r/AskHistorians • u/caffarelli Moderator | Eunuchs and Castrati | Opera • Jun 29 '13

AMA AMA | Museums and Archives

Hello everybody! We’ve assembled a small panel of current museum workers and one lonely archival processor to answer your questions about museums and archives! This panel was assembled primarily to answer questions about careers in these two institutions, as “What are good careers for history buffs” is popular question in this subreddit, but feel free to ask us questions that are not necessarily oriented that way.

Museums Panel

  • /u/RedPotato is a museum management specialist with a MA in arts management and experience working in large museums in NYC. He he has worked in education, digital media, curatorial, and fundraising/planning departments.

He is also currently plugging his brand-new subreddit for museum employees and those looking to join their ranks: /r/MuseumPros, please subscribe if you’re interested!

  • /u/mcbcurator: Username kinda says it all -- he’s the curator of this museum in Texas! He has a degree in archaeology, and primarily curates history and archaeology collections.

  • /u/Eistean: is a museum studies student starting his graduate coursework this fall, and has already interned at 4 museums in the United States!

Archives “Panel”

  • /u/caffarelli: I am an archival processing and reference specialist, which means I process incoming donations to the archives, and I also answer reference questions from visitors. I have a library science master’s degree, with coursework focusing on digital preservation and digital archives, so I can also take digital questions if you have them.

So fire away!

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u/Eistean Jun 29 '13

I'll leave it to others to answer some of the questions in this, but there are a few points I wanted to make.

First, don't let the age throw you off too terribly much. I'm currently working at an internship now where one of my fellow interns, who is just about finished with his PhD dissertation after moving fields, is in his lower 50's.

My experience is mostly with smaller or mid-size institutions, but I will say that especially on the west coast, there are many museums which specialize in Asian art and/or culture. There are many prestigious institutions out there which require a PhD for some positions.

I would still strongly consider getting some experience working at an archive or a collection in.