r/MuseumPros

>Out of the house and into a gallery: Would you pay for a professional legacy space? Many of us have family history tucked away in boxes. If a local facility offered beautifully designed, secure layouts like this to preserve and display your loved ones' histories, would you consider it? Why or why not?

https://preview.redd.it/m56wwfcntfbh1.png?width=578&format=png&auto=webp&s=cb5f2d7bf7d1d411a5da4590092782d5c9bc846e

My husband and I are on vacation in Vienna. We had a great day - visited the Imperial Apartments/Sisi Museum (2.5 hours) and then the Kunsthistorisches museum (5 hours).
Over conversation at dinner he says it was great even though it’s probably all fake. Record scratch - what?!?! Yup - he thinks museums are hiding the good stuff and he as a lay-person has no way of confirming so how can he trust anything he sees in a museum.
 
His points:
A) He can’t just trust a museum isn’t switching the real thing with a fake for display purposes
B) he’s coming to the museum for the stories and curation of the exhibit, and has a hard time connecting with the objects themselves because he doesn’t think he can trust they are real
C) Museums should have a standardized way to indicate and  for the public to confirm if something is real or a copy that he can trust - but he doesn’t know what this is yet.
D) Museums have to hide the real things because they are too valuable, it’s too risky to have them accessible to the public.
 
My points:

1. The whole point of a museum is that it is a trusted authority where people go to see authenticity.
2. The time and resources it would take for a museum to make copies - what museum has that?!
3. The whole perceived value of something comes from its provenance being on exhibit/public knowledge of it - why would they hide ‘the good stuff’
4. Curators and experts do all of the research and authenticate the collection - the research is often available in books or other published resources if trusting their authority isn’t enough and anyone wants to check their sources.
5. The fact that something is on display in a museum is default ‘authentic’ and museums note otherwise on labels by stating ‘copy’ or ‘replica of’
6. Why would museums spend so much on security and and crates and all the crazy stuff we do if it’s not the real thing on display?!
7. In an AI world, museums are suppose to be the place we can go to see authenticity and trust what we are seeing is real.
8. There are multiple checks and balances on the authority of what is on exhibition - the institution overall and its need to protect its reputation. The education of the curator and their own reputation, other curators at the museum. Other professionals in that field… all would be able to call BS in museums were showing fakes en mass.
9. If museums are hiding the real thing, it’s a lot easier for someone to steal it because only the curator/museum would know it was gone. If the Mona Lisa goes missing, everyone will know about it.

 
 …. So what am I missing. He’s still convinced there are bad actors (seemingly the majority in his mind) doing a last mile swap. He also thinks he’s not the only one who thinks this way and this is a big problem museums are overlooking when communicating with the public. No matter what I say he says he can’t believe just because a museum says something is real that it is real.
 
Thoughts? Is the general perception that museums show replicas and hide the good stuff? Do we need to communicate this better? How can I convince my own husband that museums are doing their best to present what they are showing as accurately as possible?

Edit: thank you all for the responses they have been super interesting to read, and thank you for the concern over his mentality. It is definitely alarming and took me completely by surprise. Will be definitely be addressing it further after this vacation.

hi! I am not a museum employee (as the title may suggest) but I wanted to ask a question and get genuine feedback. I am a senior in high school and I have my heart set on applying to george washington university in DC this fall. If things go in my favor, I am highly interested in doing the dual degree program they offer. It would be for a BA in history and an MA in museum studies. As far as long term career goals go, I’ve always been torn between pursuing law and my dream of working in a museum. I know this is not an easy field to break in to…so I don’t want to just be told what I already know..but is this a career path worth pursuing? What would I need to do in college to set myself up for success? Not asking for anyone to tell me things I’ll only find out on my own, but I’m truly passionate about it and I have been discouraged by the things I’ve heard lol. I’d be happy to hear anyone’s personal experiences, their opinions, advice, etc.!

Had my interview 06/03/2026, Got my tentative offer 06/12/2026 and submitted by Sf 85 June 29th. I’m wondering for much longer before I receive a firm offer letter? The Hiring Manager told me they were planning on having ppl start by July 1st but it’s past that and when I tried to call hr the line was disconnected. I’m guessing they’re away on vacation but I’m really anxious to start.

Hi! We volunteer at our local museum and want to try to set up an online catalogue for the museum's entirely physical database. We're thinking that Collective Access might be the way to go (but very open to other free/affordable options), and we were hoping to get some advice on where to start? Any help would be much appreciated (literally any guidance, no matter how simple, would be great!)

