Smithsonian: Museum Studies


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-	Museum Studies Home
-	Museum Studies Training and Careers

-	Fellowships in Museum Practice


-	Museology Resources

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-	G. Brown Goode Smithsonian Education Lecture Series

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	Mission

Welcome - Museum studies, sometimes called museology, is the field that encompasses the ideas and issues involved in the museum profession—from the practical, day-to-day skills needed to operate a museum to theories on the societal role of museums.

The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies (SCEMS) assists the museum community in acquiring and strengthening its understandings and practices of museology. This website is one of the Center's tools for serving the educational and informational needs of the field.


	Museum Studies Website Survey

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Take our quick website survey here.


	G. Brown Goode Smithsonian Education Lecture Series (info)

“Forces Shaping the Future of Museums: Visitors”
Dr. Colette Dufresne-Tassé
Dr. Sue Allen

Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture (McEvoy Auditorium)
Washington, DC
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Learn more and live webcast here.

“Through the Looking Glass: Museums and Internet-Based Transparency”
Dr. Maxwell Anderson
Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art

Replay available here.


	Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits

The National Research Council’s new study:
Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits

The National Science Resources Center, in partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, hosts a Smithsonian Institution Research-Dissemination Forum to discuss the findings of this new report

Replay available here.


	Explore Museum Studies

Museum Studies Training and Careers
Locate professional-development opportunities and information for making informed career decisions and finding a job.

Fellowships in Museum Practice
Look into opportunities to research museology issues at the Smithsonian.

Museology Resources
Find professional associations and special interest groups, on-line references, bibliographies, curriculum tools and materials, and much more.

Museum Studies Webcast Archives
Watch past presentations hosted by the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies on topics relating to museology.


	Introducing the 2009 Fellows in Museum Practice

Karol Ann Lawson
Interim director, Sweet Briar College Art Museum and Galleries
Sweet Briar, VA

Research topic: “Not for Sale: Recent Deaccessioning Controversies in U.S. Museums”

Eric Sandweiss
Carmony Chair of History, Associate Professor, and Editor, Indiana Magazine of History
U. of Indiana, Bloomington

Research topic: "The City's Museum and the Museum's City: The Urban Landscape and Museum Practice in Europe and North America, 1850-2000"

Selma Thomas
Independent Scholar
Washington, DC

Research topic: "An Examination into the Impact of Web 2.0 on Museum Exhibitions"

Alessia Zorloni
Research Associate
“Strategic Management for Contemporary Art”
(a project of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF))
Vienna, Austria

Research topic: "Achieving Excellence: Investigation into the Use of Performance Indicators in Museums"