Glad you warned me to put my seatbelt on ... We can take this wider than Latinos (there are not many Mexicans et al in Britain), wider than ethnic groupings (what applies to ethnic groupings also applies to social class, gender, disability and so on). I see this as a circle that needs breaking: a person looks into a museum, and sees nothing of their life (this may be because there is nothing of their life in the museum, or because it isn't interpreted in this way). this is repeated/emphasised by history books, history films, and so on. So history seems not to be a career for them ... so they don't persue it. Maybe this is over-pesimistic... do more Black people work with Natural Science collections (which might be assumed to be as relevant to one person as the next although I've read critiques which suggest there is inherant racism in science ...)? The 'solution' to the 'problem' seems, to me, to be far more fundamental than 'outreach', but rather a fundamental change in basic practices. Ways we can break this (to add to those already suggested): * more contemporary collecting, which in itself involves building links with non-donating communities (if you haven't got it, you can't display it). The current issue of _Museums Journal_ has an interesting article on contemporary art collecting in South Africa, which raises some very interesting points. * rethinking interpretation (I am particularly thinking of art galleries and historic houses that don't point out their relationships to slavery, and of the way the material culture of disability is presented, there's more to be done here). * moving to competency based qualifications (if you want someone to document your collections, employ someone who has a qualification in documentation, not just anyone with a first degree). Sadly, most of this is 'do as I say, not as I do'. -- Pat Reynolds [log in to unmask] Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years time" (T. Prattchet)