[NHCOLL-L:2268] Re: Collection Manager Review

[Shirley S Albright]

> Hello Tim,
>
> You might want to consider the relative size of the museum and its 
> diversity and quantity of collection materials.   What I mean is this: 
> in a small to mid-size museum or one with a small to mid-sized 
> collection, the collection manager has greater flexibility in terms of 
> what he/she can do or is expected to do. For example,  collection 
> managers in large institutions usually deal with documentation, rights 
> and reproductions, loans, storage and retrieval of objects, legal 
> issues related to collection maintenance and collection management 
> research topics etc..   They usually work with a well-defined set of 
> objects in ornithology OR vertebrate paleontology OR herpetology OR 
> mineralogy OR malacology etc.   They usually do not write label copy 
> for exhibitions, participate necessarily as principles in scientific 
> research, actually prepare and conserve specimens or provide 
> educational lectures or tours for visitors.    In a smaller 
> institution with a variety of subcollections, the collection manager 
> may be hired because he/she has subject area expertise in a field 
> unrepresented by other members of the curatorial staff and, because of 
> that, they are expected to do all those other things as well.
>
> I do believe it is helpful for the applicant to have those job 
> expectations spelled out at the very beginning because he/she may have 
> expectations based upon their current employment.   We've had similar 
> problems hiring in the past when recent graduates applied for 
> collection management positions and thought they would be dividing 
> their work week by 70% research and 30% collection management.   It's 
> my opinion that an actively engaged collection manager will have more 
> than enough to do dealing with the traditional tasks of collection 
> management, especially if those duties entail database management and 
> digital imaging projects as well.    
>
> Collection management really has become a new career path in museums, 
> as opposed to the old model where a Registrar or Collections Manager 
> progressed through the Assistant Curator then Curator ranks.    A good 
> collection manager is one who is part legal counsel, part archivist, 
> part technician, part taxonomist, part database guru, part subject 
> area specialist, and part diplomat.    Difficult to find?   You bet.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Shirley Albright
> New Jersey State Museum



Tim White wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I hope you can help me. We are about to embark on a program to review 
> the collection management positions at the Yale Peabody Museum of 
> Natural History and I would like to gather as much information as 
> possible about similar positions and their descriptions, grading, etc 
> at other institutions.  If you would you be willing to share with me 
> any information you may have that pertain to your institutions 
> practice, please respond off line.
>
> I will be at the SPNHC meeting in New York City if any one would like 
> to talk in person. Thanks for your help. Cheers,
>
> Tim White
> Assistant Director for Collections & Operations
>
> Peabody Museum of Natural History
> Yale University
> 170 Whitney Ave., PO Box 208118
> New Haven, CT 06520-8118
>
> 203.432.3767 (voice); 203.432.9816 (fax)
> tim.white at yale.edu (email); www.peabody.yale.edu (www)
>
> Paleontological Society Special Publications Editor
> http://www.paleontsoc.org
>
> SPNHC 2004  Museum SOS: Strategies for Emergency Response & Salvage
> http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/spnhc/
>