Also, if Collective Access is the way to go, specific usage advice would be so much help because all of the information is a bit overwhelming without a background in IT

TIA :)

I have an 18th century chest of drawers with what I believe are active deathwatch beetles (similar to powder post). For the last few days I’ve been trying to treat with sealing/heat. The hottest I could get the core was 129 degrees farenheit. Over two days it probably has around 6-8 hours between 120 and 129 degrees.

Is there any evidence that this would be enough to kill all life cycles? I know most sources say 130, I just can’t get it that high.

Thanks

We’re researching storage spaces for a small contemporary art collection. I was hoping to bring our conservator to the site visits but our director didn’t wish to pay their day rate, this tells you what I’m dealing with. The conservator recommended I take temperature and humidity readings. I see a small unit on Gaylord for $175, but that price seems to be uncharacteristically low for such a device, which makes me suspicious. Would this be worth getting or likely junk / unreliable?

Last month I was in São Paulo for work and took the opportunity to visit the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), Brazil’s most well-known museum. MASP is famous for it's glass easels that suspend the paintings, creating a floating effect. I went to see the current exhibition and was really excited about it, but ended up leaving with mixed feelings.

The first issue was the floating display itself. While it is undoubtedly a landmark design by architect Lina Bo Bardi, it creates competing points of attention. Not only did I catch myself looking at the paintings behind the actual work I was trying to observe, but people walking around in the background also kept breaking my focus. Simply too much visual noise.

coincidence // the info about the painting stay in the back of it, so you can appreciate before \"judging\"

Then there’s the issue with the glass panels. I understand that they’re for conservation, but some paintings, especially the larger ones, had way too much glare. I did some research and found out that they use Schott Mirogard glass instead of Optium Museum Acrylic. However, I’m only a museum enthusiast, and to be completely honest, I’m not sure that’s the actual problem, since their reflection indices are very close.

My best guess is that without solid walls, it’s just much harder to control light diffusion across the room, even if you use high-quality LED lighting. On top of that, it’s inevitable to assume that there are many errors in execution from the exhibition designer that enhance the problem.

Here are some examples: masp-inadequacies

Rubens — The Archduke Albert VII of Austria

Velázquez — Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares

What do you guys think about this kind of exhibition display? Has anyone else experienced something similar?

** Btw, I’m aware of my pickiness and had zero issues with the majority of the paintings. But come on, when you’re dealing with something at this level of excellence, just let it be. Don’t get creative. It reflects an inversion of design priorities, in which the exhibition apparatus is granted precedence over the artwork itself, preventing one from fully appreciating masterpieces by Velázquez or Rubens because of a curatorial preference for a display method that compromises the direct dialogue between artist and viewer.

I was watching a youtube video about fine art logistics and one thing surprised me. If a painting worth hundreds of thousands or even millions is being moved between a collector a gallery or a storage facility how does the pickup actually get authorized? I found a case where someone showed up with what looked like legitimate paperwork and email authorization and the artwork was released before anyone realized the documents had been fabricated.

That made me wonder how the industry handles this today. Is it still mostly paperwork phone calls, and chain of custody procedures or are there identity verification tools being used now? The video was talking about Kibu being used but I couldn't really understand how it was done.

Would love to hear from anyone who's worked in museum/collections/galleries or art logistics. It seems like one of those industries where one mistake could be incredibly expensive.

Hello! I have worked at three different living history museums of varying sizes. The smallest one was reasonably well run and managed, but had no advertising and got very few visitors. The other two have had pretty substantial issues around management, employee safety, turnover, etc. I was very curious to hear about other people's experiences. Is this a super common problem for living history? what about other museums with fewer public facing staff? I'd really appreciate any perspectives!

There are a lot of terms being used--FIC, deposit, orphan, unaccessioned, etc. I'm curious what the more common terms are for works that are important to your institution but not enough to be formally accessioned. How does your institution refer to them?

I recently spent some time with ArtQuest VR and interviewed its creator, Eric Mosinger, for UploadVR.

One thing that stuck with me was that he doesn't see VR as a replacement for museums. His favorite feedback is hearing that someone used ArtQuest and then decided to visit a museum in real life.

I actually had a similar experience. Standing inches from paintings, I found myself noticing brushstrokes, layers of paint, and details I'd never paid much attention to before.

