I know of at least three traction museums that are looking for and Executive Director or a skilled shop worker for car restoration. Which is better for the long term success of the org?

The few people who have a track record in car restoration are backed up with projects for years to come. Restored cars are wonderful; but they happen so rarely with volunteer! There are only four Saturdays in a month.

On the other hand, an Exec Director should be able to raise funds for say a new car barn that every one of the traction museums needs. Or does thet person campaign for TEA-21 dollars?

I would appreciate your thoughts. TM

ted_miles@NPS.gov

Ted - get the ED. Guys like me who work on hardware are available if you look far enough. I can take on a project or two now if the completion dates are down the road and adequate resource streams are in place. I am sure some other experienced people are not entirely booked years in advance as well.

Crafts skills are easier to learn and find than the ability to raise resources and direct their best use. Choose carefully.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Ted, we both serve at largely, if not copletely volunteer operations. Whoever is hired (saddled) as the first Executive Director will either be a stepping stone to the real first Executive Director; or must be a genius at changing from a volunteer driven culture to a staff-lead venture. There will be many battles for an inaugural E.D. Some fights will surely be abandoned for the sake of unity. Strong leadership abilities and a clear vision will go a long way in fighting the inertia against change. It is easier to find skilled labor.

wyld@sbcglobal.net

> Ted, we both serve at largely, if not
> copletely volunteer operations. Whoever is
> hired (saddled) as the first Executive
> Director will either be a stepping stone to
> the real first Executive Director; or must
> be a genius at changing from a volunteer
> driven culture to a staff-lead venture.
> There will be many battles for an inaugural
> E.D. Some fights will surely be abandoned
> for the sake of unity. Strong leadership
> abilities and a clear vision will go a long
> way in fighting the inertia against change.
> It is easier to find skilled labor.

BAERA did try that once. However, the rules changed and the role was not as envisioned. If a clear and concise purpose is defined such as membership promotion and fundraising with sustainable goals, there might be the possibility of success. Based upon what happened last time, there is more than cause for doubt.


futureboy@aol.com

hire one of your own. They understand the purpose, the volunteers and the area. Try a part-time first, to see IF there is any money laying around for the asking.

> hire one of your own. They understand the
> purpose, the volunteers and the area. Try a
> part-time first, to see IF there is any
> money laying around for the asking.

With respectful disagreement Jim, one of your own already is working in your interest and has accustomed himself to the status quo. Newcomers with professional qualifications bring new ideas and fewer preconceptions and should be hired to provide missing skills rather than perpetuate those already on hand. Having just been involved with more than one of these sort of searches, I can recommend careful consideration of what contributions you have already in hand and what is most lacking and try to find the missing pieces first.

Dave


irondave@bellsouth.net

> Restored cars are
> wonderful; but they happen so rarely with
> volunteer! There are only four Saturdays in
> a month.

No offense, but... why? Assuming you're not talking about a schedule of one car outshopped every 3-4 months (or a similarly rapid schedule), I think that there are a couple of museums that do a pretty consistent job of outshopping one car every year, or 18 months at the most - and that without either an executive director or a paid shop foreman. I think that the number of volunteers, and more importantly the work ethic, can have much more of an influence than hired personnel. Of course, OTOH it's pretty hard to buy a legion of dedicated workers. :-)

That being the case, where your main asset is money rather than people, I would suggest an executive director - maybe even one who can raise enough money to HIRE a legion of dedicated workers!!

Frank Hicks

frank@gats.com

> With respectful disagreement Jim, one of
> your own already is working in your interest
> and has accustomed himself to the status
> quo. Newcomers with professional
> qualifications bring new ideas and fewer
> preconceptions and should be hired to
> provide missing skills rather than
> perpetuate those already on hand. Having
> just been involved with more than one of
> these sort of searches, I can recommend
> careful consideration of what contributions
> you have already in hand and what is most
> lacking and try to find the missing pieces
> first.

Find someone who knows about transportation or large outside object museums. This may be someone who has been with another railroad museum. Look at the person's background and experience. Find someone with the executive and/or fundraising experience that you require.

