All Who Serve the Museum's Mission: The Staff

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wing G, First Floor, Library: Work Room; with people. Photographed November 4, 1920. View slideshow of related images

«Just as the buildings of The Metropolitan Museum of Art have been growing and changing since the Museum first opened, so too has the staff. Despite the inherent importance of the staff, the first several decades of Annual Reports frequently only listed senior staff and the trustees; the Board of Trustees simply recognized support staff as being "much appreciated" in early reports. However, in 1926, fifty-five years after the Museum's founding, the growing number of staff—specifically the support staff—was too large to ignore. That year's Annual Report offered the following comparative figures to help provide some perspective:»

(Annual Report of the Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, No. 57 [1926], 8)

By contrast, there was no passing recognition of support staff efforts in the 1910 Annual Report, only a list of the eight departments and a total of twenty-seven department heads and managerial staff: the Director's Office; the Departments of Paintings, Classical Art, Egyptian Art, and Decorative Arts; the Library; Museum Instruction; and the Superintendent's Office (Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, No. 41 [1910], 14–15).

By 1926 the climate had most obviously changed—the staff had almost tripled—and there were eighteen departments and a total of eighty-one senior staff listed in the Annual Report (but still no support staff): the Director's Office; the Departments of Paintings, Classical Art, Egyptian Art, Decorative Arts, Arms and Armor, Far Eastern Art, Prints, and The Benjamin Altman Collection; the Library; Educational Work; Cataloguing Division; Industrial Arts; Publications; Treasurer's Office; Registrar's Office; Superintendent's Office; Information Desk; and Membership (Annual Report of the Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, No. 57 [1926], xii–xv). The Secretary and President's report that year went beyond "much appreciated" and stated:

In no year has the work of the Museum made such demands upon the skill, interest and energies of the Staff… with the opening of the Cloisters and the new wing. . . . The Trustees take pleasure in showing their recognition of the hearty cooperation which has been given to the bringing about of such admirable results, and in expressing their appreciation of the excellent service rendered [by the Staff]. (Annual Report of the Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, No. 57 [1926], 4)

Left: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Catalogue Division; View of Margaret A. Gash, supervisor, seated at her desk. Photographed January 21, 1941

In order to make room for the growing personnel, the Museum added office space in The American Wing, in 1924, and dedicated the entire mezzanine level of Wing K to offices, in 1925. Documentary photographs capture the momentousness of these newly created, sunlit spaces, but most interestingly they feature the staff of those departments listed in the 1926 Annual Report! Sadly, because the Annual Reports for 1924 through 1926 were so dominated by news of the new American Wing, Wings J and K, and the then-recently acquired Cloisters, neither the new offices spaces nor the names of the staff were listed in those Annual Reports. Through careful research and deduction, only the names of departments could be determined, and the negative log books of the Photography Studio only mention on rare occasions the specific employees seen in the photographs.

In the 1950s, there is a brief period where neither senior nor support staff are listed in the Annual Report, only the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committees. By 1959, however, some senior and some support staff reappeared, and in the 1968–1969 Annual Report, Director Thomas Hoving graciously acknowledges the much-overlooked efforts of those not specifically listed in the Annual Report:

In order to appreciate the extraordinary accomplishments of the Museum's staff, I urge you to examine this Annual Report very carefully. And when you do, please do not forget to look at the section toward the back where a number of departments are listed that do not file reports. These members of the staff—the vice-directors, the Operating Administrator, guardianship and protection, office service, the superintendent, switchboard, and restaurant—are essential to this Museum's continuing achievements (The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 28, No. 2, Ninety-ninth Annual Report of the Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Fiscal Year 1968–1969 [Oct. 1969], 39).

The 1968–1969 Annual Report goes on to list all fifty-two departments and staff of the Museum. It was the first such report, after nearly one hundred years, to do due diligence to all who serve the Museum's higher mission, and has been the model ever since.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Photograph and Extension Division; View of the Mounting Room. Photographed June 1, 1937

The author wishes to thank Teri Aderman and Nancy Rutledge of The Photograph Studio for their assistance in helping to identify some of these photographs.

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View a slideshow of archival images related to this post.
Digital Underground: "The Original #EmptyMet: The Museum, ca. 1925" (August 3, 2015)