Curious what others think. Have you ever had a VR experience make you appreciate something in the real world more?

Good morning fellow Pros,

I have bit of a rant post but also in need of some advice. Let me give a bit of background to better understand. I work at a Museum that uses Tessitura. Our Tessitura team is me and the Assistant manager for the Visitor services team. We dont see a large amount of traffic at our museum, about 600-700 per day on average. I have been here for 3 years and in my current position for 1 year. We have a super data driven, AI loving Vice President of our department. Okay, so problem number 1 is how we sell tickets at the box office. We started by simply asking people which type of admission, then paying for the tickets and then handing the tickets to them as regular printed tickets. Great right?

Since about last year we have changed it so that if you approach the box office you are either asked to buy tickets on your phone in the lobby, give us your email so we can create a constituent with the customer in front of us and then process the transaction and have them scan the e ticket at the gallery entrance, or scan a QR to also do it on your phone. This took what would normally be a 1 min transaction to a 3-4 minute per customer.

There are many reasons for why we have gone this direction, first being to save paper which frankly i am on board with. second being so we can collect emails in order to re connect with the visitors after they have left. From here we have gone completely over the rails for email collection and has caused a lot of friction with the front facing staff and visitors. Imagine walking up to a box office and the person says can you give me your email so i can send you the ticket to your phone.

For this point I would love some feedback to understand if I am the crazy one thinking this is so backwards or if I am right in feeling this sentiment of friction at the box office.

Additionally, in my role as I mentioned my workload is focused on the maintenance of the Tessitura system which as anyone who knows Tess, is a solid chunk of time. I also manage the call center for our general line of inquires. As well as our gift shop system of Sales Vu. Lately due to management not hiring people there has been times when I have went to work as a Front line staff for the day. Which in turn created this delay for my projects I have and a cascading effect for mistakes. I have spoken to my superior and they mentioned that i dont agree. I have been told that everybody is making mistakes and that i should be a team player. Is this toxic or am i overreacting.

Thank you to all who read this and apologies for the jumble.

I am a Gallery Associate at a mid-level sized art museum in the midwest, and I'm on here to vent about my position and how our floor staff is treated.

People on our team are othered by those in higher positions. They are even told to avoid talking to us because we are unionized. When walking through the museum, most act like we don't exist and aren't worth talking to.

We are paid significantly lower than other comparable positions in the state.

We are often snubbed at any chance for career advancement or upward mobility even when we have staff on our team that has advanced degrees. I know nepotism is a common problem in this field, but its disheartening to see qualified individuals who have already given years of their life to this place be shot down constantly.

Some people have been sexually or verbally harassed or even stalked by visitors. The museum will remove us from the floor rather than the visitor. Our managers will often gaslight or accuse us of lying or exaggerating. They went as far as to put people who have been harassed the most into remedial training.

Our team has an incredibly high turnover rate with a team consistenting mostly of part-time employees. Most people don't work here longer than a year because of the hostile work environment or being forced out by management for small insignificant reasons.

Racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia are rampant. We aren't considered for people-facing events that celebrate identity to represent the museum, like most recently the local Pride parade. Docents will often make racist remarks to our black staff members with little to no consequences. Female-presenting and queer staff are often targeted by upper management and even immediate supervisors. They are constantly snapped at or yelled at for no good reason.

We were recently exposed to toxic fumes consistently for about a month, and we were the team that was affected the most. The museum still didn't close. Visitors complained about it. We had a lot of people get sick and have to go home early on more than one occasion. These fumes had the potential to be cancer-causing and affect reproductive capabilities.

I know some of these problems are unique to my museum. Some of them aren't. This isn't even half of the problems here. This position has made me rethink any future career or education related to this field. I know that there are better institutions who genuinely care about their mission, their art, and their employees, I am just disappointed that I don't work for one.

Im finding myself at a cross roads where I need to make a career decision like,,,pronto.

I just got hired as a full-time art handler that includes handling (duh) and a lot of warehouse, inventory, and insurance management. it's my first "real" job since I graduated from my undergrad in 2024, and I did some retail as well as teaching until now.

My ultimate goal is to be a Registrar at a museum, so im wondering if its possible to get there with a BFA and seniority in a role like this or if a masters degree is that necessary.

Hi everyone! I’m interning at a small museum this summer. I’m having an issue figuring out how to keep images on the walls. They have been using a velcro sticky tab system but when the museum is warm the sticky part melts and pictures fall. On top of this we cannot under any circumstances put holes in the wall. Can anyone give advice as to what would work best for this? I’m considering the double sided gorilla glue tape.

