Since I beat life into the dying embers of the "Internships - paid or unpaid?" thread, and also am partly responsible for the "The museum field sure pays lousy, doesn't it?" thread, I am going to end them (at least for now). I have been reading *A Cabinet of Curiosities* by Stephen Weil. Weil is, IMHO, one of the most astute observers of the museum world, as well as one of the most articulate writers on the subject. In this collection of essays, he saves the best for last--his speech in acceptance of the Katherine Coffey Award given to him by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums in 1990. With apologies for probably violating his copyright, and surety that he would approve, I present his reasons why museum people are different from other people who work. "For one thing, as I have written elsewhere, nobody does this kind of work for the money. It is just not there. The only people who work in museums are people who really want to, people who are enthusiastic about their occupation even to the point of making a substantial economic sacrifice to pursue it. A working world made up of such people feels very different from one that is populated by the sometimes bitter, trapped, and alienated person- alities who assure you in the law, advertising, and elsewhere that they would leave in a minute if it weren't for the money. "Although museums may occasionally compete for donors or for particular objects, they rarely compete for market share. That permits museum people a degree of candor and supportiveness in their dealings with one another that might not be possible in a more basically competitive situation . . . It is just this atmosphere that has made possible such training programs as the Museum Management Institute and other mid-career efforts that rely heavily on the willingness of participants to be forthcoming about their day-to-day working experiences in museums. "That the museum field contains an interlacing of so many different skills and backgrounds gives it a tremendously cosmopolitan aspect. I am by no means alone in having arrived in museum work by such a wholly unexpected and accident-filled route. Hundreds of our colleagues, and certainly many of you here today, came to museums in just that same almost-random way. All of us, I think, have been greatly enriched by this diversity of background and by the myriad interactions that it regularly fosters. "Finally, the very museum enterprise itself is to a degree bottomed on notions of respect, caring, and decency. Museum work necessarily assumes that the natural world and the accomplishments of its inhabitants are worthy of preservation and transmission. It also assumes that there will be future generations with the responsiveness and interest to benefit from the work that museum people do in preserving and transmitting their heritage. Such assumptions are acts of faith. Institutions infused with faith and built on such qualities as respect, caring, and decency must inevitably strengthen and bring to the fore those very same qualities in the people who work with and for them." He winds up by saying: "Proud as I am that you have chosen to recognize me in this way, I am prouder still to be able to count myself as one of you." 'Nuff said? Claudia Nicholson Curator of Collections South Dakota State Historical Society Pierre [log in to unmask]