I have been working in museums in Scotland for a fair while – beginning in the Hunterian Museum as a student volunteer in the in the late 1980s. My roles have been many and varied, most with ‘curator’ or ‘collections’ in the title, but also exhibitions, operations management, administration, and front-of-house.
Fairly early on in my career I became aware of the Scottish Museums Federation – I can’t remember exactly when I joined – possibly as a Museum/Galleries Studies student in St Andrews. I have fond memories of visiting The Open Museum in Glasgow, Low Waters Museum in Hamilton, and Grampian Transport Museum in my early years as a member. The Scottish museums sector is a small world, but it can also be very busy and in some ways isolated. For me, the Scottish Museum Federation was a way of getting out into museums, making contacts, and sharing ideas, and learning more about how it all works.
At the 2014 conference at The Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow, there was a call for committee volunteers. After one of those awkward, eternal silences and I spoke up. I was nominated, seconded and that was that! I started as an ordinary member, but quickly took on the vacant role of Treasurer. I am based in Ayr, so the remote nature of the position suited me well. In my early days there was the Treasurer’s bank account, with a cheque book and record of a savings account – which after much investigation turns out hadn’t existed for years! It was slow going to update signatories – with banks, tenacity is important. Internet banking had recently become a thing, so once I got that set up, everything went much more smoothly.
The duties of the Treasurer are to monitor the bank and PayPal accounts. The main expenditure and income are in relation to conferences and membership fees. Others include the website, events, and more recently, Zoom. I also look after payments, invoicing, and reimbursing expenses. I speak to the Annual General Meeting at our conference and make sure the committee is kept up to date. When I started, cheques and cash used to be the norm, but things have now gone digital!
I have now been the Treasurer for around 9 years. I would say that a few hours each month are all that is needed to keep on top of everything. Although much of my career has been in museums, since 2017 I have been working in the Carnegie Library in Ayr. Although I will miss this role, I have decided that it is time to move on. We are looking for a new Treasurer and I hope that this has sparked your interest to step up and give it a go!
By Elinor Clark
Scottish Museums Federation Blog 