Jill,

I have to ever so politely disagree.

Having been on both sides of this issue in my long career I have to
say that just because you are an expert in any field of knowledge does
not make you a natural or a good communicator or interpreter. There is
a special skill set and innate talent for communicating with the
public - whether it be as an interpreter, guide, or lecturer that many
people do not possess. Sure, some of those skills can be taught but
the natural ability and ease with people cannot.

How many professional conferences have you been too where you have
really, really been enthralled by an "expert" giving a paper or a
lecture? I can count them on one hand - but those were among the most
inspiring and motivating moments I have had the pleasure to
experience.

And even if you are a wonderful communicator that does not mean that
you have the abilty to translate the depth and understanding of a
particular field without a lot of work.

The best is someone who bridges both world's - who is equally at ease
with communication with anyone from 5 year olds to experts in the
field - who also reads and understands deeply and does research
themselves.

I agree entirely that the broader your range of abilites, and having a
solid and demonstrable track record of accomplishments, goes a long
way to making you an attractive candidate for positons. I would also
add that having experience and training in management is something
that has not been mentioned yet that I feel is so very important here
- because so much of what we do involves working with others in teams.
Honestly, working with the objects is by far the easiest part.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Cosnervator
Los Angeles, California

On 2/6/07, Tracie Evans <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
> I almost let this go, but I think I will say a little something.  I have
> been reading many of these emails and I often wonder if everyone is
> talking about the same thing.  Generalist vs. specialist does not mean
> that someone who is a "generalist" knows nothing about their subject
> field.  If you want to work in an art museum as a specialist or a
> generalist, you have to know something about art.  The same is true with
> science museums and history museums.
>
> A specialist is someone who studies a specific focus (i.e. Civil War
> History, Impressionist Art, etc) within a broader area like art,
> science, or history. A Generalist in that field will have a background
> in the broader area but not a focus on a specific subject whereas a
> specialist will know a little about their field but their interest and
> detailed knowledge is in one specific area.  One is not better or worse
> that the other.  It depends on the need of the museum.  Which is what
> they need more?  Do they want to train you in the museum field or in
> their specific focus? Many museums do want and hire generalists, but
> some do not.  When I hire, I look for the person who has balance in
> their education and training.
>
> Degree Programs such as Museum Studies that are not necessarily tied to
> another disciple can still be useful, but it is the student's
> responsibility to focus their museum work in a field of study or get a
> secondary degree to compliment their museum coursework with knowledge
> for work in a history, science or art museum. Science, History and Art
> museums are not interchangeable and students really need to decide where
> their interests are so that they can use their internships and projects
> to their best advantage.
>
> Let's try to remember that there are lots of ways to focus yourself and
> everyone has to decide what will work for them.  But your way is not
> better that someone else's way.
>
> Tracie
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Jill Chancey
> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 10:26 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: There is no silver bullet; there are (almost) no jobs
>
> I have to disagree with this:
>
> > For me, the 'subject' is not an issue and far easier to learn about
> > and interpret than would be to have to learn the museum part. I see
> > both as being a process -we're always going to learn something new. A
> > knowledge/skill set for collections care and interpretation can be
> > applied to most any subject. A skilled interpreter can take the most
> > mundane of objects, put a story to it and turn it into something most
> > fascinating.
> >
>
> The "subject" is indeed an issue!  Why would anyone hire a curator at an
>
> art museum who doesn't know anything about art?  Why hire an interpreter
>
> at a science museum who doesn't have a solid background in science?
> Why would you be a better person to hire than someone with background in
>
> the museum's subject?  I could just as easily reverse the formula:
> someone with subject matter background can always learn museum practices
>
> on the job.  That's what lists like this and conferences and workshops
> are for.
>
> It's a lot easier to teach a person with a biology degree how to be an
> interpreter than it would be to teach me, for example, enough biology to
>
> be a competent interpreter in a science museum.  [I say this as a person
>
> with a lot of teaching experience on both the secondary and college
> level, but not in the sciences]  How can you possibly interpret what you
>
> do not know?
>
> I've noticed that some of the non-curators on the list gleefully predict
>
> the increasing irrelevance of curators whenever the job market comes
> up.  Sure, there are less curators per capita than educators and
> marketers, but we are by no means irrelevant.  Despite what you see in
> the movies, we don't sit in our offices in Armani suits, sipping
> champagne and gazing thoughtfully at our latest acquisition, nor do most
>
> of us jet around the world courting donors.  In the last month I've done
>
> everything from check in crates and haul art to appearing on local radio
>
> and television to promote exhibitions to writing exhibition text and
> editing publications.  I consider myself an essential and relevant part
> of the team at my museum, and I'd like to believe my coworkers would
> agree.
>
> My own take on the museum studies degree or certification is that, like
> an MBA, it is most useful combined with an academic specialty.   You
> really need to have two kinds of training to be a good job candidate,
> because, guess what?  You're competing with a lot of people who have
> both.  In my case, my art history training was far more advanced than my
>
> museum background when I got my first full-time museum job, but a few
> internships, a few part-time museum jobs while in school, and a few
> museum studies courses gave me the foundations I needed to step into
> curatorial practice.
>
> Jill R. Chancey, PhD
> Curator
> Lauren Rogers Museum of Art
> www.LRMA.org
>
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