Ross Weeks wrote:

 I think this makes the point.  It's the senior people, where they exist, who are being paid a salary sufficient to retain them (but not necessarily to recogize their worth, their education, their stresses, their supposed lack of any tenure agreement).  And to me, a PhD in English qualifies one to lead a museum just as effectively as a PhD in history, art, what have you.  We are in the knowledge industry, perhaps we forget it.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jackie Hoffman-Chin <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, July 29, 1998 8:00 AM
Subject: Re: The Value of an M.A. - $7.25/hr?I promised myself that I would not get aggrivated today, but after reading about the low, low prices being paid for M.A. level workers I just had to take some TUMS.

A quick sob story (mine) about the payscale of museum work.
I took the job in a New York historic house museum which must remain nameless.  Having been born here in NY (the museum mecca) I of course tried to find work in my own backyard.  The job paid 15,500 with no benefits.  It was a demanding administrative position made harder by financial crisis after crisis. Leaky roof, no heat, deferred maintenance, deteriorating collections, etc.  After 3 months of humiliation at the hands of the Executive Director, the  Board of Directors, and even the President's daughter (who was given a  make-work job) I was told that my contract was to be terminated after 3 more months.
Now comes the awful confession: while helping to prepare a grant proposal, I discovered the education and current salary of the Exec. Dir. (PhD in English  and $60,000).
I suppose this is a type of triage.  Either get the new roof, or keep the well liked and very personable Exec. You can't have both. You also can't get a well trained and motivated (next generation) of personnel if this keeps up.
Bitter? You betcha.