Museum Studies Courses
Fall
Spring
Summer
Fall
MSTD 201 - Introduction to Museum Studies: History & Philosophy of Museums
-P. Spiess
Museums viewed from historical, philosophical, and practical perspectives.
Types of collecting organizations examined and compared. Contemporary
studies on the status of museums and their public programs analyzed.
MSTD 205 - Managing People/Managing Projects
-M. Morris
The modern museum manager will need to be adept at project planning, focused on process and sensitive to the needs and motivations of people. This course will introduce the student to issues of organizational behavior in the museum setting. A variety of topics will be covered including the concepts of project management, team building, group problem solving and managing change. Case studies of actual projects in museums.
MSTD 215 - Collections Management I: Legal and Ethical Issues
(required)
-I. DeAngelis
Establishing collections policies; laws, regulations, conventions, and
codes that bear on acquisitions, deaccessions, loans and collection care;
accountability; access problems.
MSTD 232 - Introduction to Conservation
-C. Hawks, S. Struman, and H. Szczpanowska
Method and theory of conservation, including handling, restoration, preservation, storage and display of museum specimens; materials and environmental reactions of objects.
MSTD 270 - Museum Exhibition: Curatorial Research and Planning
-K. Rice
Museum research from a curatorial point of view, with emphasis on exhibit
conceptualization and development; research techniques, and information sources.
MSTD 271- Museum Exhibition: Design Processes
-B. Brennan
Participants will focus on translating museum exhibition concepts into specific plans, models and specification documents. Taught at the Smithsonian Institution.
MSTD 291 - Museum Internship
-I. DeAngelis
Individual work experience in museums of the Washington area and possibly elsewhere. Museum internships are supervised by one or more members of the cooperating museum staff in the areas of museum management, conservation, collections management, and exhibition development.
MSTD 295.10 - Directed Research
-Staff
Individual research on special topics in the museum field. Topics must be approved by the director.
MSTD 297 - Special Topic: Researching the Historic House Interior
-K. Rice
Using historic house interpretation as a basis, the class explores how historians use primary source materials to supply evidence related to material life and museum interpretation.
MSTD 297 - Special Topic: Building Museums
-M. Morris
This seminar is focused on understanding the context for museum building programs in the US and abroad with a focus on projects currently underway, recently completed or with the past 10-15 years. Course will cover strategic and master planning, economic impact studies, the roles and responsibilities of key players in the building process, the architectural design, engineering and construction process, green design issues, fundraising and financing, and evaluation of successful projects.
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Spring
MSTD 202 - Introduction to Museum Studies: Administration
(required)
-M. Morris
Introduces the overall operations of a museum, including examining its
legal status and a museum’s obligation to the public. Roles and responsibilities
of the governing board, director and staff will be covered; as well as
governance and policy issues; museum mission; strategic and operational
planning; budgeting and financial management and fundraising.
MSTD 203 - Fiscal Management of Non-profit Organizations
-T. Berger
Basic concepts of general accounting; fund accounting for non-profit organizations;
link of budget, planning and fundraising; budgets and budget systems; use of budget as a management tool.
MSTD 204 - Museum Administration: Leading Change in Museums
-M. Morris
Course examines change management in museums with emphasis on planning, leadership characteristics, best practices of successful museums, staff development and reorganization, and individual methods of influencing decisions.
MSTD 216 - Collections Management II: Practical Applications
-L. Palmer and D. Hull-Walski
The implementation of collections policies: establishing and managing
collections, management procedures and systems, documentation of collections,
records preservation, collections access and storage, handling, packing
and shipping, and inventory control. Taught at the Smithsonian Institution.
MSTD 227 - Visitor Perspective in Exhibition Development
-M. Adams and J. Luke
Of the many components involved in exhibition development, incorporating the visitors' voice is often misunderstood, neglected, or under-used. This course will review current learning theory and visitor research related to exhibition development. Emphasis will be placed on how an understanding of the visitor experience informs the various stages of exhibition development, from concept generation, design, interpretation, and installation. Students will then put theory into practice by conducting visitor research on a local exhibition and organizing a public review of that exhibition by area museum professionals.
MSTD 233 - Preventive Conservation Techniques II
-C. Hawks, S. Sturman, and H. Szczepanowska
Preventive conservation: monitoring environmental conditions, examining and documenting objects and their condition, and identifying sources of deterioration. Students conduct tests, evaluate exhibition and storage areas, and help to improve museum conditions.
MSTD 271 - Museum Exhibition: Advanced Design Process
-C. Brown
(Prerequisite: MSTD 271: Museum Exhibition: Design Processes). This course will help students with a demonstrated exhibit design background and interest to sharpen and improve their technical and creative skills. Led by one exhibition designer, this small studio-based course will assist students in creating stronger design portfolios. It focuses on increasing competencies in renderings, elevations, floor plans, working (shop) designs, scale models, and exhibition design and graphic computer programs.
MSTD 272 - Exhibition Development: Script Development
-K. Rice
Class emphasizes exhibition content. Students follow an idea from conceptualization through organization to scripting.
