About Museum Curators
Museum curators help to preserve important pieces of history as well as art for people to learn from and enjoy in future years. A museum curator plays an important role in saving objects of beauty and history for future generations.
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Identification
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A museum curator's role covers a variety of tasks involved in the preservation of history and art. A curator is responsible for acquiring, cataloging and exhibition of pieces of art as well as documents, tools and other items. A curator may be responsible for making arrangements for an entire exhibit from another museum, or person, to be set up and shown at a museum. A curator may work for a museum, zoo or aquarium, botanical garden or nature center or a historic site. Curators most often work with items that have historical, cultural or biological significance. It is the curators responsible to organize exhibitions as well as to authenticate and catalog items. Another important role for the curator is fund raising for and promoting the institute or specific collections by preparing grant proposals and publicity materials as well as attending conventions and civic events.
Types
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Many curators specialize in a certain area. Examples of these specialty areas include botany, paleontology, art and history. Large museums hire separate curators for each section. For instance, a separate curator would oversee each of the following collections: insects, birds, fishes, and mammals. Each of these curators would have specialized in their particular area.
Depending on the size of the institution, several curators may be responsible for different tasks. An institution may hire a head curator or museum director as well as a separate curator to do research and to maintain the collections. Often, the head curator is responsible for administrative duties. In smaller institutions, a curator may be responsible for a variety of these tasks. -
Considerations
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The field of museum curator is a highly competitive field. There are often many more qualified applicants than there are opportunities available. Education and experience are important attributes for breaking into this field. The higher and more specialized your education, the higher your chance of getting hired. In most cases, a career as a museum curator requires a master's degree, with emphasis on a certain specialty, such as archeology, history or art. In order to have a competitive edge, many people looking to become a museum curator obtain two degrees: a master's in one of the prominent fields mentioned as well as a master's in museology or museum studies.
Significance
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A museum curator plays a significant role in preserving phases of history for the next generation. This can include preserving and classifying objects such as political and religious documents as well as such artifacts as furniture, housewares and tools. A museum curator that works in the arts preserves and displays works of art such as paintings, drawings and sculptures. Museum curators that specialize in botany and wildlife help to preserve, and in some cases, save from extinction different species of animals and plants as well as fossils or other representations of extinct animals and plants. A museum curator's role is to preserve and display items that provide an insight into the past of a civilization of people as well as the impact of the plant life and animal life on the earth and civilization.
Potential
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Employment opportunities for museum curators are expected to increase by around 18% during the decade beginning in 2006 and ending in 2016. While this increase is slightly higher than many jobs, the competition for these jobs is fierce. The earning potential for someone considering a career as a museum curator ranges from $26,000 to $80,000, with average earnings falling somewhere around $46,000.
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