Today’s post comes to you from Colleen Sutherland, recent Tufts Museum Studies graduate and previous co-editor of the Tufts Museum Studies Blog. To read some of her previous work, click here.
Hi there!
I’ve recently been doing some social media culling, trying to stay relevant and on top of interesting things in the museum field. I may have only graduated in May, but it’s remarkable how fast you start to panic that you’re not as on top of it as you were when you had professors and other students to guide you. Or maybe that’s just me. Either way, you may feel that way at some point in your career, which is why I’ve compiled this list of other pages and blogs I’ve started following in the past few months. (Obviously this blog is fantastic, but as any museum professional knows, multiple perspectives are important!)
Some, like EMP (Emerging Museum Professionals), are pretty big and you may already know about them. Hopefully there are some new ones on here for you. It bears repeating that my interest lies in education, so some of these are more education-focused. However, I think that all of them can be relevant in different ways, whether it concerns interpretation, creating inclusive spaces, or museum trends in general. I’d encourage you to at least check them out and decide for yourself.
What else is on your list? I’d love to broaden my reading, especially with non-education-specific sites, so let us know in the comments!
Pages
- AASLH – Interesting perspectives from history organizations of all sizes, but most topics are relevant to museums that focus on other disciplines. I especially love their post about the presentation of the role of women in museums
- Bank Street Leadership in Museum Education – Again, not all about education. A lot about creating safe spaces, introducing inclusive practices, and helping visitors feel welcome while still staying innovative.
- Emerging Museum Professionals – I find it helpful to follow the different regional EMP groups. Part of that is to see how museums in different regions are responding to their communities, and part of it is because I know I’ll want to move in the next few years, and it’s helpful to know what museums in different regions are focusing on (plus they post local job postings!)
- NEMA YEPs (Young & Emerging Museum Professionals)
- Museum Hack
- Teaching Tolerance – While it may seem on the surface like this site is only about classroom teaching, it actually does a great job keeping plugged in on national events. It has great resources for creating inclusive, welcoming, safe spaces, as well as great ideas for activities and books.
Blogs
I’m also enjoying the Museum People podcast – check it out if you haven’t already!
And if these aren’t enough, here’s a whole list of 100 best blogs: http://museummedia.nl/links/100-best-curator-and-museum-blogs/
P.S. Looking for more ways to stay on top of the field? Check out the What We’re Reading section!
I would like to recommend Museums Re:Blog. At least one of the administrators is a Tufts alum, Jodie Larson, and they do a great job of picking interesting and multi-disciplinary blog posts to feature on a daily basis. They often feature the blogs mentioned in this post, but there is a nice mix of articles or posts that I would have never known about without their help. It keeps me up-to-date on museum news and I highly recommend it!
Great post, Colleen. Thanks for your lists, and for your addition too, Jen. I’d like to add a few: https://museumquestions.com/ by Rebecca Herz, https://tertiarysourceproject.wordpress.com/ by Tufts alum Phillippa Pitts, https://intentionalmuseum.com/ by Randi Korn & Associates, where Tufts alumn Cathy Sigmond works, and http://museumeducation.info/jme40, by the Museum Education Roundtable… and my post just went up!
Great suggestions, Cynthia and Jennifer! Thanks for sharing!