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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