I’m a museum curator. AMA

[ACurator]

I’ll happily answer questions about working at a museum, working as a curator, or anything you’ve ever wanted to know about what goes on behind the scenes.

I don’t want to be identified so may be vague when it comes to specifics about where I work or exactly what type of collection I work with (though I’ve worked in quite a few different areas so I can probably answer questions on most things!)

I work at a fairly large museum in a big UK city which I’m sure many of you will have been to.

Fire away!

Merchantgirl
To be perfectly honest, first and foremost you need a degree because museums require one in their job ads! But as I said before, the day-to-day skills needed for the job are very much learned as you go, rather than being something a degree could equip you with (the same as for many jobs!)

There are useful research/writing skills to be had from a degree, though, and depending on the type/size of museum and the type of collection you're working with, a degree/Masters/PhD might be really important. For example, if your job requires you to be a world-leading authority on a particular historic period or region, and publish lots of books and articles on that subject, then having spent time studying those specific areas is obviously really important. But if you're more involved in the practical care of a really broad collection at a regional museum then having a PhD on a specific kind of Japanese sword or a certain type of fly is not going to really help you in your day-to-day life.

I've always thought this must be an amazing job.

When you do exhibits of things from other cultures - eg Maori - do you call in people from that culture to make sure it's all done appropriately? It must be so hard to make sure you're not offending people. How long would it take from coming up with the idea of an exhibit to putting things on display?

GrouchyKiwi
Yes, absolutely. Working with source communities on that kind of material is really important and museums will work really hard to make sure they’re presenting objects in the right way. They don’t always get it right of course and there can be cultural clashes (I’ve heard of female curators being told they shouldn’t even look at certain objects, for example, as they’re only to be viewed by men, which could pose problems) but generally museums are very sensitive to this.

Lead time on exhibitions really varied. A small exhibition in a small museum could take just a few months to put together while the really big ones in major museums might be planned a few years in advance.

I must say I wasn’t expecting so many questions so quickly - this is great! But I have wasted rather a lot of morning on this so I’d better stay away for the afternoon. I’ll come back this evening and see if there are any more for me!

Thank you, I was wondering if it was a silly question after I'd posted! I do think it's a shame though if uni wasn't an option.

@ACurator as I am incredibly clumsy I often wonder if a curator like yourself has ever either almost dropped something precious or actually dropped something precious? Or maybe you know of someone

I worked in a "fines" office and we had to identify, catalogue and label finds on an archaeological dig site (as part of my degree) but luckily it was all every day stuff so no 4000 year old rare specimen. But still it did scare me to bits that I would drop something.

I was parent helper on a primary trip for a Egyptian project. 8 year olds all sitting handling little relics and being really animated.

"These replica exhibits are really good" I said to the curator.

"they are real. We have lots of poor quality objects, so we use them for education"

When my kid realised he was holding part of a sarcophagus, painted by an actual Egyptian - well, it blew his mind. Had a massive impact on him. And me, actually.

So, thank you for what you do. Sincerely.

TheJobNeverEnded Nothing horrifically valuable, thankfully, but yes I actually have dropped something! I’m sure everyone does at some point (it was almost a relief when it happened as I thought ‘well that’s a milestone out of the way’!) It was quite early on in my career and I managed to trip and fall while I was carrying something. I was so upset but the team actually couldn’t have been nicer. They all refused to even glance at the object on the floor until they’d established that I was ok first, which I really appreciated (luckily both the object and I were fine!) You do get used to it, though, and you learn your own limits as well as developing a real instinct for how to handle something safely. But accidents do happen and museums usually have very clear procedures in place so that we know what to do in that scenario!

vivarium That has made my day! I had a similar experience at school where I was allowed to handle something ‘real’ and honestly it has stuck with me forever. I think it’s what made me want to work in a museum in the first place. People think it’s crazy that we’d let school kid or members of the public handle stuff, but actually those are usually the people who are most careful and respectful of the objects because they’re so in awe. The people you have to watch out for are the ‘experts’ or amateur enthusiasts who already think they know what they’re doing and refuse to listen to instructions. So they insist on repeatedly picking up the bloody jug by the handle even though you’ve told them not to a million times, because ‘it’s ok, I know about this stuff’

Do the exhibits come to life? Sorry I'm actually really jealous, what an interesting job!

DeathBySnuSnu I love those films I just have to try not to think about all the terrible museum practices that go on in them!

I once had to work in a huge store room full of taxidermy animals... it was quite a shock when they first showed me in there and turned on the lights to reveal hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at me. I could have sworn some of them blinked...

Hello, ACurator! Museum conservator here - just wondering if I might know you in real life...

What exhibit has totally blown you away?

Can you take any exhibits home and kind of long term borrow them? So not actually stealing!

What’s your favourite museum? And why?

(Mine is Weald and Downland. When I win the lottery I’m going to hire it for a month and live there.)

Hi, do you have an opinion on the new V&A museum? It’s absolutely polarising opinions locally! Thank you

Oooo the V and A! I didn’t actually go Cistine-chapel-screaming-mad but I did have a funny turn in the sculpture room.

What does an 'average' day look like for you?
Fascinating thread!

Oooh hello mackerella! You should do an AMA of your own, I think people would be fascinated!

Mayonayse here are yours:

What exhibit has totally blown you away?
We once had something brought into the museum which had belonged to someone very famous, and that really floored me. Thinking about who would have held or worn objects in the past really makes my head spin sometimes.

Can you borrow objects to take home?
Haha no definitely not! Museums do borrow objects from each other all the time though (but there’s hefty paperwork that goes along with that!)

What’s your favourite museum?
I won’t pick a UK favourite as naturally it would be the one where I work. But the African American History Museum in DC is absolutely incredible and one of the most powerful museum experiences I’ve ever had.

JudgeRindersMinder you mean the one in Dundee? I’ve not been but I hear generally good things. I think more museums outside London can only be a good thing!

zzzzz took me a while but I think you mean home educated? I don’t know actually! But I would assume so!

Grapes A lot of our systems are computerised so there’s a fair bit of desk time and answering emails like any other office job. But depending on the type of museum, the type of collection, and how senior a curator you are, there can be a lot of manual labour too. It’s not always the glamorous academic job that people imagine it to be. We frequently find ourselves on our hands and knees doing some cleaning, or come home covered in dust after a day in the stores!

When my kid realised he was holding part of a sarcophagus, painted by an actual Egyptian - well, it blew his mind

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria when we visited Hampton Court as a family recently we each put our hands on a brick and talked about who made this, who brought it here and how, and about the person who laid it, you are literally reaching back into the past! It blew our minds thinking of Henry strutting round, we walked where kings had walked.

@ACurator is there a particular object or display you are drawn to that you visit to make your day? Are you drawn to a certain period in time?

I love Pioneer America and love thinking about the land they crossed and how.