Curators, Museum Technicians, and Conservators

Summary

Curators often organize a collection for display.

Quick Facts: Curators, Museum Technicians, and Conservators
2010 Median Pay	$42,310 per year $20.34 per hour
Entry-Level Education	See How to Become One
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
On-the-job Training	None
Number of Jobs, 2010	23,800
Job Outlook, 2010-20	16% (About as fast as average)
Employment Change, 2010-20	3,800

What Curators, Museum Technicians, and Conservators Do

Curators oversee collections, such as artwork and historic items, and may conduct public service activities for an institution. Museum technicians and conservators prepare and restore objects and documents in museum collections and exhibits.

Work Environment

Most curators work at museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and historical sites. Those who install and restore exhibits may be required to climb, stretch, and work with bulky objects. Museum technicians work in museums, while conservators mostly work in laboratories.

How to Become a Curator, Museum Technician, or Conservator

Although some curator jobs require only a bachelor’s degree, many employers require curators to have a master’s degree combined with related work experience. Museum technicians must have a bachelor’s degree; conservators generally need a master’s degree.

Pay

In May 2010, the median annual wage of curators was $48,450, and the median annual wage of museum technicians and conservators was $37,310.

Job Outlook

Overall employment of curators, museum technicians, and conservators is projected to grow 16 percent from 2010 to 2020, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Public interest in science, art, and history will continue to spur demand for curators, museum technicians, and conservators. Applicants should expect strong competition for jobs.

Similar Occupations

Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of curators, museum technicians, and conservators with similar occupations.

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Contacts for More Information

Learn more about curators, museum technicians, and conservators by contacting these additional resources.

What Curators, Museum Technicians, and Conservators Do About this section

Museum technicians often prepare materials for display.

Curators oversee collections, such as artwork and historic items, and may conduct public service activities for an institution. Museum technicians and conservators prepare and restore objects and documents in museum collections and exhibits.

Duties

Curators, museum technicians, and conservators typically do the following:

• Acquire, store, and exhibit collections
• Select the theme and design of exhibits
• Develop or set up exhibit materials
• Design, organize, or conduct tours and workshops for the public
• Attend meetings and civic events to promote the institution
• Clean objects using cleansers, solvents, and soap solutions
• Direct and supervise curatorial, technical, and student staff
• Plan and conduct special research projects

Many objects and documents are important or historically significant. Curators, museum technicians, and conservators preserve and organize the display of these materials.

The following are occupational specialties:

Curators manage museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, nature centers, and historic sites. The museum director often is a curator. Curators direct the acquisition, storage, and exhibit of collections, including negotiating and authorizing the purchase, sale, exchange, or loan of collections. They also may authenticate, evaluate, and categorize the specimens in a collection.

Curators often oversee and help conduct the institution’s research projects and related educational programs.

Today, an increasing part of a curator’s duties involves fundraising and promotion, which may include writing and reviewing grant proposals, journal articles, and publicity materials. In addition, many curators attend meetings, conventions, and civic events.

Most curators specialize in a particular field, such as botany, art, or history. Those who work in large institutions may be highly specialized. A large natural history museum, for example, might employ separate curators for its collections of birds, fishes, insects, and mammals.

Some curators take care of their collections, some do research related to items in the collection, and others do administrative tasks. In small institutions with only one or a few curators, one curator may be responsible for a number of tasks, from taking care of collections to directing the affairs of the museum.

Museum technicians, commonly known as registrars, help curators by preparing and taking care of museum items. Registrars also may answer questions from the public and help curators and outside scholars use the collections.

Conservators manage, preserve, treat, and document works of art, artifacts, and specimens—work that may require substantial historical, scientific, and archaeological research. Conservators document their findings and treat items to minimize their deterioration or to restore them to their original state.

Conservators usually specialize in a particular material or group of objects, such as documents and books, paintings, decorative arts, textiles, metals, or architectural material. They use x rays, chemical testing, microscopes, special lights, and other laboratory equipment and techniques to examine objects, determine their condition, and decide on the best way to preserve them.

In addition to their conservation work, conservators participate in outreach programs, research topics in their specialty, and write articles for scholarly journals. They may be employed by a museum or other institution that has objects needing conservation, or they may be self-employed and have several clients.

Work Environment About this section

Some art can be large and awkward to mount and adjust.

Curators, museum technicians, and conservators held about 23,800 jobs in 2010. The following industries employed the most curators, museum technicians, and conservators in 2010:

Because most curators work at museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, nature centers, and historical sites, their working conditions vary. Some spend their time working with the public, providing reference assistance and educational services. Some curators conduct research or process records, which reduces the opportunity to work with others.

Those who restore and set up exhibits or work with bulky, heavy record containers may lift objects, climb, or stretch.

Museum technicians generally work in museums. When helping to prepare exhibits, they may need to lift heavy objects, climb ladders and scaffolding, or reach and stretch to put items in place.

Conservators work in conservation laboratories. The size of the objects in the collection with which they are working determines the amount of effort involved in lifting, reaching, and moving objects.

Work Schedules

Curators in large institutions may travel extensively to evaluate potential additions to the collection, organize exhibits, and conduct research. However, for curators in small institutions, travel may be rare.

Most curators, museum technicians, and conservators work full time.

How to Become a Curator, Museum Technician, or Conservator About this section

Curators often specialize in one time period.

Although some curator jobs require only a bachelor’s degree, many employers require curators to have related work experience or a master’s degree. Museum technicians must have a bachelor’s degree; conservators generally need a master’s degree.

