God bless you! I couldn't have said better in my wildest dreams! Hervé Gagnon Wayne and Mary a écrit: > hi all > > And how about folks climbing onto boards of Historical Societies > (many of which maintain museums) so they can tap into the > dollars for a book they would like to have published? We have had > board members quit the board because they couldn't get their > first time book, no less, a guarantee of publication BEFORE anyone > had even seen anything that looked remotely like a book. > > Or how about the folks that join boards only so their house, or > whatever will receive a free historic site marker from the Society? > Or how about the folks that join with absolutely no intention of > EVER doing any work, ever raising any money, hardly ever > showing up at a board meeting, never give a penny to help > maintain the museum, but still expect to be treated like some > sort of God because "after all, I am a Board Member." > > I could go on, but you more than get the point I'm sure. > A paid Curator sitting on the board is usually only the tip of > a rather nasty iceberg. > > Most boards do not have enough people interested in being > a member - so most boards jump at anyone who would like to > be on it. Many boards need to keep the numbers up because > they will lose their affiliation with the State Historical Society > if they don't - so in short, they cook the numbers. > > >From personal experience, I no longer believe the numbers > presented to me about membership. If a Board Member tells me > they have 14 on the Board, I know that in essence they have > probably 6 or 7 active Board members that are there for more > than self aggrandizement. > > If they tell me they have a general membership of 400, I now > assume that less than 100 is more accurate. > > If I ask what the average age is of their volunteers and am told > it is in the 60 range, I know this is a society/museum that has > done little to encourage younger than 60's to find a reason to > join. I.E. the president has been the president since creation - > the same goes for most of the other Board members too. New > blood is not encouraged. New blood and younger blood is a > threat. > > There are many good societies and great museums out there. > There are also many, many bad ones. These are the ones that > pay next to nothing - in fact are supremely proud of the fact that > they have all volunteers running the show. For those of you looking > for jobs in the museum field, I would suggest looking at the Board > composition, make up of the volunteer list, the salary range etc > before jumping in - it will save you a lot of frustration. It will > save you quitting the job because you are not appreciated for what > you are able to contribute. > > You can be sure too that if a paid Curator is on the Board, that is > a board not doing its job. A paid Curator can sit in on meetings of > the Board but should not have a vote. > > As a matter of fact, in many of these vest pocket museums I am > talking about, a Curator is equivalent to janitor and the Board > treats > them as such. > > My two cents worth! > > regards > > Mary Haegele > who has been on several Boards > and is the member of a couple > of Historical Societies > www.joes.com/home/book_list > > On 19 Nov 98,, Hervé Gagnon delivered: > > > theoritical sense, the board's job is to supervise the director, > whom in turn supervises all other employees. The board's functions > are to > implement policies, to allocate and raise funds, to do some p.r. on > behalf > of the museum and to exercise a general surveillance on spending. The > director's job is to implement the board's policies, to reach the > long-term goals set by the boards and to ensure the museum's > professional > functions. The curator's job is to exercise one of those functions. > Confuse jobs and you'll end up with a lot of chiefs in the place... > > All in all, something to avoid at all cost.