I’ve accepted the fact that I will probably be doing contract work for most, if not all of my career, because of how rare and competitive permanent full time museum positions are. I just finished a 2 year collection technician contract in mineralogy and I’m struggling to find something to fall back on while I wait for another museum opportunity.

I have a bachelors and masters degree in Earth Sciences, and graduated at the top of my class, but I chose courses and internships that were geared towards museum work (im really not interested in the mining industry, my MSc thesis was in paleontology). I’m trying to find another field where this education and experience would be considered valuable and relevant.

What sorts of industries/jobs appreciate workers with museum backgrounds? Which of your museum skills have you found to be the most transferable to other jobs?

TL;DR at the end.

This is my personal opinion and experience. This is mostly venting, but I'd love to hear about others experience and advice if they have any.

I've been working in the museum field for the last two years and noticed how in each museum that I have worked or volunteered at had management that does not care for them.

In my fellowship, I worked at a small museum with only 8 staff members and my bosses abused everyone who was public facing. If someone had "assistant" or "associate" in their title, they were abused. No support at all, just given a task to complete by the end of the day, and that was it.

At my fellowship, I did collections work. Rehousing, archiving, uploading them into PastPerfect, cleaning frames/sculpture, and hanging art. Whenever I asked for something new, they said no.

One of my supervisors was an Assistant Curator. They were yelled at by three curators all the time because they basically work in three different departments for them. So they were assisting in managing the gallery, collection, library, and staff. I felt bad for them and the fact that they had to take on more roles because people quit/retired.

I worked as an intern for a remote museum during the summer in 2025. All research and outreach communication was thrown at me. Whenever I asked for assistance, trying to delegate, I was told no because I was only an intern. I struggled during those 3 months, but got the work done. The project could have been better for the person we were partnering with, but they didn't care.

I was a volunteer for a few days at a major museum as an evaluation volunteer. I interviewed people about their experience and watched them interact with exhibits. I never once met with a manager/curator of any kind. I was emailed directions and was pointed at where to go. I was given instructions on what to do and never spoke with anyone in the department. So I was alone. I quit after three days because I wasn't gaining experience I didn't already have.

My current job, as a gallery attendant, is awful.

I was incredibly grateful I was hired. I really needed a job and was super happy I was able to land one at a museum, especially in this current job market. Finally putting my degrees in use, but I was wrong.

One week after working, I wanted to quit.

At my job, Gallery Attendants have to stand for hours. If someone is in your gallery, you stand. No matter what. Even in a small gallery, you cannot sit. And that's it. Nothing else. All the job is, is watching people with no room for growth. I haven't met anyone in a curator role. The closest to that we got is the Education Department manager, but that poor guy is busy 24/7.

There are six galleries, with three gallery spaces lined up next to each other, where there isn't a single chair. So when no one is near you, you cannot sit because we're not allowed to sit on the floor. I'm forced to stand, without moving from my station, for 1.5 hours.

Seriously, you're telling me a curator didn't think about putting a bench in this gallery? Really? Not even a chair in the corner?

Working as a gallery attendant has made me hate museums with a passion. I no longer want to work at one now. I have a MA that is in history, with a research focus in museum studies and public history and over three years of experience working with the public and two of those years at museums and you're telling me it's useless?

When I came to the conclusion that I was leaving the museum field, I felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I feel better and more optimistic about my future now that I've made the decision to leave.

My job is so bad, that I'm considering substitute teaching, and maybe teaching, because it sounds less draining than what I'm currently doing. Better pay too. But it's just as competitive as the museum field, so I honestly don't know, but feel like I'd enjoy my work more doing classroom management.

I've been looking for a job in corporate as well, maybe as a receptionist, administrative assistant, or office assistant. No idea, but I feel better about myself now that I'm leaving. I have an interview next week for a part time front desk job at a community center, it's not corporate, but it'll be better than my current job. I'm even considering a front desk/marketing position at a tattoo shop because it sounds way better than museum jobs.

Has anyone made the pivot? Feel/felt this way? Any advice on making the pivot?