Education

Curators. Most museums require curators to have a master’s degree in an appropriate discipline of the museum’s specialty—art, history, or archaeology—or in museum studies. Some employers prefer that curators have a doctoral degree, particularly for positions in natural history or science museums. Earning two graduate degrees—in museum studies (museology) and a specialized subject—may give candidates an advantage in a competitive job market.

In small museums, curator positions may be available to people with a bachelor’s degree. Because curators, particularly those in small museums, may have administrative and managerial responsibilities, courses in business administration, public relations, marketing, and fundraising are recommended. For some positions, applicants need to have completed an internship of full-time museum work, as well as courses in museum practices.

Museum technicians (registrars). Registrars usually need a bachelor’s degree related to the museum’s specialty, training in museum studies, or previous experience working in museums, particularly in designing exhibits. Relatively few schools grant a bachelor’s degree in museum studies; more common are undergraduate minors or tracks of study that are part of an undergraduate degree in a related field, such as art history, history, or archaeology.

Students interested in further study might get a master’s degree in museum studies, offered in colleges and universities throughout the country. However, many employers feel that, although a degree in museum studies is helpful, a thorough knowledge of the museum’s specialty and museum work experience are more important.

Conservators. When hiring conservators, employers look for a master’s degree in conservation or in a closely related field, together with substantial experience. Only a few graduate programs in museum conservation techniques are offered in the United States. Competition for entry to these programs is keen. To qualify, a student must have a background in chemistry, archaeology, studio art, and art history, as well as work experience. For some programs, knowledge of a foreign language also is helpful. Completing a conservation apprenticeship or internship as an undergraduate can enhance admission prospects. Graduate programs last 2 to 4 years, the latter years of which include internship training.

Advancement

In large museums, curators may advance through several levels of responsibility, eventually becoming museum directors. Curators often start in smaller local and regional establishments at the beginning of their careers. As they gain experience, they may get the opportunity to work in larger facilities. The top museum positions are highly sought after and competitive. Individual research and publications are important for advancement in larger institutions.

Important Qualities

Analytical skills. Curators, registrars, and conservators need excellent analytical skills to figure out the origin, history, and importance of many of the objects they work with.

Critical-thinking skills. Many artifacts need to be restored, maintained, and then classified. Curators must be able to determine the origins and authenticity of the objects that they are adding to their collections.

Customer-service skills. Curators who work at museums, zoos, and historical sites often work directly with the general public. Therefore, they must be able to describe, in detail, the collections to nontechnical visitors.

Organizational skills. Museums have many collections. Curators need to display these collections logically.

Stamina. Curators in zoos, botanical gardens, and other outdoor museums and historic sites often walk great distances.

Technical skills. Many historical objects need to be analyzed and preserved. Conservators must use the appropriate chemicals and techniques to preserve the different objects they deal with, such as documents, paintings, fabrics, and pottery, to prevent further deterioration.

Pay About this section

The median annual wage of curators and museum technicians was $42,310 in May 2010. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. 

The median annual wage of curators was $48,450 in May 2010. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $27,640, and the top 10 percent earned more than $86,450.

The median annual wage of museum technicians and conservators was $37,310 in May 2010. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $24,440, and the top 10 percent earned more than $68,250.

In May 2010, the median annual wage of curators in the federal government was $75,600, and the median annual wage of museum technicians and conservators in the federal government was $38,790.

Curators in large institutions may travel extensively to evaluate potential additions to the collection, organize exhibits, and conduct research. However, for curators in small institutions, travel may be rare.

Most curators, museum technicians, and conservators work full time.

Job Outlook About this section

Overall employment of curators, museum technicians, and conservators is projected to grow 16 percent from 2010 to 2020, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Employment growth will vary by specialty.

Employment of curators is projected to grow 25 percent, faster than the average for all occupations. Employment of museum technicians and conservators is projected to grow 7 percent, slower than the average for all occupations. Public interest in science, art, history, and technology will continue to spur demand for curators, museum technicians, and conservators.

Because museum attendance is expected to rise over the coming decade, many museums should remain financially healthy and are expected to schedule additional building and renovation projects.

Job Prospects

Curator jobs are attractive to many people, and many applicants have the necessary training and knowledge. Combined with the relatively few job openings, candidates are likely to face very strong competition for jobs.

To gain marketable experience, candidates may have to work part time, as an intern, or even as a volunteer assistant curator or research associate after completing their formal education. Substantial work experience in collection management, research, exhibit design, or restoration, as well as database management skills, will be necessary for permanent status. Familiarity and skills related to mobile technology will be viewed favorably by hiring officials.

Museum technicians and conservators also can expect strong competition when applying for jobs. Competition is stiff for the limited number of openings in conservation graduate programs, and applicants need a technical background. Conservator program graduates with knowledge of a foreign language and a willingness to relocate should have better job opportunities.

Museums and other cultural institutions can have funding cut during recessions or periods of budget tightening, reducing demand for these workers. Although the number of curators who move to other occupations is relatively low, the need to replace workers who retire or leave the occupation will create some job openings. However, workers in these occupations tend to work beyond the typical retirement age of workers in other occupations.

Contacts for More Information About this section

For more information about museum careers, including schools offering courses in museum studies for curators and museum technicians, visit

American Association of Museums

For more information about careers and education programs in conservation and preservation for conservators, visit

American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works

Information about how to get a job as a curator or museum technician with the federal government is available from the Office of Personnel Management through USAJOBS, the federal government’s official employment information system.