After reading various threads on this Forum it‘s obvious jobs in museum work are hard to come by because new college graduates generally lack experience.  It’s that old Catch-22 bugaboo, you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job.  That gave me an idea.  Why don’t you invent your own experience?

Am I saying lie about your lack of experience?  Certainly not!  I’m saying find something that will greatly enhance the museum experience for visitors that the museum doesn’t currently do.

I’m a retiree and volunteer at our local medium-sized town museum.  Our local town historian wrote one of the nifty Images of America (http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/) books a few years ago.  Now the museum is looking for someone to write the second volume, covering the years since incorporation (1952).  

What’s in it for you, you ask?  Suppose you live near by and hear of this.  You run over to our museum, find out what’s involved, and volunteer for the job.  Images of America books are essentially picture books with suitable captions.  You bone up on local history, do interviews with local old-timers and pick out some suitable pictures.  You put out a nice book and what happens?  The museum appreciates the work you did, you have become steeped in local history, and you have spent considerable time with the museum director and other towns-folks who matter (museum-wise).  And of course you have a book signing at the museum.  They now know you and the work you’re capable of.  In short, you have “experience”.  But don’t stop now.

Having written the book, you do other volunteer things with the museum.  (Not full time, just hours you can spare.)  You help with the exhibits, maybe even plan a couple.  You answer research queries (you wrote the book, remember?).  You get to know people and collections in other area museums, and act as an informal intermediary, perhaps arranging an inter-museum borrowing system.  You learn every department and area of your own museum and help out where you can.  You try to be a part of their planning sessions.  You arrange to place a few traveling museum pieces (with suitable captions) in local schools and businesses.  You do what you can to get the museum’s events noticed in the local newspaper (make sure you know the editor).  You write a few booklets on local history & town pioneers that the gift shop can sell for a buck or two.  You create the museum’s oral history project.  You devise a hands-on exhibit to occupy small hands (kids), consisting of a typewriter, a full-keyboard adding machine, a dial telephone and whatever else comes to mind.   You’re in charge of the yearly museum crab feed (this is a big money maker, not to mention publicity gatherer).  You do other things you can think of that will add to the museum experience.  And you learn the ins & outs of applying for grants and museum fund raising.

Now, sometime or another a job at the museum is going to open up.  You apply for it.  Is someone going to say you lack experience?  Not if they’re smart.  

However, what if a position doesn’t open up at your museum?  That’s taken care of because you have gotten “to know people and collections in other area museums”.  You’ve kept in touch with situations all over your area.  If something appears on the horizon you’re going to hear about it.  And the other museums are already well familiar with your work with your own museum.  (And maybe you’ve already done an Images of America book for them.  A number of people have done several books for them.)

There are some ideas that come to mind.  The moral here is: don’t wait until they come to you, you go to them with something they may not have known they even wanted.

Here are links to the book lists at Arcadia and it’s rival, History Press.  Look them over and see if any book ideas come to mind.  

Arcadia Publishing: http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/index.html

History Press: https://www.historypress.net/catalogue/bookstore/Series/Hidden_History/?pageNum_menuRS=1&totalRows_menuRS=64&p=Series/Hidden_History/

And remember, there are many more “get your foot in the door” ideas than I can think of.  Think about it.  Maybe we can get some ideas going on this forum.

-Jim Lyons

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