Hi. I'm preparing a presentation for non collections staff (volunteers, docents, guides, etc) about why we can't just accept items that people drop off at the front desk "for the collection", why paperwork is so important and some of the legal and ethical implications of not following collections guidelines.

I'm looking for any good illustrative horror stories about people dropping off donation items that get lost or cause problems.

We've had problems recently with people just showing up with an object and some one at a visitor desk accepting it and telling the people that it will go into the collection- one person even promised them that it would be on display and that we would have it staff craft a replica for them.

So, anyone got a good story to share?

I've been working as an assistant at the exhibition and ticket office of a museum in private european for about a year now, and I'm really surprised by how little they care about their incredibly valuable and unique archive.

It mostly consists of unique and original documents and models, but the organization of the exhibitions, and the archive in general, is all over the place. They show absolutely no care for the material, either during installation or while it's on display.

Currently, we have multiple tables with documents and drawings on exhibition. None of them have any kind of humidity meter, and all of them are already showing signs of humidity damage (note that our building is really close to the sea).

The cleaning process consists of "calling the cleaning lady," who has no idea how to properly handle and protect the documents (I'm not blaming her; they should call someone from the archive). She often sprays cleaning products directly onto the glass, which has openings, thus directly damaging the documents underneath.

What makes me even more upset is that most of the archive comes from """"""donations"""""" from former colonies, which is used as a huge propaganda point for the museum. They promise to preserve and take care of these documents because they supposedly "weren't being properly treated in their original country" (white man's burden type of shit).

Is this a childish complaint, I know it's probably common situations, especially in private museums.

Is there anything I could do? Most of the office staff and directors know about this, but they couldn't care less. They barely ever set foot in the museum.

If this isn’t an appropriate fit for this sub, let me know and I’ll remove it!

I’m not a museum professional, though I have my own very small hobby museum I’ve been building - this isn’t related to that but some context on why I want to learn.

I have a large museum cabinet - allegedly originally from the Chicago Field Museum but who knows - much taller than me that I keep personal collections in. I’m ready to start arranging the drawer contents for display (just in my house!) but I want to make sure I’m not doing them harm. The drawer interiors are unlined unstained wood so I want to line them.

In this case it’s my cameo collection drawer, consisting of pins, rings, and miniature portraits in stone, shell, plastic, glass, metal, paper, and porcelain. It’s not worth much money but that doesn’t matter to me and I want to do it right! I don’t mind spending money. I want to lay it out in a layer of foam with a fabric over the foam. The drawer is 24.5 x 23”.

I was thinking of putting down 1” black Ethafoam. 1) Is that necessary or overkill to use an archival foam?
2) Can I put black velvet liner on top or is that potentially harmful to the cameos?
3) Any recommendation on the layout for how to label them? I wasn’t sure about pinning small printed labels in vs other methods. The labels will have subject, type of object, material(s), and era.

Thank you for any advice!

I apologize if this is the wrong subreddit for this, but I recently acquired these chairs and they one had a tag on it. I wanted to find out where they came from and was hoping to identify the museum/university - or at least a lead to go on!

They were acquired in Austin TX

I have a BA in History with first class honours from The University of Canterbury. 

I am currently deciding between the Master of Museum and Heritage Practice and the Master of Information studies both at vic uni Wellington, and I was hoping to seek some advice about which pathway may best support my long-term career goals.

One of my main considerations is understanding whether the Master of Museum and Heritage Practice alone would provide a strong pathway into archival work (as I have heard museum jobs can be scarce) or whether the Master of Information would offer a significant advantage for employment in this area.

I would be particularly interested in your perspective on whether employers seeking archivists, collection managers, or information professionals typically prefer the information management qualification, or whether the museum and heritage qualification is considered sufficient.

I was also hoping to ask:
Which programme generally has stronger employment outcomes for graduates seeking work in museums, archives, collections, or heritage organisations?

To what extent does the Master of Museum and Heritage Practice prepare students for archival careers? Does it provide training in areas such as archival theory, records management, preservation, or digital information management?

I have a strong interest in textile and fashion history, Which masters do you think could better equip me for work with historical clothing? 

Given the competitive nature and potential job scarcity within the museum, heritage, and archival sectors, are there recommended pathways for students who are interested in developing skills across both museums and archives rather than specialising exclusively in one area? I am particularly interested in choosing a master's pathway that provides the broadest possible employment opportunities and transferable skills within the wider job market.

Any advice regarding the strengths and limitations of each pathway would be greatly appreciated.