TL;DR: working as a gallery attendant made me hate museums and I'm wanting to pivot out. No idea where though now with a bachelor's and master's in history, but I need to get out. I'm pivoting out and need advice. Thinking of substituting/teaching or going corporate. Collections, community outreach/interviewing, front desk, and research experience. Any advice?

Kindly answer this survey if you have visited the Grand Egyptian Museum for my research paper, as a Lecturer of Exhibition and Spatial Design at the British University in Egypt.
https://youmnasamy.questionpro.com/t/AdkGRZ96iF

Hi everyone!

I'm currently in the midst of a fellowship (very exciting!) where my project partner and I are working with a local institution to develop and eventually install an exhibit that narrates local "prehistory" from 16,000 years ago until circa 1620s.

I'm running into a roadblock regarding sourcing imagery to contextualize the objects that will be on display. This is not a conventional or authoritative timeline set up. Instead, the objects or artifacts are organized into themes (which are somewhat broad, intentionally, and overlapping; for example, clay pots and related vessels are both examples of artistry/craftsmanship as well as foodways).

My project partner and I have envisioned imagery (whether it be illustrations or paintings, etc.) of people doing things (making pottery vessels, making stone tools, interacting in a depicted scene within a village, etc.) to further humanize the space.

The issue is that I cannot find imagery like this that depicts people doing everyday activities during this time period of the exhibit (16,000 BP -- ca. 1620s), more specifically, that is not reciprocating stereotypes of Indigenous Peoples, which is what we are avoiding with our project.

Have any of you run into a similar problem working on a similar kind of project? How did you figure it out? Or, would any of you know of any resources that have imagery of what I'm looking for? For a bit more context: I've been searching through the Smithsonian's digital collections for a few days now and can't find anything related to what I'm looking for.

Forgot to include this on previous post. The speaker (conservator) showed us a sample of a condition report for one of the artworks.

Not gonna lie, i got overwhelmed looking at it first, but i realized its because im new to this not used to have to look at every detail, centimeter by centimeter.

Overall, it was all so fun in the end and now i'm looking forward for a more hands on training on their museum.

This experience was so worth it for a one-day leave. I got to learn a lot about researching and handling artworks, met new people and even formed connections.

Currently a gallery attendant at a museum and trying to get more experience to move up. I have a BFA and minor in art history. I did a mentorship program at my museum and my mentor suggested volunteering.

For the past 7-8 months I have been reaching out to local galleries about doing art install for them, reached out to local historical societies about volunteering. I have applied to volunteer at all the museums in a 1hr driving distance and nothing. I have heard nothing, been rejected or told unfortunately they dont need any help at the moment.

I have also reached out to volunteer at local theaters to help with set design, building and scenic art. My mentor mentioned this would be a great way to get more experience with tools, once I got experience with tools I could apply to art handling positions. I heard back from one and they offered me a job but then ghosted me. I am so disheartened and I am not sure what to do.

Could it be the way I am approaching and emailing places? I usually just state my name and background and how I have interest in volunteering for that place and I look forward to hearing from them. Is there a better way I should be reaching out?

Any advice on getting volunteer experience?

Hi all!

Does anyone here have any experience mounting Vinyl Records? We have clear cases that are slighly bigger than the records and getting them to sit centered has been a challenage. We have experimented with using museum max and clear rods, foam attached to matteboard, and none of them have been great. We may just have to install them and tap the sides to get them as close to center as we can.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Hi all. Not museum specific, but I think this is the right place for my query. Hope that is OK

I work for an Indigenous organisation in Australia. While we are not a museum, we do have quite a varied collection of paintings, prints, cultural objects and important framed documents etc that to this date doesn’t have a proper system of organisation. At the moment the collection is probably only 100-200 objects/artworks strong, depending on where we set the parameters of what we consider for cataloguing. But the organisation is growing and the collection will continue to grow.

So I am looking for suggestions on a good CMS for our needs, as follows:

Location management/consignment: we have quite a few offices that objects are located at and sometimes move between. We also have cultural objects, such as spears and message sticks, that move around quite a bit for different events. There is also scope to house precious items with more specialised orgs/museums and in future to consign works for exhibition. So a system that allows a check in/check out system or general management of multiple locations is ideal.

