Museums show the natural, cultural, and social evolution of peoples and their environment. Thousands of museums in the United States collect, study, and display items that range from Chinese porcelains hundreds of years old to the skeleton of a dinosaur.

Art Museums in the U.S. show paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, bronzes, porcelains, furniture, textiles, and other objects from artists, periods of time, or regions.

Natural History Museums have displays on animals, plants, and minerals. An exhibit may include the skeleton of a tiny shrew or that of a dinosaur.

Science and Industry Museums involve visitors in hands-on exhibits and programs to learn about the processes of scientific discovery and advances in technology.

Historical Museums show how a city, a country, a state, or a region (such as the West) developed. They may feature the life of one person: Abraham Lincoln or Kit Carson, for instance.

Special Museums may show artifacts revealing the works of people or natural phenomena. They may set up a military exhibit, a medical display, a glass-making demonstration, a botanical garden, a nature center, or a planetarium.

Children's Museums may show any kind of display. Often the museums let the children handle objects or work devices. A children's museum may be independent, however, more often, it is a department in a museum.

The art student interested in museum work can find exciting openings almost anywhere in the United States. Some museums have only one director or curator and one or two helpers, while larger museums may have a curator for each department.

There is an advantage to beginning in a smaller museum -- the art major entering the field has a much better opportunity to sample all the various options of museum work, from fund-raising to research, from shop sales to special exhibit planning. This kind of background is invaluable in moving on to the precise area that is your ultimate goal.

Wherever you enter, you will have an opportunity to learn how a museum operates and to explore the area that interests you most. Each career path stresses different skills and attracts people with different aspirations and inclinations.

The common characteristic is a passionate interest in art and a solid belief that art should be shared with the public. The major functional areas are:

Administration

Curatorial

ADMINISTRATION

Ideal museum administrators are hard to find. They must have the business acumen to keep their institution efficient and financially sound, but must combine that with a collector's artistic vision and integrity. Currently, there are not enough people with this double qualification to fill the available posts, and museums have been hiring administrators whose background is in business rather than in the arts. If this area of museum work interests you, you would do well to consider working toward a degree in Arts Administration.

CURATORIAL

Curators are responsible for the museum's collection. They collect, study, preserve, and interpret objects. They oversee the grouping of exhibits in museums and may direct the work in all or part of the museum. For instance, an art curator in a large museum may be in charge of Oriental Art only, while an art curator in a small museum may set up exhibits from many lands. Curators are responsible for creating catalogs, arranging loans of objects, and, with the administrators, making decisions on building the collection through acquisitions. They must also keep abreast of new trends in collecting, new areas of research, and new ways to exhibit or store art. They work closely with the conservation staff, which is responsible for preserving and restoring the museum's treasures. Another function of the curatorial staff, especially entry-level personnel, is research. Detailed records are kept for every artifact and piece of art in the collection.

In addition, entry-level opportunities exist in other departments, as well:

The Registrar (Inventories museum holdings)

Development (Fund-Raising)

Education (Classes, tours & lectures)

Publications

Public Relations

Sales (Museum Shops)

These jobs allow you to work within the institution, but do not require the advanced education that almost inevitably accompanies the more traditional career paths.

Conservation is yet another option, but only for those graduates with an exceptional dedication to the preservation of art and a willingness to work and study to perfect their skills. No one should consider a career as a conservator without fully investigating this demanding profession.

REGISTRAR

No museum can function without a registrar. Every object in the collection must have an accession card, telling what it is, when it was acquired, all physical information about the object, and exactly where it is at that moment. Is it on loan, in storage, in the new wing, gallery, or conservation lab? The entry-level position is the assistant which requires good clerical and organizational skills. Knowledge of art history will help you write records and correspondence. This area is increasingly becoming computerized, so the ability to store and retrieve computerized information is a plus.

DEVELOPMENT

Development is one of the fastest growing areas of the museum industry. The development office sponsors individual membership drives, designs corporate membership packages, arranges fund-raising events such as art shows and benefit balls, and responds to gifts and bequests. If you enjoy the challenge of financial planning for funds that are far from easy to obtain, development will be an excellent career choice.

EDUCATION

The education department sponsors classes in studio art and art appreciation, coordinates training programs for tour guides, and arranges tour schedules. In large museums, the Education Specialist may produce special shows, films, and slide shows about the collections. In a smaller museum, he/she will schedule showings of rented films.

PUBLICATIONS

A museum publications department is much like a book or magazine publisher.  The biggest difference is that the writers and artists will primarily be museum staffers. The publications staff edits, designs, and oversees the publication of scholarly catalogs, annual reports, museum guidebooks, the members' newsletter, brochures about educational programs, and direct mail pieces for the development office.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

The public relations department is responsible for getting free outside publicity for the museum. This is accomplished in the same way as any other public relations operation -- by sending out press releases, staging press events, creating press kits for media representatives who attend them, and dealing with media queries.

SALES

Sales generated by gift shops or mail order catalogs constitute one of the fastest growing sources of income for museums. Large museums produce their own museum-inspired products, such as books, scarves, and jewelry. Smaller museums, which may have no resources to produce replicas and other gifts, can make use of the Museum Store Association to stock their shops. This non-profit association arranges for items produced in large museums to be retailed by other institutions. Much of the staff may be volunteers, but professionals, especially in management positions, are sorely needed.

CONSERVATION

The conservation department is the domain of the highly trained specialists who preserve and restore works of art. Preservation entails regulating heat and humidity in exhibition and storage areas; ensuring proper lighting to prevent bleaching and fading overseeing framing, mounting and hanging; instituting rules for handling objects; and installing and maintaining suitable storage facilities. Restoration includes repairing and reconstructing ceramics and sculpture, cleaning paintings, repairing torn textiles, cleaning works on paper. Conservators adhere to a strict code of ethics that ensures the integrity of each object. All repairs must be reversible and visible to the observer. Conservators may reconstruct damaged portions of an art work, but they must, remain completely faithful to each artist's intention and refrain from exercising in personal style or taste.

WHO THE EMPLOYERS ARE

Large Museums have the most extensive, most highly professional staffs and the most attractive research facilities. Consequently they are excellent places in which to learn - and highly competitive places in which to find employment.

Small Museums and Local Historical Societies may be a better bet for entry-level jobs. They don't pay as well as large institutions, but because they are often understaffed, you have a better chance of moving up quickly into more responsible positions.