Curators
Administer collections, such as artwork, collectibles, historic items, or scientific specimens of museums or other institutions. May conduct instructional, research, or public service activities of institution.
- Median pay
- $63,420
- Doing it now
- 14,200
- By 2035
- Up 4.9%
- Usually needs
- Master's degree
a year
across the country
1,600 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Develop and maintain an institution's registration, cataloging, and basic record-keeping systems, using computer databases.
- Provide information from the institution's holdings to other curators and to the public.
- Inspect premises to assess the need for repairs and to ensure that climate and pest control issues are addressed.
- Train and supervise curatorial, fiscal, technical, research, and clerical staff, as well as volunteers or interns.
- Negotiate and authorize purchase, sale, exchange, or loan of collections.
- Plan and conduct special research projects in area of interest or expertise.
- Confer with the board of directors to formulate and interpret policies, to determine budget requirements, and to plan overall operations.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- HistorySee 1,267 colleges that teach it
- Fine and Studio ArtsSee 1,083 colleges that teach it
- Museology/Museum StudiesSee 21 colleges that teach it
- Digital Humanities and Textual StudiesSee 9 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Organised and precise
Leading and persuading
Helping and teaching
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $63,420 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.