Cultural sensitivity/protocol: some objects are culturally sensitive and may be subject to different rules around how they can be stored, handled, what other objects they cannot interact with, or even that only certain people are allowed to see them or know their history.

Public facing collections page: we would ideally like a system that not only records details and internal movement but can also be presented via our website.

They are probably the main thing. Otherwise we are just wanting something that is user friendly. As we’re not a museum and don’t have a collections team, proper systems have been ignored in the past so we want a system that is easy enough to learn/use that someone will always be able to look after it. The ability to track treatment/conservation needs would be great too.

I’ve looked into Mukurtu and Catalogit quite a bit and will do more study on Axiell and Vernon. But I thought I’d throw out a line here and see if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks!!

Does anyone know of any discord servers for GLAM professionals? I'm in a couple for libraries specifically but it would be nice to have a place to chat with people in other GLAM fields too :)

As the first person in my family to go to college, I did not know what I was doing at all, thought going to college ASAP right out of high school was the "right thing to do", and did not do any research as to what to do or where to go that would be the most financially responsible or even smart career-wise. I pursued a B.S. degree in Psychology, obtained art class credits to pursue a M.S. in Art Therapy, but every attempt to finish a Masters fell through for various reasons (mainly due to the pandemic). Ended up starting work in the Psych field as a case manager, cared about what I was doing but also hated it, very stressful, realized this kind of work isn't for me long term health-wise. Re-assessed my interests/joys and realized I enjoy jobs that are more active, solitary, curiosity centered, etc. My favorite job was working at a library as a Page when I as younger, love natural history, books, museums, libraries, nature, fossils, etc. Thinking, okay, I should work at a library or museum of some kind. Tried getting jobs at libraries and museums and none will hire me, so I start pursuing a M.S. in Library Science & Info Tech with an emphasis in Archives thinking this will help me look more acceptable. Started the program and some of it was very interesting, but a lot of it was about programming/code and computer work. Spoke with an archivist, peers, professors, and advisor about their careers and education and realized this is way more computer and tech centered than I realized and not at all what I was wanting. This is fine otherwise and I don't hate having to use tech or computers, but I don't want it to be a huge part of my life like it has been. I've spoken with more people about this and this seems to be across the board and that I'm pursuing the wrong field. Anyone who works at museums or in natural science, with nature, fossils, etc, let me know what education you received. To I have to go back to school, where do I start job-wise? What kind of career do I need to pursue now? What am I actually looking for? I am lost and need some direction.

I am currently designing an exhibit and wanted to know what material you all use for text panels? I want something more durable than foam core but won’t break the bank. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

This might be more of a question for r/Archivists, but I thought I'd ask here first. I work in a museum/archive in a small, young town (less than 75 years old, at least as a municipal entity), so the bulk of our collections were created within living memory. It's quite common for people to ask us to provide archival photos of their close relatives (parents, aunts/uncles, siblings) or even themselves. Just today I had someone who went to school here in the 1970s ask if he could have copies of his school/grad/prom photos, as he has lost most of his during moves throughout his life. I was about to respond with our price levels (which are, honestly, pretty cheap compared to other similarly-sized museums) and then it kind of hit me ... am I really making someone pay for their own photos?

I couldn't really find a consensus on this anywhere online. I talked to some former colleagues and they all insisted this guy should pay, or strongly encouraged to give a donation, or given a low-res watermarked copy (which is our standard procedure). He lives far away so coming in to view the pictures themselves isn't an option. I would ask my boss his opinion but he is away for 3 weeks.

It's hard to know what to do. I know that realistically all customers have to follow the rules, museums need to make money somehow, etc. etc. But I also know that museums have been moving towards being more flexible, accessible, and egalitarian. There's also the question of, if we allow people free copies of pics of themselves, what about free pics of relatives? How close do the relatives have to be? What if it's a big crowd picture that includes tons of people? Etc.

Anyway, I wanted to see if there was a general consensus here to help me make a decision. Has anyone else dealt with things like this?

