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Internship in Museum Studies - ANT 5942r



Course Overview and Objectives:


Internships in professional museums and similar institutions will provide anthropology students in the Florida State University Museum Studies Program with experience working in a museum or other curatorial institution. The Museum Studies Certificate Program requires a total of 6 hours of internship, representing at least 320 hours of supervised work. The Anthopology Internship in Museum Studies course allows this requirement to be satisfied in either a single, 320 hour internship, or as a combination of two, 160 hour each, internships. Each component will consist of at least 160 hours of supervised work (per 3 hrs credit) in a participating institution, under the direct supervision of a professional from the collaborating institution, and a term paper or project supervised by the FSU Anthropology professor of record (usually the student's academic advisor). If the internship requirement is met by undertaking two separate internships, the research paper is required only for one of them.

Required Texts:


There are no set texts or readings for this course. Each student will propose (in the internship prospectus) a body of readings to be covered during the period of the internship. These readings will provide the foundation for the academic paper related to the specific museum experience. A sample of typical relevant bibliography is attached.

Evaluation:


Satisfactory performance in an internship will be judged by the FSU supervising professor on the basis of:
1) The student's internship documents: prospectus, daily log, journal, and evaluation form;
2) Evaluation form from museum supervisor, and
3) Letter-graded, term paper related to museum experience, submitted to FSU supervising professor (minimum acceptable grade, B-).
Equal weight will be given to each of these three evaluative components.

Internship Documents:


The student is responsible for submission and approval of the following documents, in addition to the term paper to be submitted at the end of the internship:
1) Prospectus of Internship: This informal contract will be written by the student in collaboration with the Anthropology supervising professor and the intern supervisor from the collaborating institution.
2) Daily Log: A record of work hours and activities.
3) Journal: A continuous, narrative account that describes the intern's museum experience.
4) Evaluation forms: Forms used by student and by supervisor in participating institution that will provide a written assessment of the museum internship. Student's grade will be determined by FSU supervising professor, on the basis of these documents and the final term paper.

Suggested Readings


This list of suggested readings is intended only as a sample of relevant literature. The actual readings assigned for the specific internship will vary according to the type of institution and specific activities at that institution that the intern is expected to participate in. A list of readings that will provide the foundation for the student's final academic paper will be submitted with the Prospectus of Internship.
Bachmann, Konstanze
1992 Conservation Concerns. New York: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Burcaw, G. E.
1997 Introduction to Museum Work, 3rd edition. Nashville, TN: American Association of State and Local History.
Fahy, Anne, ed.
1995 Collections Management. London: Routledge.
Henderson, Amy, and Adrienne Kaeppler
1997 Exhibiting Dilemmas: Issues of Representation at the Smithsonian. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Hooper Greenhill, I.
1992 Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge. London: Routledge.
Jones, R., ed.
1997 Museums and the Paradox of Change: A Case Study in Urgent Adaptation, 2nd edition. Calgary, CA: Glenbow Museum.
Lavine, S., and I. Karp
1990 Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Maton-Howarth, M.
1990 Knowing Objects through an Alternative Learning System: The Philosophy, Design, and Implementation of an Interactive Learning System for Use in Museums and Heritage Institutions. London: Athlone Press.

Supplementary Material


Relation to Department of Anthropology Curriculum:


The Internship in Museum Studies is an integral part of the Department of Anthropology's curriculum designed in association with the Museum Studies Certificate Program, a University-wide initiative that brings students and faculty from many different disciplines together in a Master's level training program. The Museum Studies Certificate is obtained by fulfilling coursework and other requirements beyond the normal Master's degree program. For Anthropology, this Certificate involves satisfactory completion of the following:
1) Museum Studies Core Curriculum: 2 courses (3 hrs each), including Museum Studies and Practice, HIS 6934, and The Museum Object, ARH 5838.
2) Two elective courses, related to the student's area of interest. The Master of Arts degree in Anthropology requires 6 hours of Humanities credit. Of these six hours, three hours can be overlapped with the Museum Studies elective courses (if they are qualifying Humanities courses). Approved courses in Anthropology can also be used to meet the elective requirement of the Museum Studies Certificate, but these same courses can not also be used to meet course/hour requirements for the Master's degree in Anthropology.
3) Internship: 6 hours of practical experience working in a museum or similar curatorial institution, under the direct supervision of a collaborating professional from the institution. The 6 hours may be taken concurrently, at the same institution, or sequentially, at different institutions. If taken separately, each 3-hr course involves the preparation of internship documents (Prospectus of Internship, Daily Log, Journal, and Evaluation forms, plus a scholarly paper related to the museum experience is required for at least one of the 3 hour internships.

Faculty Resources and Expected Enrollments:


Any faculty member from the Department of Anthropology can serve as intern advisor/supervisor; all internships will be reviewed by the Museum Studies Committee in the Department of Anthropology, composed of the four faculty members who are also part of the Steering Committee for the FSU Museum Studies Program (J. K. Josserand; R. Marrinan; E. Peters, C. Ward). Currently, there are 7 anthropology Master's students enrolled in the Museum Certificate program, and 3 of these are now ready for their internship experience. We expect to have increasing enrollments in the certificate program over the coming years, especially as we develop a doctoral program in anthropology. Perhaps an average of 6 students per semester would be registered for internship hours. There is an ample range of museums and related institutions willing to house anthropology interns, including several local institutions, the British Museum, the Field Museum of Chicago, and the San Diego Museum of Man, and many more.

Relation to Courses in Other Departments at FSU:


This internship course is parallel to internship courses now being proposed by the other departments participating in the Museum Studies Program (Anthropology, Art, Art Education, Art History, Classics, History, Interior Design, and Science Education). The design of the internship courses has been constructed in consultation with these other departments. The internship course is also similar to internship courses in other fields, e.g., ISS 4944r, an undergraduate internship in the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Program. While these courses are similar in nature, they do not represent a conflict with the proposed Anthropology internship.

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