The low salary thread tends to cycle through Museum-L with a certain
regularity.  Unfortunately, each cycle tends to develop the same
suggestions: forming unions, making a certain salary level part of the
accredidation process...

We tend to overlook the hundreds of people entering the profession every
year, some from museum studies, art history masters, history masters,
science types and people burned out from teaching, law, business and
whatever else.  How many can the museum field absorb?  For entry level
positions it is a buyers market.  No matter how low the salary, someone will
take the job.

Most of us start out at ridiculously low wages for a couple of reasons:
first we love the work and second we have a slightly irrational belief that
we will move up-either in the same museum or to a larger museum-and gain a
larger salary.  If you are lucky, this occurs.  There is a strong variation
in salaries among museum professionals from the often cited 15,000 to
150,000.  Most people I know make more than 15k but a lot less than 150k

I am currently earning just over 3 times more than my entry level position.
Of course I am still earning only slightly more than the starting salary of
a teacher with a masters degree in North Carolina (yes, I know how hard they
work.)

For those who don't move up for whatever reasons, many turn to other
careers.  Hopefully, they retain their interest in art, science or history
and museums.  They are probably a little richer for the experience and our
field is richer for their participation.

It is a tough field.  There are many things I would like to see change in
the museum field.  But, I wouldn't trade my work for anything else I know
of.

Frank E. Thomson, III
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-----Original Message-----
From: Bonni-Dara Michaels <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, July 29, 1997 8:47 AM
Subject: salaries



A survey I conducted for MAAM several years ago indicated that, while many
people still go into the profession, people begin to leave after 10 years
in the field, and only a few percent remain after 15 years.  This
suggests that as they accumulate responsibilities (such as having to feed
and clothe children), museum professionals can no longer afford to
maintain their high ideals and they leave the field, albeit reluctantly,
for something more lucrative. While business-minded individuals know that
such attrition can be overcome by hiring from the large pool of new
graduates, aren't we as professsionals sorry to lose the expertise these
people offer in the field we love?

Another concept I haven't seen voiced regarding the reason for low
salaries is the historical aspect (perhaps we all take it as a "given")-
museums were staffed by affluent males who could afford to volunteer or
work for low salaries, and later by women who had their husbands' salaries
to fall back on and didn't need the money either.

Bonni-Dara Michaels