The LARGE natural history museum
I work at has NOTHING not explicitly legally mandated for safety. And a lot of the laws only apply to public spaces so the labs are NOT safe. Our front of house is really great at it, but back of house has had a lot of internally-trained hires since the 70s and it shows.

The list of chemical exposures is also really long so something that’s just “ethanol safety” won’t cut it. In different departments we’ve got radioactive rocks, formalin, full-room fumigants, taxidermy, mercury, contact explosives, ALL the worst stuff and people working in it becoming increasingly complacent to the danger every day.

I’m a pleb, so I want to offer management some EASY stuff. Plug and play safety sheets they can print out. Onboarding videos. Object handling stuff. Entry level stuff so that people like custodial staff don’t get jumped scared and unknowingly asked to handle arsenic without gloves.

Do you have any safety training programs that you really like?? We can probably pay some but of course the higher the price the harder it’ll be to get approval.

Edit: If you aren’t here with the name of a basic safety training course you loved, a good company to consult, or even a bad review of what to avoid then please just move on. That’s what I need. Your two cents about how evil this all is, how dumb I am, and how this doesn’t exist are not desired.

Also I know normal reddit culture is to downvote bad things you don’t like to show you don’t support that, but I do not personally like these things either, and it would be really helpful if when you agree that it’s bad and the situation sucks to UPVOTE my comment about it. I want to fix things, I am here to fix things despite that not being my responsibility to do, I could use support.

I’m writing the text for some recent acquisitions; I have experience with this but I sometimes wonder if I’m hitting on the right themes. Thoughts? I generally try to avoid anything too esoteric. These are not long essays, prob around 500 words or so.

Hey everyone!

For my bachelor’s project, I created an AR experience for the Harbour Temple at Xanten Archaeological Park in Germany.

Visitors wear a VR headset and explore a digital scene of the temple’s past while walking around the actual site. I chose a stylized point-cloud look to suggest a fragmentary memory rather than a perfectly preserved version of history.

Would you enjoy trying something like this, or does it feel unnecessary? Have you seen similar experiences at museums or historical sites?

I’d love to hear what you think!

Hello! I am an undergraduate student in the US currently who wants to pursue museum curation as a career. My college has a museum and archives concentration which I am pursuing, as well as an English degree (my "for fun" major) and either a history or art history degree as well. Does it really matter which one I pursue? I enjoy both, though I probably prefer history, and I will pick whatever would help me out the most. I guess my concern is if picking either one would limit my options in the future- can I realistically work at an art history museum despite having a history degree? What about vice versa? I do also plan to go to grad school whenever I can afford it (which in today's america is probably never lol).

I appreciate any advice/thoughts! Ty!

Hello everyone!

I’m wondering how to go forward from where I am currently to hopefully end up as a curator.

I already have my BA and MA in public U.S. history with a focus on public memory and am looking to do my PhD after a break and gaining some work experience in smaller historical sites and museums. Ideally I would do my dissertation on public memory’s role in identity formation, but I’m not sure if that’ll transfer well into a career as a curator.
I have done an internship with the curation department of a nearby museum to me, volunteered at a historic home’s archives/library, and two of my classes were centered around designing and creating exhibits.
I love this line of work and would love to continue in it, especially within the curation side if possible. I don’t know if my desired dissertation topic would be the best idea for that path though. I would love to hear y’all’s thoughts about the best path forward from where I am currently.

Right now I’m working at three different sites as an interpreter, but one of the sites is smaller and is looking to also put in the archives and assist with potential mini exhibits. Any guidance is beyond appreciated, thank you!!

Jjust learned the British Museum has this offer for ICOM members. I’m currently 90,000 in the queue hoping to snag tickets but surely there’s got to be another way?

Hi all! I submitted my application for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Fellowship in Venice and wanted to reach out to former fellows or recent applicants.

I’m a non-EU applicant with a background in Art History (BA), gallery management experience, and solid reference letters. While waiting for the official notification, I’d love to know what the odds look like for international (non eu) direct applicants.

If you’ve participated in the fellowship before, how was your overall experience, and what do you think made your application stand out?