I've been pondering what to do to get started in the museum field, and I
realized that I have a great advice resource at my fingertips here in the
Museum-list.

I plan to finish my M.A. in Art History (at Penn State) by August and I've
been trying to figure out what to do next. So far, the museum experience I
have is last summer working as an assistant to the museum registrar at the
Palmer Museum of Art on the PSU campus, with whom I'm also continuing to
work (on a voluntary basis) on the preparation of an exhibition of medieval
art that will be traveling after being organized and shown at the Palmer.
I'm also contributing an essay and several object entries to the catalog of
this exhibition. I took a semester-long museum studies class last spring
(the only offering here at Penn State). I've given gallery talks on various
topics and because of a talk on African art I've been asked to help put
together an exhibit in a cultural center on campus of a private collection
of African art.

My eventual goal is to find a job in the registrar's department (though I
haven't fully ruled out curatorial) of an art museum, and unlike most of my
peers (it seems), I would actually rather _prefer_ to be in a smaller
museum, especially a university museum.  I think the challenges of
functioning on a limited scale and budget, and the flexibility required of
the various members of the staff of a smaller museum (at least from what
I've seen at the Palmer) would be an exciting challenge. But I'm not sure
what to do next. Here are the options I've thought of so far:

1. Start looking through Aviso and sending off resumes to other likely
museums, trying to find a job starting soon after graduation. Or look at
museum internships such as the Getty Museum internship program.

2. Go for a PhD in Art History somewhere where there are at least several
classes in museum studies, if not a certificate program.

3. Get a degree in Museum Studies, probably another Master's.

4. Start polishing up my burger-flipping skills (god I hope not!).

Anyway, I'd love it if anyone could give me a few tips on a good plan of
action. E-mail me _or_ send it to the list, whatever you think is most
appropriate, though I bet there are quite a few graduate students in
similar situations lurking on the list who might like the info.

Thanks in advance,
Sarah Andrews
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