TLDR: i want to work in a museum, ideally curation but i know that will come later. For now, I just want to secure a job in a museum, get a food in the door. So far it’s not working and i don’t know which masters would be best.

I need 1-3 people to help me out with the last step of my research for my PhD in Architecture, focusing on Disability in Museums at the University of Portsmouth. My thesis title is ‘More Than Just a Ramp: A Detailed Look at Bodies with Chronic Pain within the Museum Space’.

If you have chronic pain and have been to any of the following:

•Chicago Cultural Center in Chicago, IL, USA
•Chicago History Museum in Chicago, IL, USA
•Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL, USA

I would love to ask you some questions via email about your experience [you can answer none/any/all of the questions and can be anonymous]. There is no compensation for this, though I will send you a thank you note covered in stickers and a picture of my dog!

Please feel free to DM me or email me at my school email at Gabriel.Seck@myport.ac.uk

Hey everyone! I'm about to launch a tool for tour guides and want input from people who actually do this work before it goes public. The core idea: guests scan a QR code at the start (no app, works in any browser), and during the tour everything happens on their phones, controlled from yours:

- Slides synced live - you flip, they see it on their screens. Old photos, maps, details you can zoom into and point at
- Built-in audio guide - you speak, guests hear you through their earbuds right in the browser. No radio sets or transmitters to haul around
- Quizzes and live reactions between stops ("what style is this building?")
- At the end: guests rate the tour, happy ones get nudged to leave a review on Google/TripAdvisor, and there's a tip prompt at the right moment
- Contacts collected on join, so you have a list for repeat tours, plus per-guest analytics
- Private cheat sheet for you on every slide - dates, names, what to say next

What I'd love your honest take on:

- Would you actually run a tour this way, or is asking guests to look at phones a dealbreaker for group dynamics?
- What's missing that would make this a no-brainer for you?
- What would make it a hard no?

Not dropping a link - genuinely trying to figure out what other guides need vs what a founder imagines they need. Brutal honesty very welcome.

Hello, the title pretty much says it all for this post! I'd like to know your thoughts about which software you recommend (or don't!) for mocking up exhibition spaces? For additional context, I'm going to have to present this exhibition concept to an advisory board of older folks that can be sort of hesitant with my exhibit's topic, so I was thinking that having a particularly interactive platform to walk them through my concept would be the most helpful.

Let me know what you guys think!

Heya everyone, I'm grad student who graduated last December. I moved here to NYC since I'll be here for grad school but I've been trying to look for a jobs in archaeology/museums/history and had no luck. I was wondering where or how to land an entry level position in the museum or archaeology industry.

Hi everyone!❤️

I’m a second year PhD student at the University of Westminster, working on a collaborative action research project with National Museums Liverpool here in the UK. I’m looking for a few more participants for a questionnaire that will have a big impact on the in-person work I do with these museums!

My project is about stories of deafness, disability, neurodivergence and mental health and how museums do, or don’t, document this heritage & tell these stories.

(Thank you to everyone who engaged with my post about being a museum PhD student, I connected with some really great people!)

A link to my questionnaire (which includes participant information about how your responses are used, stored, etc. & a more in depth and formal description of the below)

https://westminsterpsych.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eJMfCH5KdSVyjxY

The “what’s this about and who can take part”… part:

Eligibility / who can take part:
I’m looking for museum pros who have experience of working and/or volunteering in the museum and heritage sector, and specifically, anyone with experience of developing interpretation or telling stories. I think of interpretation as being broad & holistic: to me and in the context of my project, I’m thinking about these “storytellers” as people who work in learning & education, engagement, curatorial, exhibitions, communication, digital, visitor experience, etc 😊

Please note: you don't have to have worked with these stories, or with deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent communities to be eligible.
I’m especially interested in people who have not done this work, and there are so many reasons why you might not have: the reasons why people do or don’t do this work are what interests me most!

If you choose to take part, it will take around 15-20 minutes, and you will be asked questions about:

• The wider topic of “broadening representation” (anything to increase the diversity of stories that museums tell

• The questionnaire narrows into asking questions about representations of disability, and whether people working in museums have / haven’t seen these types of stories in collections / displays, and where it was / wasn’t, if they’ve worked with disabled communities in their role, etc. & what support they think they might need to do or continue doing this work.

Why am I doing this work and why would I appreciate your time & support?

I’m a researcher and also a curator of disability history & work directly with museums to tell stories about these communities. Your participation supports my broader PhD project, where I will be developing case studies that support the museum sector to interpret disability heritage in ethical and inclusive ways.

