Hocbigg - Museum Studies
Contents
Summary
The Museum Studies curriculum is a complete education in Museum Studies using online materials.
The program emphasizes interdisciplinary foundations (drawing from history, art history, anthropology, and cultural studies), core museum practices, ethical and theoretical frameworks, and practical synthesis. It balances theory, historical context, professional skills, and critical reflection.
Organization
This repository is organized into 2 main components:
- Core Curriculum (this page): the foundational knowledge of the field;
- Advanced Topics: focused study in specific areas;
Process: Learners may work through the curriculum independently or collaboratively, and either sequentially or selectively.
- For simplicity, courses in the Core Curriculum are ordered according to their prerequisites.
- The Core Curriculum provides a shared foundation and is intended to be completed in full.
- Advanced Topics are optional; learners are encouraged to select one area of focus and complete all courses within that topic.
Note: When there are courses or books that don't fit into the curriculum but are otherwise of high quality, they belong in extras/courses, extras/readings.
Communities
- Subreddits:
- Other / Slack / Mastodon / etc (if relevant):
- You can also interact through GitHub issues. If there is a problem with a course, or a change needs to be made to the curriculum, this is the place to start the conversation. Read more here.
-
Join our Discord server (for discussions around this and other curricula):
Curriculum
- Foundations of Museums and Cultural Heritage
- Disciplinary Contexts for Museum Work
- Core Museological Functions
Complete the following sections in sequence:
-
Foundations of Museums and Cultural Heritage
Start here. This section introduces the most basic ideas about what museums are and why they exist. -
Disciplinary Contexts for Museum Work
Next. This gives you the important outside knowledge (art history, anthropology, global history) that museum professionals rely on every day. -
Core Museological Functions
This is the longest and most central part. Work through all five subsections (Collections & Stewardship → Ethics, Law, and Professional Standards → Exhibitions & Interpretation → Museum Education & Visitor Engagement → Museum Management & Governance) in the order they appear.
These topics cover the practical heart of what museums actually do.
Foundations of Museums and Cultural Heritage
Purpose: Introduce museums as cultural institutions with specific histories, social roles, and epistemologies.
| Subject | Core Resource |
|---|---|
| What Is a Museum? (Definitions & Functions) | ICOM – Key Concepts of Museology (open-access PDF) |
| History of Museums | Edward P. Alexander – Museums in Motion (Archive.org) |
| Cultural Heritage & Memory | UNESCO – Introduction to Cultural Heritage (open access) (Note: UNESCO's core introduction and resources on cultural heritage; direct introductory page as no single titled PDF matches exactly, but this is the authoritative open portal) |
| Material Culture & Objects | Open University – Introduction to Material Culture |
Disciplinary Contexts for Museum Work
Purpose: Provide essential background knowledge without overwhelming disciplinary depth.
| Subject | Core Resource |
|---|---|
| Art & Visual Culture (for Museums) | MIT OpenCourseWare – Introduction to Art History |
| Anthropology & Ethnographic Collections | MIT OCW – Introduction to Anthropology |
| Global Historical Context | Columbia University – History of the World to 1500 CE (YouTube) |
Core Museological Functions
Purpose: Cover the essential operational and intellectual work of museums.
1. Collections & Stewardship
| Subject | Core Resource |
|---|---|
| Collections Management | Connecting to Collections Care (free course) |
| Preventive Conservation | Canadian Conservation Institute – Preventive Conservation Guidelines (Note: Official guidelines series; freely accessible online) |
| Documentation & Registration | Spectrum Collections Trust – Introduction to SPECTRUM (free) |
2. Ethics, Law, and Professional Standards
| Subject | Core Resource |
|---|---|
| Museum Ethics | ICOM – Code of Ethics for Museums |
| Provenance & Repatriation | Smithsonian Provenance Research Case Studies |
| Cultural Property Law (Overview) | Cornell Law School – Cultural Property Law (open resources) |
3. Exhibitions & Interpretation
| Subject | Core Resource |
|---|---|
| Exhibition Planning & Design | Harvard/edX – Tangible Things (Note: Free to audit on edX) |
| Interpretation & Meaning-Making | National Association for Interpretation – Free Guides |
| Narrative & Storytelling in Museums | Smithsonian Folkways – Exhibition Interpretation Essays (Note: Related essays and resources available; official portal) |
4. Museum Education & Visitor Engagement
| Subject | Core Resource |
|---|---|
| Museum Learning Theory | Falk & Dierking – Learning from Museums (Archive.org) (Note: Search for available editions/scans; full access may vary) |
| Public Programming | FutureLearn – Using Museums to Develop Learning (Note: Free to access with registration) |
| Visitor Studies & Evaluation | Institute of Museum and Library Services – Evaluation Toolkit |
5. Museum Management & Governance
| Subject | Core Resource |
|---|---|
| Museum Governance | American Alliance of Museums – Governance Essentials |
| Financial Management | AAM – Museum Finance Resources |
| Leadership & Strategy | Coursera – Management of Arts & Cultural Organizations (Note: Free to audit) |