Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/237

Rh of hanging or exhibiting objects, and he must be skilled in the packing of all classes of art objects. A packer with a department store training is of no use whatever. A man who has had some years of experience with one of the big art dealers, who has turned his hand to anything from crafting an old master or cleaning a priceless marble to tinting frames and faking furniture and who has been in the habit of handling valuable works of art for some years, is the most helpful kind of person for this position. Very often the knowledge of the workings of a big shop is useful in a museum and a man who has served successfully under these conditions is adaptable and soon picks up the museum point of view. If the museum has many loan exhibitions each year, this man will be unable to undertake any large jobs besides; if not, he may be able to turn his hand to making cases or other work of a similar nature which will suggest itself to the director. He is certainly worth his salary if he is good at all.

Turning now to the executive staff. The director should not need to bother with details such as who is to mop the floors or do the ordinary dusting around a museum. For this he has a superintendent of buildings whose business it is to understand all about the electric lighting system, the heating and ventilating plants, and the