A number of years ago, a Master's in zoology might have landed you
a job in a natural history museum, but that alone is rarely sufficient
now.  A lot will depend on your prior experience--do you have a
specialty in some "-ology," do you have experience with collections
or some other aspect of working in a museum?

The trend in Collection Manager jobs in natural history is to either
hire people with a Master's degree in museum studies or museum science,
or to hire PhD's in biology (the PhDs are usually not very well trained
to be collection managers, but curators like to hire them because it
looks impressive).  It is very difficult to get a job in a natural history
museum without some prior experience (which can be part time, as a
student or volunteer).

> NOT asking you to post job openings (as if there were any) -- although
> that wouldnt hurt.

Actually, a fair number of natural history jobs do come over Museum-L.
Remembering that Museum-L serves ALL of the museum community, if you
look at the percentage of job announcements that are for natural history
museums, it is not too bad (though it is not as many jobs as I would
like to see advertised, of course).

> zoology i wonder if i could use it as a curator or collections assistant
> or even in exhibit research or design (in colege i majored in bi as well
> as English, for creative writing).  i would love to know how one
> ventures into these areas.

Each of the positions you mention requires special training beyond just
zoology.  If you want to work in exhibits, for example, you will probably
need design or art training.  Exhibit researchers are almost always either
a staff member already available, or else are hired on contract.  Very
few museums can afford to keep full-time exhibit researchers on the
payroll.  Most curators are PhD level, depending on the size of the museum
and how the term "curator" is used (curator can mean anything from a
collection care worker to a researcher).  I would advise you to read
the following references as a starting point to job hunting:

Cato, P.S.  1988.  Review of organizations and resources that serve
the needs of natural history collections.  Collection Forum 4(2):51-
64

Cato, P.S.  1991.  Summary of a study to evaluate collection manager-
type positions.  Colleciton Forum 8(2):72-94

Cato, P.S., R.R. Waller, L. Sharp, J. Simmons, and S.L. Williams.
1996.  Developing Staff Resources for Managing Collections. Virginia
Museum of Natural History Special Publication number 4:1-71.

Gennoways, H.H.  1989.  Museum studies in collection management.
Association of Systematics Collections Newsletter 17(6):77;79-81.

Simmons, J.E.  1993.  Natural history collections management in
North America.  Journal of Biological Curation 1(3):1-17

Stansfield, G., J. Mathias, and G. Reid (editors).  1994.  Manual of
Natural History Curatorship.  HMSO, London, 306 pp.

There is a lot more pertinent literature, but this should get you
started.

> i am glad if other young people
> who are ready to slit their over-educated throats may join in the
> discussion , or benefit from the advice i hopefully am provoking.

These discussions are always helpful.  Most people who, like me,
entered the field 20+ years ago, wish we had had forums such as
Museum-L available to us way back then.

As for being "over-educated," I often hear from people trying to
enter the museum field that they have discovered their degree to
be not as useful as they had imagined it to be.  If I may be allowed
a short personal rant here, I would like to point out that just what
we learn in the classroom is rarely adequate for a career.  When I
counsel museum studies students here, I always stress to them the
need to gain practical experience (in student jobs or as volunteers)
in whatever kind of museum position they are interested in (be it
education, exhibits, collections, etc.) so that their resume will
stand out from all the other equally qualified candidates on the
job market.  The real key to breaking into the museum field is
good resume building--not just the right degree for the job, but
carefully seeking out the kind of experiences which will make you
better qualified than other applicants.  Very few of us are really
overeducated.  Can you really know too much to be a good museum
professional?  In truth, many people trying to enter the field lack
the right kinds of educational experiences, but very few are truly
overeducated.

Good luck on your job hunting, and I would also like to point out
that you do have one of the key necessities for getting a museum
job, which is the desire to work in a museum.  You have to be
dedicated...

John Simmons
Collection Manager
Natural History Museum
University of Kansas
(and part-time instructor in the Historical Administration and
Museum Studies Program)