Under textbook administrative conditions, a pyram- 

 idal structure of many younger people below a few 

 senior older staff is the model, but it seldom happens 

 that way in the real world, certainly not in the Museum. 

 Almost without exception, retirees are being replaced 

 by relatively new graduates, rather than by higher- 

 salaried, middle-aged scientists, yet the rate of replace- 

 ment is low. In 1966 the average age of the scientific 

 staff was 44.0 years; in mid- 1984 it had reached 49.6 

 years. Old-timers largely are of two classes: those few 

 from the 1950s, who remember the building without 

 wings and air conditioning; and those from the mid- 

 1960s. In a few years most of both groups will be gone, 

 and a different staff with different memories will be in 

 charge. 



Just half a century ago, a Museum employee's salary 

 was a tangible item, based directly on hours worked 

 and distributed from a cash box brought over from the 

 Castle. When someone went into the fields the Insti- 

 tution would send a salary check to his bank. In 1934 

 "a central disbursing agency for all Government estab- 

 lishments" was organized under the Treasury Depart- 

 ment, and the Smithsonian's disbursing office was abol- 

 ished. Beginning February 1, 1934, salary payments 

 were made by check instead of by cash.^ For years, even 

 after government checks were introduced, the staff hiked 

 across the Mall to the Castle every two weeks and lined 

 up to be paid. Today the Treasury Department prefers 

 to mail salary checks to employees' banks. 



Salary Figures 



The Museum did not publish salary figures in its annual 

 reports, but it is possible to draw some parallels from 

 another agency. In 1894, when L. O. Howard took over 

 what was to become the Bureau of Entomology in the 

 Department of Agriculture, he received $2,400. "In 

 1902 it was increased to $2,750; in 1904 to $3,250; in 

 1906 to $4,000; in 1911, to $4,500, in 1919 to $5,000; 

 in 1924, to $6,000 and in 1925 to $6,500. During all 

 these years the salaries of principal assistants in the 

 Bureau were being gradually raised from $ 1 ,200."" One 

 may approximately equate the position Howard held 

 with that of the director of the Museum, and that of a 

 principal assistant with a head curator. 



In 1930 Howard wrote: "The salaries at the present 

 time are in marked contrast to those of earlier years. 

 The chief of the Bureau now receives $8,000. There 

 are two who receive $6,400 a year each; one who has 

 $6,000, two have $5,800, six have $5,600, one has $5,200, 

 two have $5,000, and forty-six have from $4,000 to 

 $4,600, no less than twenty-eight of these receiving 

 $4,600 each. Of course, the compensation in other walks 

 of life has also increased, either correspondingly or 

 much more greatly. The vastly increased cost of living 

 brought about largely by . . . World War [1] is naturally 

 responsible for much of these increases. . . ."^ 



The general position of those who administered sci- 



Norman Boss, chief preparator in the Vertebrate 

 Paleontology division, preparing a fossil lizard (Saniwaj, 

 1921 or 1922. 



ence in the government was that the wisest course was 

 to keep a low profile and not ask for too much money. 

 For example, it was the often-stated policy of John B. 

 Reeside, Jr., for many years chief of the Geological 

 Survey paleontologists, that because paleontologists did 

 what they enjoyed, they should be paid less than other 

 geologists. Since World War I there has been a trickle 

 of scientists from affiliated agencies to the Museum 

 staff. Almost never were such transfers made for fi- 

 nancial gain, but rather for slightly greater opportu- 

 nities to pursue research. 



Since the late 1950s, performing scientific work for 

 the federal government has become a recognized func- 

 tion, and salaries have become reasonably respectable. 

 Government pay for scientists is more or less compa- 

 rable to salaries in academia, taking into account the 

 high cost of living in Washington, D.C., as compared 

 to the average college town. Fifty years ago the life of 

 the museum curator in Washington was that of genteel 

 poverty. Today, if everyone on the suburban block lined 

 up outside their houses, the museum curator could not 

 be singled out, except by the parking sticker on the 

 station-wagon bumper. 



Hiring Policies 



In the last seventy-five years, the scientific staff of the 

 Museum has included few women and fewer black em- 

 ployees. Described by John F. Kennedy as a city of 

 northern charm and southern efficiency, Washington 



The Scientific Stuff 



139 



