[Nhcoll-l] Collection management: trade or profession?

[Callomon,Paul]

The reason I brought up the trade/profession distinction is because the meaning of those two words, which was once so clear (as I defined them before, and based on different career pathways) has become so confused with a similar term as to defy simple definition. When ambiguous terms are involved in discussions of power, however, it's often because their ambiguity makes them useful to the powerful.

"Profession" and "professional" are two different and largely unrelated terms, as demonstrated by their antonyms: "profession" vs. "trade" and "professional" vs. "amateur." CMs in many institutions in the USA see themselves as "professionals" because they are in a "profession," but that is to mix the two terms. Collection management in natural history museums is something of a chimaera, in that its practitioners often have and apply a body of knowledge you would expect from someone in a profession (a doctor, lawyer etc.) but are treated by management as tradesmen. A "technician" in the European sense is maybe a more apposite term for this.

In the struggle to be recognized and compensated as high-knowledge workers, we maybe do ourselves no favors by using ambiguous terminology. What many people mean by "professional" is "educated and salaried." There is also the social use of the term "professional" with the antonym "unprofessional," which are subjective judgments of behavior unworthy of gentlefolk (and that sporting pair - "gentlemen" vs. "players" - is a synonym of "amateurs" and "professionals.")

Incidentally, the use of "professional" for museum curators and staff dates to the late nineteenth century and only means "employed full time" - that is, not amateurs. "Museum curator" has never been considered a profession like law or medicine, as it has no legal privilege. For all their erudition, curators and CMs alike cannot legally perform surgery or prosecute people in court.


Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates

________________________________

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170




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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Laura Rincón <collectionslitclub at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2024 7:55 PM
To: John E Simmons <simmons.johne at gmail.com>
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] [External] Re: [KU SUSPECT SPAM] Re: [EXTERN] Re: Collection management: trade or profession?


External.

 I am uncertain about the potential issues that may arise if CM is considered both a trade and a profession. Could this correlation perpetuate low salaries and hinder an understanding of the tasks performed in collections?

Having this combination between on-the-job learning and university-trained professionals is a great recipe for me. I like what Liath says about Collections Management (CM) being a specialization within the profession category. For example, my undergrad is in Information and Library Sciences, and I pursued a Master of Arts in Museum Studies. However, during my graduate studies, I discovered my interest in biological collections. Despite the fact that my master's degree did not specifically focus on natural history museums, I decided to gain experience by working at the natural history museum of my university.

It would be interesting to explore how an Union or HR decides to assign a title to the CM position. What resources do museums rely on to implement significant changes in titles? There are many titles assigned to specific job positions, and this can vary among natural history museums. Ultimately, it appears that some museums are still grappling with a clear understanding of what CM entails.

Very interesting questions and discussions around this topic!

Thank you,



Laura A. Rincón R. |  Museum Studies professional

Malacology Museum Specialist

Division of Invertebrate Zoology

American Museum of Natural History



Email: lrincon-rodriguez at amnh.org<mailto:lrincon-rodriguez at amnh.org>
Twitter: @LauRincon222



https://collectionslitclub.wordpress.com/



“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” Maya Angelou
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