An example is Pennsylvania Trolley Museum's Executive Director. His job prior to this one was Executive Director with the Eli Whitney Museum. Before that he had an executive director type job at Connecticut Trolley Museum. But for years before that he was in Development at Connecticut Public Television. However, for years he had been involved with several museums in Connecticut.

Brian Norden


bnorden49@earthlink.net

No offense, but not every "rail" museum has a ton of equipment either. I would suggest a curator is just as important, to help sort out what is needed in the collection, not needed, and to set target goals. I also agree that professional experience and education is important here.

I have an even better idea. Instill in your young volunteers an interest in furthering their education in the field: the worse case scenario is that the kid is uninterested, and leaves: the best is that he comes back with the knowledge to take your museum to the next level and keep it fresh and current. Although I wish I could have done a better job of convincing our staff here about taking him on, a certain 20-something volunteer at the Michigan Transit Museum is an excellent example of how this can work. He has expertise in parks and recreation management AND
a knowledge of rail history and its practices. One heck of a combo in my opinion.

TJG

Port Huron Museum

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

Most rail and other museums have closed, embedded boards run by volunteers who feel they own the museum's mission. I wouldn't want to work with a rail museum as an E.D. unless the board agreed to resign en masse and agree not to serve for two years. A certain rail museum/collection is run by people who have been around for 20 years---good, rather excellent people, who have only one word to new ideas: no, and only one response to new volunteers: you don't understand---you have to know how to rebuild diesel/steam/electric engines to be a 'real' member. Coming as a paid staffer to one of these museums is a career death sentence for outside talent.

haaghistory@yahoo.com

As museums evolve they (hopefully) become successful and require the professional sophistication of real management to continue to develop.

Sometimes this evolution leads into the hiring of compensated professionals to carry on day to day management and long term project management, sometimes one or the other, sometimes the only compensation is personal gratification.

Generally, BODs have themselves evolved to the point of understanding their role before this transition takes place. I agree that there can't be more than one final authority or chaos will ensue, but if the board is mature that situation won't happen.

A mature board, having developed a well reasoned mission statement and goals, can choose a director whose skills match the museums needs at that stage of evolution. Once that person is hired, the board must allow him / her to do their job and give unqualified support. The board's role is then primarily one of providing resources - give it, get it, or get off the board. Periodically, the board will also consider whether the director is still the best person as the needs evolve with the development of the organization, or reconsider the mission statement / broader goals as well.

Very few museum directors in vital and active organizations plan to be there for the duration of their career - that only takes place in sleepy organizations that are fat and happy and work only to maintain their status quo. It isn't uncommon to see executives work themselves out of a job by moving the museum to the next set of required skills in a few years while lower line staff are in place forever.

Basically, any board that isn't willing to stay out of the directors way isn't yet ready to hire one. Any director looking for a lifetime sinecure needs to aim lower.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

A very wise and well thought out essay. I agree with every single point you make. The problem is only that most boards consist of guys (and yes, mostly guys, another problem) who have been laboring heroically at the museum for years, and see no reason to abdicate any part of their general or particular oversight in favor of professional staff. Boards who will not step out of the way are epidemic in non-profits.They are hide bound and loyal to the tradition of board decision making at every level. It is just these groups who most need outside help, and are the least likely to ask for it, or, when they agree to have new outside professional staff, will not cooperate in the new regime. Professional staffers wanting to apply for positions at these museums are not looking for lfetime sinecures, but more than a few miserable years fighting board members for decisions on paper clip purchasing. I point out that I have never applied for one of these postions, but have seen this happen at places I truly love. Rail museums seem to be set up for good purposes---we railfans love trains. Well and good. But if the museums are set up only for the inside members to drive the trains around the lot, and do nothing about education, interpretation and outreach, then its just immature little boys playing at trains, and ruining our chances to communicate the importance of the railroad to world history. That is essentially the problem: boards want to play railroad, and the professionals want to establish living, breathing, communicating, educating, preserving museums. This wondeful interchange, on which I am a regular viewer, is an important clue. 90% of the interchange is how to do this or that with engines or cars. When subjects of museum policy or governance is broached, readership and responses plummets. We can fix boilers, not museum operations. Volunteer vs professional. We NEED BOTH. I am grateful that a few of us care about this, and its fun to talk with you about it.

haaghistory@yahoo.com

There's a lot of truth here.

