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

[Liath Appleton]

"I think Collection Management now occupies what formerly has been
understood as Curator in the original Latin meaning"
100% agree with this statement. To people outside of the museum world, I
say that I curate collections. ---Liath

On Mon, Feb 26, 2024 at 1:03 AM Dirk Neumann <d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>
wrote:

> Personally, I think Collection Management now occupies what formerly has
> been understood as Curator in the original Latin meaning, i.e. the person
> that 'takes care', 'maintains' and 'heals' the collection, while curators
> evolved more into (strong) research positions. In some countries, where the
> CM have been the curators, this trend is reversed by cutting researcher
> positions and hiring researchers as 'curators' (and paying them less, while
> loosing professional staff to maintain the collections).
>
> Indeed, I would agree with Paul that there is no proper real recognition
> of the profession 'collection manager', but many ways to grow into this
> very complex employment position that requires a lot of skills and
> knowledge, ranging from biology, organic and inorganic chemistry,
> conservation, management plus all the skills a good librarian needs to keep
> on track with things, to understand a complex history of a collection, etc.
> And he is probably right that there is no proper profession for 'curators'
> either - which may explain why basic requirements to curate a collection
> often are not well understood by some curators either.
>
> And if there is no proper professional education for collection management
> that is suited to certify that a specific knowledge has been obtained, it
> is difficult to demonstrate it (both, payment-wise and profession-wise).
> Perhaps graduating from a museum studies program is as close as you can get?
>
> All the best
> Dirk
>
>
>
> Am 25.02.2024 um 03:40 schrieb 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 <callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170*
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>
> <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Laura Rincón
> <collectionslitclub at gmail.com> <collectionslitclub at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Saturday, February 24, 2024 7:55 PM
> *To:* John E Simmons <simmons.johne at gmail.com> <simmons.johne at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <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
> 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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> --
>
> ******
>
>
>
> *Dirk Neumann*
>
> Collection Manager, Hamburg
>
>
>
> Postal address:
>
> *Museum of Nature Hamburg*
> Leibniz Institute for the Analysis
>
> of Biodiversity Change
>
> Dirk Neumann
>
> Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3
>
> 20146 Hamburg
> +49 40 238 317 – 628
>
> *d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de <d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>*
>
> www.leibniz-lib.de
>
>
>
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> --
> Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
> Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany
>
> Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
> Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian
> Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
> Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
> Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst
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> _______________________________________________
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
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