Miguel, I specifically left out Penn State students for several reasons, but the main reason is that they are a transient population. Very few students get involved in the community while they are in college. I can count on one hand the number of students who have visited our historical society (down the road from the museum) for non-class visits in the past 1 1/2 years. > I know a fellow from El Paso who's getting his graduate degree in art > history at Penn State. I think his career plans are to work in museums. > > Remember the Latino community includes Mexicans, Mexican-Americans > or Chicanos, Puerto Ricans (which are numerous in Philadelphia), Cuban > and persons from Central American heritage. I chance to say, that 1% is an > underestimation. Yes, I do remember that. Puerto Ricans in Philly don't help -- we are a County historical society in Central Pennsylvania, 3 1/2 hours from Philly. Again, if you leave out Penn State students, we have VERY FEW people of ANY color other than white in our community. You are right, though, 1% was an underestimation: the 1980 census (someone has borrowed my 1990 county figures) gave the minority population as 3%. "People of Spanish origin", as the county report called them, were 0.7% of the total population. Blacks were the largest minority at 1.3%. > > Even if Latinos students couldn't be found, I feel it would behoove those in > hiring positions to be sensitive to qualified people of color. From > personal experience, a certain museum in El Paso actually rewrote the > curatorial job description to suit a particular candidate who fit all > those "qualifications," thus everyone else didn't measure up. Incidently > this person moved to El Paso way before the formal interviews for the > position even began. Now was that a setup? Was it legal? Yes. Was it > ethical? Well, I don't think so. Let's not forget how the role of > favortism, politica (politics) and the rest of the "isms" play into > hiring "qualified" people. Been there, lived it, seen it. > I didn't dispute any of your ideas. My point was that of the 1400 people on Museum-L, we didn't all respond because we're not interested. For some of us, our experience isn't relevant. By the way, I am the only staff person here (and the first ever). If we ever hire anyone else, we'll take into account your concerns. They are valid -- just not applicable in a small county in central Pennsylvania. Sara -- Sara Phinney Kelley, Historic Site Administrator Centre County Historical Society State College, PA (814) 234-4779 e-mail: [log in to unmask]