Museum Study

Moving Museum Collections online course begins October 5 on Museum Study
Are you planning a remodel, new storage, or a new building and will need to move all or part of your collection? Don't wait until the last minute. Join Instructor Lori Benson, veteran of three large scale museum collection moves, for the 4 week online course Moving Museum Collections.
This course provides an overview of how to plan and manage a move to avoid the many pitfalls. The course will help you define the scope of your project, develop a work plan and schedule, prepare a communication scheme, define proposals for vendors, choose equipment, estimate costs, identify hazards, organize staffing, and establish packing techniques and standards. Whether you are moving across the hall or across town, Moving Museum Collections will provide a guide for a successful move.
For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/moving-museum-collections

Museum Study Moving Museum Collections Moving Museum Collections course. Instructor Lori Benson. A how-to for planning and managing a museum collections move to avoid the many pitfalls associated with a move project.

Repatriation Beyond NAGPRA online course begins August 31 on Museum Study
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) has come a long way in the last three decades, but museums still have a lot of work to do, and repatriation doesn’t begin and end with the mandates laid out in the regulations. If this work is to be effective and adhere to the spirit of the law, museum practitioners will need to go above and beyond basic compliance by engaging in relationship building, restitution, and authentic storytelling.
This four-week course uses case studies, weekly readings, guest speakers, and discussion to delve into the possibilities, complications, and practice of repatriation beyond NAGPRA.
Join Instructor Amy Covell-Murthy (she/her) for this 4 week online professional development course. Amy is the Archaeology Collection Manager and Head of the Section of Anthropology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has over 15 years of experience as a museum professional and over a decade of experience with repatriation and NAGPRA consultation. Amy’s research focuses on the care of human remains in collecting institutions, especially the formation of pertinent policy and procedure. With this work, she hopes to ensure that people have agency over their own bodies and believes that prioritizing relationships over objects is the only way to dismantle oppressive and colonial frameworks inherent in museum work.
For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/repatriation-beyond-NAGPRA

Museum Study Repatriation Beyond NAGPRA Repatriation Beyond NAGPRA course. Instructor Amy L. Covell-Murthy. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) has come a long way in the last three decades, but museums still have a lot of work to do, and repatriation does not begin and end with the mandates laid out in NAG...

Laws and Collections Management 4 week online course begins Aug 3 on Museum Study
Join instructor John Simmons for the professional development course Laws and Collection Management. The 4 week online course provides an accessible introduction to the ethical principles and legal aspects of managing museum collections by presenting the scope and significance of museum ethics and an introduction to national and international laws and regulations affecting museums.
For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/laws-and-collection-management

Museum Study Laws and Collection Management Laws and Collection Management course. Instructor John Simmons. Accessible introduction to the legal aspects of managing museum collections by presenting an introduction to national and international laws and regulations affecting museums.

Integrated Pest Management: The Plan and Implementation online course begins August 3 on Museum Study
So you are familiar with Integrated Pest Management, but you never got around to writing a plan to carry it out. Here is the course for you!
A written plan formalizes the IPM strategy and keeps management abreast of your status. It organizes your ideas and lays the groundwork for the needs of the collection and the building(s). It provides the direction in which you want to take the program, including grant funding and accreditation.
Join Conservator Gretchen Anderson for this four week online course in which participants will learn how to apply IPM principles to their specific situation and institution. A draft plan and specific implementation strategies will be developed and discussed. Even though our institutions have different challenges the exchange of ideas presents the opportunity for us to help each other brainstorm solutions that will work for our situation.
For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/integrated-pest-management-plan

Museum Study Integrated Pest Management: The Plan & Implementation Integrated Pest Management: The Plan & Implementation. Instructor Gretchen Anderson. Time to formulate your IPM plan.

Webinar: 11th Agent of Deterioration: Incorrect Cultural Care
The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) has adopted 10 Agents of Deterioration which are widely adopted by collections specialists and conservators across the world. An international and intercultural team is proposing an 11th Agent: Incorrect Cultural Care. In this presentation, Melanie, Martin, and Amanda will go over the project and concept behind this 11th Agent and how it fits with the others. There will then be time for an interactive discussion.
Join us on Monday July 13 for a Museum Study webinar, 11th Agent of Deterioration: Incorrect Cultural Care, presented by Melanie Deer with team members Martin Schultz and Amanda Lancaster
Webinar time: 9 pm European, 8 pm UK, 4 pm Atlantic, 3 pm Eastern, 2 pm Central, 1 pm Mountain, Noon Pacific, 11 am Alaska, 9 am Hawaii
Over recent years there has been an emphasis on incorporating cultural viewpoints in interpretation of collections within a museum setting. Along with this, there has been a greater discussion about the actual care of the collections and a strong push for repatriation of items important to origin cultures. An international and intercultural team has identified a weakness in exiting museum teaching and practices regarding this. Many times, the idea of caring for items and individuals in a culturally appropriate way is viewed as "going above and beyond" and not core to what we do as museum practitioners. The team is proposing an 11th Agent of Deterioration that will officially acknowledge that caring for an item or individual in a way that does not align with the origin culture's traditional care practices causes irreversible damage and is a high risk to a collection that needs to be addressed.
Melanie Deer is the Collections Manager and Assistant NAGPRA Coordinator at the Center for Archaeology and Society Repository at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. She received her BA in Anthropology and Creative Writing from the University of Arizona and her MA in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins. She has over 10 years of experience in collections and is also the Chair of the Registrars Committee - Western Region.
Martin Schultz is an independent museum curator who has been working in museums in Europe and the US in various capacities since 2012 and began working with international repatriation related matters in 2015. Martin holds a Master's Degree in Ethnology from the University of Frankfurt, Germany.
Amanda Lancaster is a museum professional with 10 years of experience managing museum collections. She holds a masters’ degree in history from Texas Tech University, with a graduate certificate in Museum Studies. In 2017, she joined the staff at the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, AK, where she currently serves as the Curator of Collections and librarian for the Koniag Cultural Library. As a museum professional, her expertise is in collections management, NAGPRA/repatriation, museum policies, copyright & intellectual property, and facility management.
To register for the webinar email [email protected] with the subject: 11th Agent of Deterioration: Incorrect Cultural Care. Please include your name, institution, and title.

