> I would say that prospective museum professionals get no
> particular sort of indoctrination. As you have seen on this
> list, there are very few professional training programs for
Yes, I had noticed, which is why I asked. Librarians are struggling to
define themselves in a professional sense in a world where many do not see
librarians AS professionals in the same way as, say, lawyers or doctors.
Hence the emphasis on this area.
> I have two questions, for you: first, is "musea" an accepted
> term. I have seen it here on this list, but almost nowhere
My background is in classics. I instinctively see "museum" as a neuter
noun, hence "musea" as its plural. If I THINK about it, I'll write
"museums", since that is more common -- but "musea" isn't wrong. Affected,
possibly, pedantic, certainly, but not wrong. (I'm not being defensive,
just explaining.)
> else. Second, I hadn't heard that the holocaust museum was
> troubled. In what way? All I had heard about was their
> smashing critical and popular success...
It IS a smashing critical and popular success -- and I do apologize for
giving the impression that "troubled" meant "on the brink of disaster". My
choice of words was poor.
I had heard rumblings about internal problems, however. Drawing upon the
article in question (again: Washington Post; 4 January 1994; pp. B1-B2 (the
Style section; the author is Judith Weinraub):
Staffers worry that its internal policies and procedures are
only now being formulated; that its presidentially apponted
board and activist chairman mange operations too closely;
and that its component parts -- the museum, the research
institute, the fund-raising operations -- often operate
independently of one another.
The resulting mixed signals have often unsettled the staff,
a situation that intensified last summer when five senior
employees left for a variety of reasons.
...
One of the new director's greatest challenges is the absence
of a long-term plan. There is only the museum's mission
statement ...
...
And then there is money -- a continuing problem for any
museum, but particularly for one with construction debts to
repay and a federal budget that covers only salaries and
basic museum operations. ... As things are, the Holocaust
Museum has virtually no general endowment -- about $3.5
million, only $200,000 of it available for unrestricted uses
...
...
And Katz will likely encounter pressure from outside
organizations, especially Jewish groups, to turn the museum
to political purposes -- a problem that has dogged the place
from its inception ...
In other words, the problems of a new museum just starting out -- AND
operating in the spotlight (what with its popularity and its close scrutiny
by Congress; a little like being in a goldfish bowl), AND covering a very
sensitive issue. Just how many internal problems there are, and how much
it's just a matter of the museum's "finding itself", I've no idea. Katz
does have his work cut out for him, though ... and if he has no experience
in museums (see, I CAN learn), it could prove very interesting.
> Eric Siegel
Mario Rups
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