indulge in their

scholarly pursuits.  Without the Visitors, none of the rest happens.

 

Brian

 

Brian Rayca, MA

Museum Technician

West Point Museum

845-938-7074 (Office)

856-264-3512 (Cell)

Find us on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/WestPointMuseum

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 8:05 PM, Th Gray <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

And since this conversation started partly because it was felt that conservators and their work don't get enough attention, here's a little something for you conservators out there:

http://peabodyslament.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/conservator/

T.H. Gray, Director-Curator
American Hysterical Society

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