Museum Studies at Tufts University

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Month: January 2012 (page 2 of 4)

Weekly Job Listing

January 21, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Welcome to our weekly roundup of job postings. As always, make sure you check the job announcement page if you want to see jobs the second they go up.

AASLH Spring Workshops

January 20, 2012 / / 2 Comments

AASLH does workshops all over the country, and we’re lucky enough to have a terrific one right in our backyard this spring, and the other a short train ride away.

(They also have a great emerging professional scholarship program that you could use to attend one of these workshops. The catch is that the deadline has passed for this year’s applications, BUT you should keep it in mind for next year. Info at the bottom of this page.)

Here’s their text:

Museum Education 101
Dates: March 15-16, 2012
Location: Historic New England, Otis House, Boston, MA
Through interactive activities, hands-on training, and case studies, participants will learn about volunteer management, docent training, tour techniques, active learning with people of all ages, developing exhibits with visitors in mind, and online education. Participants will leave the workshop with information and materials they can take back to their institutions to adapt and use.
Cost: $280 members/$355 nonmembers
$20 discount if payment received by February 10

Historic House Museum Issues and Operations
Dates: March 22-23, 2012
Location: Decatur House and Octagon House, Washington, DC
This workshop focuses on the unique needs, management, and interpretation of historic houses. With a focus on historic house museums, topics include collections care, types of research appropriate for historic house museums, exhibition development, interpretative tours, volunteers and building and landscape maintenance.
Cost: $250 members/$325 nonmembers
$20 discount if payment is received by February 17

Book Review: Museum Masters by Edward P. Alexander

January 18, 2012 / / 1 Comment

In the new year, I’m hoping that the Tufts Museum Studies Blog will feature book reviews of interesting museological texts both old and new. These books will then be listed in our currently-anemic bibliography page, and linked back to their reviews.

If you have a book that you’ve enjoyed reading, and would like to write about, let us know!

<i>Museum Masters: Their Museums and Their Influence</i>
Edward P. Alexander

First published in 1983 by the American Association for State and Local History, Alexander’s broad overview of energetic museum founders and their famous museums is only a little bit worn around the edges. Much of the information he considers belongs to the historical past rather than the more recent past. Only when he finishes each chapter with small “where are they now” updates and refers to the Soviet Union or East Germany does he really go wrong.

Alexander set out to write short biographical histories of several men and women whose life work culminated in the founding of a famous or influential museum – Sir Hans Sloane and the British Museum, Charles Willson Peale and the Philadelphia Museum, Dominique Vivant Denon and the Louvre, and so on and so forth. The chapters are arranged chronologically and are self-inclusive: each is its own essay, and can be read independently. The structure makes this an easy book to pick up and put down repeatedly, and each individual chapter is 25-40 pages long and can be read in a day.

Alexander’s writing style is lively but informative, and for the most part he manages to organize and present large varieties and volumes of information succinctly and well. Many of the figures he cover had extensive careers even before they turned their attention to museums; in fact, for some of them, their museum work was nearly an afterthought. One of the strengths of his approach, however, was connecting the energy and innovation of individuals to institutions, and then to the larger museum world. He specifically sought out museums whose course was fundamentally altered by a single personality for his study.

I read this book hoping to see how individuals could change the course of museums, and while I don’t think I found the key I was looking for, I did come away with a great deal of respect for the clear visionary leadership that each individual showed. Some chapters stood out in that regard: Denon and the Louvre, Ann Pamela Cunningham and Mount Vernon, Artur Hazelius and Skansen, and John Cotton Dana were all especially good in showing how vision could create new archetypes for museums.

In summary: recommended for those who are seeking out examples of how clear vision can change the museum world, and who are interested in the backstory behind some of the world’s greatest museums.

Museums in the News

January 15, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Welcome to our weekly roundup of news stories about museums!

Underground Museum of Astronautics in Moscow

Quileute tribal museum show debunking Twilight movies opening in Washington, DC

Vegas museum to spotlight mob films

Texas museums seeing fewer school children, dwindling dollars

Civil War museums changing as view on war changes

Picasso Works Stolen From Greece’s Largest Art Museum

Charles Dickens Museum to shut for 200th anniversary year

Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum opens new Renzo Piano-designed wing

US Slavery Museum in Va. denies $1.6M discrepancy

Time-Shifts And Discoveries At The Gardner Museum

Weekly Jobs Listing

January 14, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Welcome to our weekly roundup of jobs. As always, they go up immediately on their own page.

  • Director of Public Programming [Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]Director of Program Planning, IS Gardner Museum, Boston * * *Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum* *POSITION DESCRIPTION* *Position Title:         *Director of Program Planning *Department:             *Education *Reports To*:        …
  • Public Programs Coordinator [American Museum of Natural History]Public Programs Coordinator, American Museum of Natural History American Museum of Natural History Job Title: Public Programs Coordinator (Education/Public Programs) Responsibilities & Duties: This position assists with all …
  • School Programs Manager [Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]School Programs Manager, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Pay Type:                            Salaried, Exempt, Full Time, 35 hours/week Salary:                                   Commensurate with Experience and Educ…
  • Policy Development Internship [Mary Wakefield Charitable Trust]Mary Wakefield Charitable Trust Internship in Policy Development Posted: January 9, 2011 The Mary M. B. Wakefield Charitable Trust is seeking an intern for either spring or summer, 2012 to develop a collections management policy for the or…
  • Collections Management Internship [Mary Wakefield Charitable Trust]Mary Wakefield Charitable Trust Internship Collections Management and Curation Posted:  January 9, 2012 The Mary Wakefield Charitable Trust in Milton, MA, is seeking an intern in the area of Collections Management for either spring or sum…
  • Preservation Internship [Newport Restoration Foundation]Graduate Student Museum / Preservation Internship Summer 2012 Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) is a private, nonprofit preservation and museum organization. NRF operates three museum sites on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island – the Whitehorne Ho…
  • Director of Education [The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts]– Director of Education The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (Miami FL) *Director of Education* The National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (Miami FL)**** Position Summary: Responsible for development and management of …
  • Senior Program Associate [PEW Center for the Arts & Heritage]Senior Program Associate PEW Center for the Arts & Heritage (Philadelphia PA) *Senior Program Associate* PEW Center for the Arts & Heritage (Philadelphia PA)**** Senior Program Associate Full-time Senior Program Associate needed to …
  • Director of Education [Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago]Director of Education The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Beatrice C. Mayer Director of Education The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA) seeks a Beatrice C. Mayer Director of Education who is charged with the leadership, strategy and …
  • Education Director [Old South Meeting House]Education Director Old South Meeting House USA, MA, Boston Old South Meeting House, a museum, historic site and gathering place, seeks experienced, creative and collaborative professional to lead and implement all aspects of its well-establi…
  • Museum Educator [Lake County Discovery Museum]Museum Educator [cid:3408444127_356095] Full-time Position Salary Range: $40,804 – $50,524 Annually Location: Lake County Discovery Museum, Lakewood Application deadline: January 13, 2012 Date posted: December 16, 2011 [cid:3408444127_351591] The …
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