Collegiate Priorities and Natural History Museums

Abstract

ABSTRACT Data on curatorial budgets and hiring practices of the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum of Natural History (BMNH) since 1970 are presented and discussed relative to those of academic departments in the College of Biological Sciences (CBS). Throughout the administration of the collegiate dean who recruited the museum into the college, the museum was considered to be a department equivalent and fared neither better nor worse than the departments regarding budgets and faculty recruitment. When a new dean was hired in 1987, the museum ceased to be considered as a department equivalent. Its state‐allocated budgets for both public programs and collection curation have been retrenched greatly to mitigate departmental retrenchments. Four curatorial positions vacated by retirement have gone unfilled. Administrative reporting lines for museum directors within universities are discussed. It is concluded that a natural history museum is best viewed and administered as a university resource and responsibility rather than as a departmental or collegiate unit.

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