Creating Virtual Learning Opportunities in Museums course begins July 6 on Museum Study
Join Hillary Rose for this virtual professional development course born out of the challenges we all encountered to deliver virtual learning experiences when we had to close to the public. Creating Virtual Learning Opportunities in Museums will cover creating both synchronous and asynchronous programs, connecting with teachers, and some technical skills to ensure that you can support teachers and students virtually as they learn from you and your museum.
Participants will create at least 3 different virtual museum education programs and learn to use technology tools and build skills to help them develop additional virtual learning opportunities.
If you missed the webinar Hillary gave Don't Reinvent the Wheel: Using SAMR to Create Virtual Programs Inspired by your In-Person Programs you can watch it on our YouTube Channel. The link is on the course page. Hillary goes into greater depth about the SAMR Model (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) in week one of the course.
For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/creating-virtual-learning-opportunities-in-museums

Museum Study - Creating Virtual Learning Opportunities in Museums Creating Virtual Learning Opportunities in Museums course. Instructor Hillary Hanel Rose. Participants will learn to use technology tools and build skills to develop additional virtual learning opportunities.

Policies for Managing Collections 4 week online course begins July 6 on Museum Study
Museums today are faced with many new and unexpected challenges, including climate change, developing sustainable practices in collection care, preservation of digital information, decolonization and repatriation, changing environmental parameters for collection storage, and strategies for coping with ever-larger collections with shrinking budgets. In his May 2024 webinar, John E. Simmons discussed how good collection management policies can help museums address these issues and other topics in the new, revised third edition of Things Great and Small: Collection Management Policies.
Join instructor John Simmons author of Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies for the 4 week long course Policies for Managing Collections. In this course we will critically examine the purposes and functions of collections management policies, including how collections are defined, acquired, managed, used, maintained, and deaccessioned.
Learn how to write collections management policies for your own institution and how to evaluate the effectiveness of your policies. Participants can purchase the Third Edition of the book at a discount.
For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/policies-for-managing-collections

Writing K-12 Lesson Plans for Museums course begins July 6 on Museum Study
The kids are will be heading back to school. Their teachers will be needing lesson plans. Are you ready to help?
Join Instructor Tara Young beginning July 6 for the 4 week online professional development course Writing K-12 Lesson Plans for Museums.
This course is designed to teach museum educators how to develop and write formal lesson plans for K-12 programming.
You will review a wide variety of K-12 lesson plans from different types of museums. Each week’s lecture, chat, and assignment will be iterative, and students will end the course with a finished lesson plan that they can put into use at their museums.
For more information visit our website: https://www.museumstudy.com/writing-k-12-lesson-plans-for-museums

Museum Study - Writing K-12 Lesson Plans for Museums Writing K-12 Lesson Plans for Museums course. Instructor Tara Young. Teach museum educators how to develop and write formal lesson plans for K-12 programming.

5 Reasons Why Agile Approaches work in Museums, Arts & Heritage
New Blog post on Museum Study by Belinda Waldock
https://www.museumstudy.com/5-reasons-why-agile-approaches-work-in-museums-arts-heritage

5 Reasons Why Agile Approaches work in Museums, Arts & Heritage Professional development to help you build a better cultural institution and be a stronger member of the team that carries out the mission of your institution

Are you juggling multiple projects while wearing numerous hats?
Working across teams and partners while navigating constant change?
Trying to improve how things work but struggling to create the space to do it?
Join us on Tuesday June 9 for a Museum Study webinar, Adaptable Agile Museums presented by Belinda Waldock.
Learn how museum teams across the UK are adopting agile approaches to navigate shifting landscapes, complex collaborations, uncertainty, and the unknown.
Agile museums use approaches that connect the whole museum, creating alignment across teams, projects, and priorities while enabling a more responsive and adaptable way of working.
Discover how to build resilience, flexibility, and adaptability across your organisation while juggling multiple projects and wearing numerous hats. At the same time, empower volunteers and ignite innovation and creativity.
This session is relevant across the whole museum, from exhibitions and events to education, collections, curation, conservation, marketing, leadership, and communications.
In this talk, Belinda Waldock will explain what agile is and why it works so effectively in museums and cultural organisations. She will share stories and insights from her work across the UK, bringing practical examples to life.
You’ll leave with simple, actionable ideas to help you become more adaptable in both your work and your wider life.
Belinda Waldock works with museums across the UK to adopt agile approaches that build organisational resilience and support innovation. With a background in growth, innovation, and wellbeing, she has founded and grown not-for-profit organisations and is the author of Being Agile in Business, published by Pearson.
To register for the webinar email [email protected] with the subject: Adaptable Agile Museums. Please include your name, institution, and title.