One possiblity that I've not seen on the postings as yet is to try some
governmental locations.  I work for the state of Missouri/Dept. of
Natural Resources/Division of State Parks.  My colleague and I supervise
17 state historic sites across the southern half of the state.  These
each have a site manager who oversees the daily operations (in total) of
their particular site (most being house museums).  The site manager level
only requires a BA or BS.  You then work your way up in the system.  One
of our upper level site managers runs the Missouri State Museum.  I am
one of the district supervisor's and have hired several of the present
site managers.  Sometimes we pass up the PhD's for a BA because we have
found that common sense does not necessarily increase  proportionately
with education.  Anyway, as another area of "museums" that may not
require upper level degrees for site management level positions try your
state run facilities.

Delecia B. Huitt, Park Operations Officer II
Southern Missouri Historic District
Division of State Parks
2901 Highway 61
Festus, MO 63028
314-937-3697
Fax. 314-933-5058
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 -----Original Message-----
From: Barbara Hawkins
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 11:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Need advice from those with experience..

Hello all!
        I just subscribed to this list serve recently and have enjoyed
reading
all of your comments!  As the subject header says, I need some
advice... I will try to keep this as short as possible.

        I am a 24 year old, B.A. degree holding, finanical aid counselor
at a
private university in San Francisco.  I have a passion for art history
(specifically early Meso American art, i.e. Mayan, Aztec, Incan,
Toltec, etc.) which is what I would truly want to pursue.  My degree
was in art, but I took every single art history class that was offered
by the small private univ. in Sothern California I attended.  I had a
terrific mentor and professor who encouraged me in art history.  I
never interned at a museum, but instead was selected as the Art
Department Assistant for three semesters, which was a wonderful
experience.  I found that I loved to help coordinate and manage
exhibits and events for the Art Dept.

        I graduated in December 1996 and began working right away to
support
myself and my fiance.  Financial Aid was one of the only things I had
practical experience in, so I have been in that field ever since.  It
is a field I tolerate, but don't care for.  It pays the bills, so to
speak.

        My dilemma is this...  I desperately want to get into museum
work.
And I realize I have two ideal ways to go about it.  Look for an entry
level job at any museum that will hire me, and take a very large cut in
pay (which, in San Francisco, can be a big problem- right now I pay
over $1,000/month for a dinky one bedroom apartment); or I could go
back to school and get a Master's degree and some intern experience.  I
realize that the second option would benefit me more (and I would
probably enjoy it more), but I think I would need to narrow my focus a
bit.  The university I work at now has an Arts Administration program
for an M.A. which is supposed to be good, but this is not in art
history or museum work.  From what I understand the program is a broad
approach to administration careers in the arts.  I think I might enjoy
actual hands-on research and museum studies more.

        Before I graduated I did some research, and narrowed down some
choices
for graduate Art History programs (in Meso American art).  The three
that I thought I would apply to were: University of New
Mexico-Albuquerque, University of Maryland-College Park, and Cornell
University (this one was actually their archaeology/anthropology
program).  These could still be an option for me, in the next couple
years....

        So, what am I asking??  Any advice on the best way to go about
finding
the perfect museum career for me?(research vs. administration)  And any
knowledge of the programs at the universities mentioned above?  Any
help would be so greatly appreciated.  Right now I feel like I have no
specific goals, I am just floating.  I need to get back into what I
enjoy and makes my brain work harder!!

        Thank you,

        Barbara Hawkins
        Financial Aid Counselor
        Golden Gate University