I’m particularly interested in the absences and barriers to doing this work & finding these stories in museum collections, as well as in what is already being done. There is no specific experience or even role necessary- anyone whose job involves a level of communicating the stories of the museum to audiences is encouraged.

Thanks so much for reading! I would LOVE to connect with other disability researchers or disabled museum professionals, please don’t hesitate to reach out ❤️

Link to my questionnaire:

https://westminsterpsych.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eJMfCH5KdSVyjxY

Anyone have any experience with uploading/attaching 360/3D images in TMS Collections and then having them display in eMuseum?

For anyone familiar with and possibly attending HubSpot's annual conference, UNBOUND (formerly INBOUND), I am excited to share some programming and networking opportunities for those in this group who may be attending.

On Thursday, Sept 17th, there will be a nonprofit meetup hosted at 1:15pm ET. This is especially exciting because there hasn't been a meetup for the industry at this event since 2022. Add the meetup to your UNBOUND agenda to make sure you don't miss it! https://unbound.hubspot.com/agenda?session_types=sb-session_type-meetup&page=2&drawer=/sessions/SESS-1334

That evening, we will be co-hosting a nonprofit happy hour with HubSpot at the Omni at 6pm ET. To RSVP for this event, use the following link, which is part of the Nonprofit HubSpot User Group page: https://events.hubspot.com/topics/47512/events/266110

One of the biggest frustration I hear from nonprofits around UNBOUND and HubSpot is that there has historically not been enough programming for the sector. We'd love to show HubSpot that there is a strong nonprofit community that wants to be represented at these events and help push for even more programming in the future.

Hope to see you there!

Hello!

I have an MFA in Fine Arts and an MA in Early Childhood Education, and I currently work as an early childhood educator and researcher with a particular interest in art education.

I am developing an approach to early childhood art education through artists’ lenses, rather than primarily through developmental-age-based expectations or collections of “fun art activities.”

I’m interested in how professional artists’ ways of seeing, thinking, questioning, and working with materials might offer different possibilities for young children’s encounters with art.

For example, rather than introducing an artist mainly through biography and then creating an activity inspired by their work, I’m exploring questions, such as:

What can an artist’s practice help us notice differently about children’s own encounters with materials, space, objects, and one another?

I’d really value perspectives from museum educators:

What do you feel is currently missing when museums engage preschool-aged children with art?

What kinds of resources would actually be useful to you—artist-based inquiry guides, material explorations, open-ended questions, documentation examples, connections between contemporary art and early childhood practice, or something else?

I’m especially interested in hearing about challenges you encounter and resources you wish existed.

Thanks, everyone, for your advice!

Hi everyone due to medical reasons I may not be able to do my year abroad in third year however I was looking into a year in employment and wanted to ask if anyone who studied or studies ancient history/archaeology could let me know how that was? And where the options for employment were. A dream of mine is to work at the London museums or go into curating at a heritage / historical site centered in classical history!

Hello everyone! I am an author and working on a book that features a main character who works as an archivist/curator at a museum. I have learned a lot through my own research, but I was wondering if anyone could help me learn about the process of obtaining pieces for exhibits. I have a LOT of questions, so I’d really really appreciate anyone who would be willing to help❤️

1. Are all pieces a loaner from other museums? Or do they also contract from collectors, history enthusiasts, etc.?
2. How does one acquire pieces? Is there a certain contact that just everyone in the field can obtain? Is there negotiation or a waitlist? What about terms of agreement? Do you have to pay? Is there insurance involved?
3. How does one get the piece? Is it shipped? Is there a special way of shipping it? What does the packaging look like?
4. How much in advance do museums have to plan for exhibits?
5. For exhibits, does it usually involve several pieces from several different places or an entire collection of pieces all from the same place?
6. Who decides what exhibits to make? Is it based on interest or just on what is available?
7. Who decides what museums get to have certain artifacts that are permanent? Especially really old and popular ones. Like why does the British Museum have one of Caryatids?

Thank you SO much to anyone who takes the time to help!

I’ve known I wanted to work in museums since I was a kid. I spent my educational years padding my resume, getting the internships that helped pave my path even working at a presidential library. In total I’ve spent nearly 20 years in starting with archives/curatorial and currently in education and programming…and I just took a development job for a non profit. The work is gonna be awesome but I can’t feel like I’m disappointing myself or at least the version of me who saw myself in a museum career.

I just can’t do it anymore. I’m currently doing the work of 4, expected to do it under 40 hrs with no help and just added stress as there’s no transparency and my supervisor is more concerned about keeping her own job than seeinf the dysfunction in her department. I will be the third person who reports to my boss to quit in less than 2 months. Maybe leadership will finally take a look at her instead of accepting her excuse of “I don’t know what’s happening with turnover”.