The problem is that these volunteer BOD's tend to micro manage the day to day operations rather than
concentrate on real issues such as long range planning and direction for an organization.

Instead, we get decisions like what color will the next car be painted or who will handle the next fundraising campaign, or what trinkets sell best in the book store?

If the organization is to truly grow, a board should have a balance of members. While it is important that the members who have investments of time and money should be represented, it is equally important that members of the local community have a role. A BOD should be concerned with the future, rather than the day to day.

That's the role of managment, paid or not. If a manager can't get a job done or stay within the established budget, then replace that person. Don't let the problem fester under the guise of "who else will do the job". Don't know about you, but where I work, if you don't perform, you don't have a job. That should be true in any organization.

Face it. Ego plays a greater role than it should at the railway museum. If those egos take root, they tend to be the 20 (or greater) year kind and growth stagnates if not outright declines. The whole "I'm always right and you're always wrong" thinking comes from that kind of director.

It's a hard decision to make this kind of change. Few of the museums out there have managed to do it sucessfully. Those that do will be here for the future. Those that don't have great opportunities as junk yards.



futureboy@aol.com

This wondeful
> interchange, on which I am a regular viewer,
> is an important clue. 90% of the interchange
> is how to do this or that with engines or
> cars. When subjects of museum policy or
> governance is broached, readership and
> responses plummets. We can fix boilers, not
> museum operations. Volunteer vs
> professional. We NEED BOTH. I am grateful
> that a few of us care about this, and its
> fun to talk with you about it.

AMEN. We do need both. Our museum is probably less like most railroad museums who are members of this list. We only have one piece of rolling stock, a couple of handcars, switches, rails and a fair number of tools. The rest is made up of the "smaller items" (by comparison) that were used in railroad operation.

But, our goal (and our 501c3) is education. I hope that we have more interpretive signage and illustrations/images than any comparable museum our size...mostly because I hate visiting places that have so much on display, but nothing to explain what it is. If the knowledgeable person isn't on duty when you visit, you're just SOL. (I've been to antique shops and learned more than at some musuems, and that's pitiful.) Why even bother? Our docents and volunteers will be able to add to what is written up about the artifacts, but we want visitors to come away with some minimum level of knowledge...or at least exposure. Not everyone wants a guided tour.

The fact that we only have one piece of rolling stock doesn't mean there has never been a fight over it. There has been much discussion and some outright hostility over the attempts to restore our railcar, and some members have left or become inactive because of that. As a result, the restoration has been put on the back burner until the museum building is finished and open to the public (June 8). I have found that some of the most talented folks in restoration work don't always "play well (or work well) with others". There are some outstanding artisans and craftsmen who can get along with nearly everyone, but others have few interpersonal skills and will run off volunteers with little or no effort. Those who fall in this latter category may still have a valuable place in our organizations, but they must be managed carefully and not given free reign over the entire operation.

I am beginning to think that our museum board is just now (after almost 10 years) beginning to understand what it is that we have established. But, they have done their jobs well: raised a lot of money, publicized, promoted, and set by-laws and policies. For the most part, they have either stayed out of the temporary curator's way or volunteered to assist without taking charge. This bodes well for the permanent curator, so long as he or she performs the required tasks competently.

To make sure that we succeed in our mission, we will ask visitors to complete a brief exit survey to see if they thought the visit was worthwhile. I expect the railroad fans to enjoy the experience, but would like to see what the rest (probably a majority) think. If a significant number of them can't name at least one new thing they learned at our museum, we need to make some changes.

I do agree that not many on RyPN discuss things like museum policies, curators, educational displays, etc. But I think those who do share in the discussion really provide some outstanding input, and I'll take quality over quantity in that regard.

KES



Museum Home Page
rrm@texas.net

T.J. This is from a professional Curator. Your museum interests me for two reasons. That logging loco of yours may be the first steam engine retired to a Park. Do you know what year that was?

The first Thunder Bay Lumber engine went into the Park in Rhinelander, WI in 1934. Another early parj display.

And the HURON Lightvessel is the only Great Lakes LV to be preserved. Have you done any recent post cards, now that the vessel is open again. Boy, those blanked off doors and ports looked awful!

Ted Miles

ted_miles@NPS.gov