>Dear List:
>
>I am looking for a source that discusses museum studies programs and their
>programs of study.  Can anyone recommend a directory, book, article that
>might be appropriate?  I seem to remember a recent publication on this very
>subject but can't find it!  Is anyone out there involved in a museum
>studies program?  Would you mind sharing some information?


Dr. Lewis,

The Center for Museum Studies is a good place to start.  They are located
at the Smithsonian, Washington, DC.  202/357-3101.

For the record, our museu7m studies program here at Texas Tech is an
internationally respected program.

The Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX, offers a Masters degree
program in Museum Science (aka museology, the science of museums).  Our
program is a two-year comprehensive curriculum followed by a professional
internship or thesis.  Students gain practical experience working
(work-study) in various departments within the museum during the coursework
portion of their tenure.  The museum has a two-fold mission.  It is a
teaching facility, with academic department status, with members of the
professional staff as faculty, and grants it's own Master of Arts degree.
It is also a working museum, with permanent collections, professional
staff, regular hours, research and exhibit programs, educational outreach,
and all those other things that AAM says a museum should be.  Upon
completion of their coursework, students do a professional internship in
another museum facility to gain more practical hands-on experience in a
different working environment.

The Museum of Texas Tech University itself consists of the main museum
building which houses exhibits, administrative and curatorial offices, labs
and workspaces, and storage.  Three other components of the museum complex
are the Ranching Heritage Center, Lubbock Lake Landmark, and the Natural
Science Research Laboratory.

The Ranching Heritage Center is a collection of 33 historic structures, the
oldest of which dates to the 1840s.  The Center offers a laboratory for
students to apply principles of historic preservation, interpretation, and
other opportunities for living history public programming.

Another component is the Lubbock Lake Landmark, a state archeological site
which documents Paleo-indian occupation as far as 12,000 years ago.  Museum
archeologists conduct research in a state of the art on-site laboratory,
and educational programs are conducted in the interpretive center.  The
interpretve center is co-administered with the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department.

The Natural Science Research Laboratory (NSRL) is a facility which houses a
vast and significant mammal and tissue collection.  The NSRL has figured
prominently in ongoing research into environmental dilemmas, including New
Mexico's Hanta virus (aka Four Corners Disease) and the Chernobyl disaster.
Scientists in the NSRL are working with the Russian government in an
effort to study the effects of nuclear accidents on the natural
environment.

Students in the Museum Science program can select any of the following
areas: History, Clothing/Textiles, Education, Art, Ethnology, Archeology,
Natural Sciences (incl. vertibrate zoology), and Exhibit development.  The
diversity of collections reflect the research mission of the University, as
well as a recognition of the need to give students as comprehensive an
experience as possible during the course of their program.  Students are
exposed to a variety of collections and learn to work with their particular
needs and problems.

Other courses offered on campus, such as Museum Law, Marketing and
Development, Public Administration, Historic Preservation, Historic Textile
Conservation, and Interpretation compliment the students program.  Students
may also enroll in traditional academic courses in areas like History,
Anthropology, Biology, etc., to further augment their museum course of
study.

We are one of the top five degree-granting programs in the USA with a
placement rate in the range of 90-95 percent.  Our graduates are working in
institutions nationwide, as well as in foreign countries.  Since the
program's creation in the mid-1970s, many of our alumni have become
directors, administrators, and museum trustees.

The Museum Science Students Association sponsors museum oriented activities
such as trips to area museums, historic, and natural sites, etc, as well as
guest speakers, and special fundraisers.  The Association also provides
partial funding for student participation in state, regional, and national
museum conferences.  Our students have played a central role in a
successful effort to create a museum training affinity group within the
Texas Association of Museums structure.  Named the Museum Training Affinity
Group, official status was granted at the June 1997 council meeting of the
Texas Association of Museums.

For more information on the museum, its staff, and programs, visit the TTU
Museum web site at:

http://www.ttu.edu/~museum

The site contains pages on the Museum Science program as well as the Museum
Science Students Association.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,
HBC

*****************************************
Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
[log in to unmask]     Museum of Texas Tech University
806/742-2442           Box 43191
FAX 742-1136             Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
               WEBSITE: http://www.ttu.edu/~museum
**********    "Living History Rocks!!"    **********