Seriously considering leaving this industry all together. Buckle up cause this is a long one.

I'm an Assistant Curator at a mid-sized museum. Both my institution and boss are ambitious, unorganized, and yet expect perfection. When we have exhibitions or other projects they are planned a month in advance maximum, and we have two temporary exhibitions a year (this year we had three). Myself and my other coworkers in curatorial have talked extensively about how we are always unprepared, presented with unrealistic tasks in the short time frame, and expected to do large workloads for long hours. To give a more detailed example: two exhibitions ago, myself and my curatorial staff have not seen any didactics and did not know what objects were going to be in the exhibition until the morning of installation. That's when my boss walks in and says "Pull some objects from our archives and make case displays". Myself and the rest of the staff are left scrambling to get the exhibition up on time, working the weekend before as usual. The worst thing is, my boss in unapologetic and does not even acknowledge the short time frames. They once referred to themselves as a "planner", in which I had to hold back a laugh. It does not seem like expectations and the mindset are based in reality.

But for the first time ever, we are planning an exhibition in advance. Although, it is less than a year in advance and it is an exhibition with MANY international lenders and many objects. We are also producing an exhibition catalogue for it. The Registrar recently left, so I have had to take control of the working object checklist, loan requests, loan agreements, insurance/travel information. I am doing this on top of image sourcing for every single object in the exhibition as well as sourcing from external sites, purchasing these, and looking into specific rights. On top of this, I have also been leading in the deinstall of two other exhibitions, a week apart. I have been physcially taking down works, organizing them into boxes for shipping, and arranging all of the logisitcs. I have been doing all of these tasks at the same time and accomplishing all of them.

I go to my annual review and am given a 5/5 performance review and an 8% raise. Minimal criticism. This past week some things went wrong. I was on a zoom with our independent curator, going through her spreadsheet and inserting where we wanted certain images throughout the text. I would indicate this by typing "Figure __". What I didn't realize during the chaos of the zoom and all the information to absorb, that I was writing on a "Read Only" document and my changes were not saved. This wasn't as disatoruous as I panicked over, as we took notes of where things were in the text and I did the same on my spreadsheet. But then I realized I forgot to process some payments. I also do the processing of payments each month both on the card and through wire for the entire curatorial department.

That's when she pulled me into her office today to berate me for an array of things, including the above two mistakes, which I immediately took accountability and fault for even before the meeting, but also the following:

"I know everyone works at different paces but you are too slow. I've been holding back on giving you more tasks because I don't trust you with them." (Never missed a deadline btw. Not sure how I am slow when I am accomplishing so many things at once)

"The way you organized the information for the image sources on the spreadsheet was a mess and made no sense to me" (I made this spreadsheet of my own accord, my boss did not ask me to. I know how disorganized we are and took initiative to fix it. I organized it by lender institution as we didn't know which images matched to which figures until last week. I organized it by image, file name, caption, chapter section, figure number.) She berated me a lot for this. It genuinely felt like she wanted me to read her mind and organize it the way it makes the most sense in HER head. Which I can't do, because I can't read minds.

Berated me for not "wanting it enough" regarding this career because I said no to speaking on a panel a few days in advance of the panel when she had been scheduled to do it for months. She also asked me after I had worked for a week and a half straight, an average of 12 hours each day. I was at my bandwidth which is why I said no.

"Not interested in the history of the museum." Lol, as I led the creation of our tour guide onto a digital format and am in the process and making another tour.

"Not impressed by me" I curated my own exhibition this year which was a success, I led the shift of interpretation digitally, and I'm juggling all of these tasks and another person's job. I am at an absolute loss as to what else I can do without having a life.

The tone is which she said this was accusatory. I tried to explain to her my thought processes and why I organized information or why did the things I did, but she was unresponsive and called me "defensive". If I can't explain my workflow without being called defensive, it seems like she just wants me to agree to everything she says without question, even if it's not accurate.

I can't lie, I left the meeting in tears. I had to step out and call my family and they had to talk me down from quitting. This is my first full time job in the industry, and if all of them are like this I want out. I am still fighting the urge to quit altogether, but I know my family would be disapointed without me having another job to go right into. Please, someone give me advice and be honest with me. Is it like this in every cultural institution? Tell me to call it quits now then. My best isn't good enough and I feel like I'm about to break.