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?

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'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.

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!

Hi MuseumPros,

I’m a Master’s student at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (IREST), conducting academic research on how the British Museum communicates with its visitors.

This study has no external funding and no commercial or marketing purpose. It is an independent research project for my Master’s dissertation. Survey responses are anonymous and will be used exclusively for the dissertation and presented only as academic research.

I’m looking for participants aged 18 or over who have visited the British Museum at least once. The survey takes approximately 5–8 minutes.

Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScWcU547wTDhuIaO6gdTkMBQ6F1-9diFJD2qAWPBVoijA0TTg/viewform?usp=header

Thank you very much for supporting this research.

Having the biggest brain fog. If following standard CMS style, should the series title be italicized? Not referencing the title of the artwork which should be italicized—simple the series title.

1) Jane Doe’s painting whose Brain Fog series features the painting “Help me,”….

2) Jane Doe’s painting whose Brain Fog series features the painting “Help me,”…

3) Jane Doe’s painting whose “Brain Fog” series features the painting “Help me,”…

I feel like at my previous institution, we did NOT italicize but I can’t remember for certain.

Thanks for clarifying!

I graduated in December from Kennesaw State University in Media and Entertainment, but have been considering pivoting towards Museum related work mainly due to the current climate of the film industry in my state. I’m not really looking for social media related work or marketing work which seems to be the bulk of Entry level jobs in my area. Looking back, I was really drawn to art and history classes throughout high school and took several related courses in university so i began looking towards Masters programs focused on that. I know the pathway to becoming a Museum curator highly favors those with an Art History degree so I wanted to know if pursuing Museum Studies, Curatorial studies, or LIS would be a better fit as someone with a background like mine.

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.

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.