MSTD 291 - Museum Internship
-I. DeAngelis
Individual work experience in museums of the Washington area and possibly elsewhere. Museum internships are supervised by one or more members of the cooperating museum staff in the areas of museum management, conservation, collections management, and exhibition development.
MSTD 295 - Directed Research
-Staff
Individual research on special topics in the museum field. Topics must be approved by the director.
MSTD 297 - Special Topics: Seminar on Cultural Property
-I. DeAngelis, T. Kline
Seminar explores the ethical and legal principles involved with ownership and restitution of stolen art and other cultural property wrongfully removed from their owners or countries of origin. Reported claims brought against museums are used to examine current museum policies and procedures on acquisition, exhibition, retention and restitution of museum collection objects.
MSTD 297 - Special Topics: The Power of Display: Critical Approaches in Museum Theory
-A. Purpura
This course locates museum studies within the broader context of critical
theory. It begins by exploring the development of museums as authoritative
institutions that define and mediate cultural knowledge, aesthetic value,
even national identity through selection, display, and interpretation
of objects. We will probe the conventions that have long distinguished
art, ethnological, and history museums, as well as innovations that challenge
those distinctions. From there we will engage issues relating to the politics
of exhibiting and cultural (re)presentation, the life histories of objects,
and the roles of curators, designers, visitors, artists and "stake-holder"
audiences in the production of meaning. Theoretical arguments will be
grounded in the case studies of particular exhibitions and museums, including
parts of the developed world.
MSTD 297 - Collections Management:
Archival Practices
- John Fleckner
This course will provide an introduction to the basic theories, methodologies, and current issues relating to archives management. The course will also address responses to the challenges of managing and preserving non-traditional collections such as photographs, film and video, sound recordings, and electronic records. Some of the key aspects of archival practices that will be covered are as follows: what are archives and why are they important; what are the basic archival principles; what are the components of an archival program; how are archival records appraised, arranged and described, and made available for use; and what are some of the current legal and preservation issues facing archivists.
MSTD 297 - Special Topic: Museums and Technology (offered alternate years)
-K. Rice
Focus on innovative technical projects in regional and national museums
that demonstrate the divergent points that characterize information technology
in museums today. Through guest lectures by experts, field trips, and
final group projects, students consider how museums are going to be transformed
by the explosion of technology tools now and in the coming years. This
course is jointly organized with the Museum Education Program.
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Summer
MSTD 232 - Introduction to Conservation
-M. Coughlin
Method and theory of conservation, including handling, restoration, preservation, storage and display of museum specimens; materials and environmental reactions of objects.
MSTD 291 - Museum Internship
-I. DeAngelis
Individual work experience in museums of the Washington area and possibly
elsewhere. Museum internships are supervised by one or more members of
the cooperating museum staff in the areas of museum management, conservation,
collections management, and exhibition development.
MSTD 295 - Directed Research
-Staff
Individual research on special topics in the museum field. Topics must be approved by the director.
MSTD 296.80 - Museums and the Public: Public Presentation: The Contested Terrain of Exhibition
-J. Daniel Rogers
This course is designed to introduce students to the wide range of problems,
possibilities, and choices that are part of the cultural landscape of
how museums interact with their audiences through public programs. Students
will have the opportunity to consider the social issues that museums face
as well as the solutions chosen by specific institutions as they engage
both national and local audiences. The course addresses the museum’s
power to represent society and social identity through selective exhibiting
and collecting. The course is offered as a collaboration between GW’s
departments of Anthropology and Museum Studies.
MSTD 297.10 - Special Topics: Digital Imaging in Museums
-R. Leopold
Museums are under increasing pressures to make their collections accessible
in digital formats. This course investigates policies and procedures involved
in digitizing museum objects, selecting objects,
producing digital images and using images for collection management
purposes. To balance theory with practice, the students will learn to
produce and manipulate digital images of Smithsonian collection objects.
This course is taught at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
MSTD 297.11 - Museum Marketing
-Staff
During the last decade, Marketing has become a key component of successful operations for many museums and cultural attractions. Rising competition for consumers' leisure time and dollars. increasing operating costs, declines in traditional museum funding and shifting demographics' impact on available visitor segments all require an increasingly sophisticated marketing approach for museums. The overall goal of the course is to provide students with an understanding of available marketing tools and a disciplined approach to assessing what tools/techniques are needed and are appropriate for an individual museum's circumstances.
MSTD 297.20 - Collections Management: Archival Practices
- John Fleckner
This course will provide an introduction to the basic theories, methodologies, and current issues relating to archives management. The course will also address responses to the challenges of managing and preserving non-traditional collections such as photographs, film and video, sound recordings, and electronic records. Some of the key aspects of archival practices that will be covered are as follows: what are archives and why are they important; what are the basic archival principles; what are the components of an archival program; how are archival records appraised, arranged and described, and made available for use; and what are some of the current legal and preservation issues facing archivists.
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