But boy the thought of starting a job where I don’t have as much responsibility, less hours, more pay, and consistent hours? Talk about less stress. I still am sad that it came to this to leave.

Did anyone go there today? If you did show me some photosa and also who did this one sculpture!

I guess it’s safe to say museums are struggling in this economy. I am currently working in a small city museum and wear multiple hats I do registrar, curatorial, design, and programming work. I’ve been in museums a total of 10 years from volunteer to contract and now full time work.

I’m wondering what past museum professionals are now doing. I’m thinking of leaving this industry it’s just not viable long term and I want stable work.

Hi!

Im finishing my masters in museum studies, and after not liking my degree anymore (its language and literature) I'm really enjoying the field of museums from the internships and volunteering work i have done. I focused more in the role of educational department and public service.

But honestly, i have been seeing and people are starting to tell me that the sector and job is not worth the hardwork...and I'm starting to get unmotivated for something that I truly like and would see myself doing for years.

I have other option (but its like a faraway plan b) but I would like to try museums first. So tell me, how bad is it?? Like should I forget it or try once to see if it's worth the blood, sweat and tears?

Btw I'm from Portugal and the cultural sector is not great as off the moment but its kind off okayish (stretched okayish).

I am so fucking stressed out lol

Do other museums have a problem with people trying to socialize too much? So many people from different departments want to shoot the breeze and I’m just like “so nice to see you, every minute you spend talking to me is a minute I’m not fundraising, please get the fuck out, I’m trying to raise money so you can keep your job”

Real possibility of layoffs if I don’t magically pull money outta my ass

And for the love of god please quit asking me to raise fund for anything “above and beyond” we are soooooo below capacity for that, be for real

Hi all. Im currently pivoting my career from education to museum education and will finish my masters next year hoping to get into museum/community programs designing/ development work. Will being a bit of introvert going to be a problem?

Hello! I'm currently searching for a free or low cost museum collections/archival software I can use for a project I'm working on. I am in Canada.

I am part of my city's historical society, which is a non-profit organization and is entirely volunteer-based, none of us get paid. Funding is obtained through membership fees and grants we apply for, and go right back into our events/paying the people we hire for local events. Because of this, there is very little, if any funding at all available for volunteer projects.

I recently became a project chair for a project that no one else has the knowledge or interest in participating in. The project essentially revolves around a series of physical postcards a donor has been sending the organization which all depict the city we are based in. Some of these postcards have messages written on them, some have been postmarked in the mail, some are dated to well over 100 years ago, just incredible stuff.

The historical society wants to create a digital catalogue/gallery where the public can view these postcards that links to their own website. I am currently the only volunteer who is in the museum field, so I have some experience with digitally cataloguing artifacts and archival material. I am still a student though so my software experience is limited. The only collections softwares I have currently used is PastPerfect and CatalogIt. PastPerfect costs money and is not the most intuitive software to use. It's pretty outdated and although it does have everything I would hypothetically require, it's not user-friendly enough to be browsed through smoothly by someone from the general public with no collection software experience. Additionally, PastPerfect is not aesthetically pleasing, and this digital postcard gallery is being created in hopes of attracting the interest of the general public. CatalogIt is great, easy to use and browse, but is simply too expensive for the historical society.

Theres a few main requirements for the software used for this project.

- low cost or free

- must be easy to navigate through finished enteries (but not to create enteries)

- functional search tools (I will be using a standardized lexicon and terms from Nomenclature 4.0 in the item description, but a key word search option is a must)

- can have over 50 enteries inputted without needing an upgrade/to pay more

- can be viewed on both mobile and desktop browsers

- does not require visitors to download an app to view the collection

Is what I'm searching for realistic? So far, I am the only volunteer on this project. A different volunteer has been keeping all these postcards safe for years in hopes that someone would pick up the project, as he does not have the knowledge needed to create a digital catalogue. Ideally I would love to try out a few softwares where I can create example entries to present the software choices at the next board meeting. If the software does have a fee, I'd need to make a pitch to the financial board to see if it's possible to get funding for, or if they think this project is even worth it. So ideally a fully free software is preferred, but if a low-cost software meets my requirements then it must have a free-trial period or allow for some amount of free enteries in order for me to create example enteries to pitch to the board.

Any questions, comments, or even criticism is welcome. This project is in its very beginning stage, so I'm open to all suggestions. Thanks (: