[PRCo] Re: Museums

[Fred W. Schneider III]

Charles Brown wrote:

> 
> What is wrong with having a club mentality???  Most of us enjoy
> belonging to something where we have the same interests.  It was the
> clubs that built the museums, so they must've been doing something
> right.  Yes, we need the professional people to get the big bucks.  But
> after all, aren't we all working towards the same goal?  Shouldn't we
> all belong to the same club?

This on-going discussion seems to have collapsed into a railfan versus
anti railfan argument.  It isn't that.  It is simply selecting which
railfans we want to associate with and which we don't; or which railfans
serve our common
interests and which defeat our common interests.  Sadly, some groups
have so many flaming radical railfans that they drove away the more
conservative and more intelligent and more socially adaptable members
who then met somewhere else.  (I'm trying not to name people or
locations unless I am part of the criticism.)

Nothing is wrong with a club mentality as long as it is kept under
control and the club serves to support the goals of the organization. 
It is simply segregation of the masses according to common interests ...
in my mind perfectly OK.  It is OK because I have no interest in
spending my time with baseball club members; I would rather be with
people who like to travel or operate museums. And the former don't wish
to spend their time with me.  

The club is good when, at the end of the day, we all go out together to
the same restaurant and have dinner.  The club is good when a member of
the group presents a program for the other members.  The club is good
when you need a pair of 77-E trucks and another member remembers that a
company in Japan is gradually scrapping cars that have them.  A club is
good because it has a large pool of knowledge, some of which may be
useful in conducting business.  A club can be good if it has a lot of
people of similar interests supporting a common and needed cause.  Did I
forget anything? 

And, when applied to museums, there has to be an acceptance that, if we
want our efforts to survive, it will need to be done without railfans
because there will be no one left who grew up with trolley cars.  How
many under 60 today can remember San Francisco's Iron Monsters or
Pittsburgh's yellow cars in service?  If we wait for railfans to knock
on our door, we'll be in wheel chairs and still waiting.  

The club is bad when all the trainmen hide in the crew room and there is
nobody outside to greet the public as they get out of their automobiles
(this is a perpetual problem at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum and I too
am guilty if hiding in the dispatcher's office because it is
air-conditioned.)  The club mentality was bad the last time I went to
Seashore with my wife, and it was readily apparent that day that all the
car crews were old friends who were sitting on a bench outside
essentially daring the tourist to ask a question.  A club is bad if its
members insist on telling the public everything they know.  The club is
bad when the agenda of certain members gets in the way of the
organization's agenda.  There will always be some members of any club
that get in the way --- the issue may be one of repetitive
encouragement,
explanation, and management to keep things under control.

Is the answer reasonable and satisfactory Charles?

fws  



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