Hi Jenifer,

Not to be a wet blanket, but I have an M.A. in Art History from a very good program. I then got a low-paying ($17,000/yr), but prestigious internship and later a research position both at a major art museum.  With a total of 5 years experience, I couldn't find another position and my last position only paid $21,000/yr.  I was unemployed for almost 2 years before I took a secretarial job in another field.  I am now $42,000 in debt for my M.A. degree ( I only took out about $25,000 in loans but since I was making so little money during my years at the museum, I had to defer any payments on my loans for the last 9 years). I am also filing for bankruptcy because I had to use my credit cards to make ends meet and pay my tuition while I was finishing my thesis.  I'm sure my experience is worst than most,, but I have a friend with some museum experience and a Ph.D. from Harvard and he can't get a job. Of course the fact that many states have stopped funding art altogether has made a bad situation much worse. 

If you truly love art history, you may want to take the risk and still go for it, but at least you'll know what you are in for.  Note that if you are interested in curating, most museums now prefer people with Ph.D.s in art history.  For a registrar they primarily want experience (I don't think any of the registrars at the museum where I worked had M.A.'s in art history or anything else for that matter).  Can you volunteer somewhere and get experience on a popular collection database software? I sometimes see jobs for people with experience with particular collection database software.

Good luck and feel free to e-mail me if you want more information.



 

>From: Jenifer Wetterau <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Graduate degrees
>Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 09:45:01 -0700
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>I am hoping to get some advice from any of the museum
>professionals on the list. I graduated a few years ago
>with a BA in Art History, and had an invaluable
>experience working with the registrar of an art museum
>while obtaining the degree. I know I would like to work
>in a curatorial or registrarial position. Since
>graduating, I have had no luck finding either an
>internship or a job in a museum. I am finding it
>necessary to go back to school and want to make the
>best decision regarding which type of program to
>pursue. When hiring, do you consider a Museum Studies
>Certificate sufficient, or is it necessary to obtain an
>MA in Museum Studies or in Art History? I wish to make
>the most practical use of my time (and tuition!) but,
>more importantly, I do not want to find myself in the
>same position when I graduate. Any suggestions would be
>very much appreciated.
>
>On Wisconsin! Get your free University of Wisconsin alumni e-mail at http://uwalumni.com
>
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