Every year millions of visitors flock to the more than 8,000 museums across the United States. From house museums and storefront galleries to the venerable Smithsonian Institution, these varied treasuries affirm and transmit our nation's complex history and cultural values.

But among museum professionals who operate these institutions -the directors, curators, development directors, public relations specialists, and others - less than one percent are estimated to be minorities.

Several years ago, Dr. Rick Beard, executive director of the Atlanta History Center, began wrestling with how to address the paucity of minorities in his profession.

"I was interested," Beard said, "because my experience had been that if you wanted to recruit minorities in the museum profession, it could be really hard work. And even when you were successful, it might be a short stay for the professionals you hired. It wasn't long before I waved good-bye to them."

The Atlanta History Center joined forces in 1994 with the Coca-Cola Foundation to launch the Atlanta History Center/Coca-Cola Museum Fellows Program. The goal: to expose minority undergraduate students to the influential world of collecting, preserving, documenting, and interpreting material culture.

Rinaldo Murray, a Clark Atlanta University senior majoring in history, is a fellow in this, the third year of the program. He was introduced to the Museum Fellows Program by his friend and school mate Brett Crenshaw, a member of the first class. Murray says Crenshaw was very blunt about what he should expect.

"Brett told me I should definitely consider the program," Murray recalls. "He told me that the things I would learn and be exposed to would help me out a lot. But he also made it clear that this would not be a walk in the park.

"He was right. It's definitely been rigorous, and I have definitely learned a lot."

An Enthusiastic Director

Dr. Billie Davis Gaines gave up being a trustee of the Atlanta Historical Society, which operates the Atlanta History Center, to serve as director of the fellowship program. Keenly aware of the need for minority representation in the board room, the decision to change hats was not easy, she says.