How to gap year

[AmyAngell]

I'm graduating in May with a BA in History and a Museum Studies minor (art history emphasis). I've decided to take a gap year before grad school, during which I'll take the GRE and apply for art history programs while, hopefully, gaining some museum experience. Ultimately, I'd like to become a curator of ancient art (Greek/Roman, Egyptian). I had an internship in a curatorial department of Native American and Nonwestern art at a small(ish) museum last summer, so I'm trying to decide what to do with my gap year to build on my previous experiences. Here are my questions:

1) What types of internship programs should I be shooting for? (I want to be able to work in a curatorial department, but many of the internships I've found are for people a little further along in their academic careers)

2) Is there another route (non-internsip) that I should consider for making the most of my gap year?

 

[NoSleepTilBreuckelen]

The American Museum of Natural History in New York has several types of anthropology internships that involve handling and working with artifacts (that's what I did after college - it was a great and very useful experience): 

http://research.amnh.org/anthropology/about/internship

 

I'm sure there are lots of others as well, but you might just have to look at museum's website for employment and internship listings.

 

Edit: For some reason I can't get the link above to work, event though that is the correct address, if you search "AMNH anthropology internship" it'll come up...

Edited January 8, 2014 by NoSleepTilBreuckelen

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

1) What types of internship programs should I be shooting for? (I want to be able to work in a curatorial department, but many of the internships I've found are for people a little further along in their academic careers)

2) Is there another route (non-internsip) that I should consider for making the most of my gap year?

 

1) Yup, curatorial internship positions tend to desire at least MA (often in Art History). There are exceptions, such as internships at the Met.

2) In addition to working/volunteering in a museum, how are your language skills in your desired subjects? Also, could you study abroad or travel abroad? 

[m-ttl]

1) Yup, curatorial internship positions tend to desire at least MA (often in Art History). There are exceptions, such as internships at the Met.

2) In addition to working/volunteering in a museum, how are your language skills in your desired subjects? Also, could you study abroad or travel abroad? 

 

I think if you can afford it, then you could easily work part time and do a part-time internship. I think there's plenty of curatorial internships you can get without an MA...you just won't get paid. And they might not be highly prestigious. But if there's a local art museum that has what you want there might be chances for you to study that there...or you can work in a museum for something else and then study your subject of focus on your own? 

[poliscar]

Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages.

If you want to work with ancient art (and you'll have to narrow it down—you're not going to be able to work on Greek, Roman, AND Egyptian art) you'll need to be highly competent in multiple languages. At this point in time, you're looking at a PhD if you're serious about working in the area. All significant collections of ancient art are held by large institutions, and these institutions hire curators with doctorates. 

For Greek or Roman art, you're going to have to prove reading knowledge of Greek, Latin, and German, as well as the likely addition of either French or Italian. If you choose to work with Egyptian art, you're looking at even more extensive language study. Chicago and Johns Hopkin's PhD programs in Egyptology requires students to study modern languages as well as the historically specific Egyptian scripts. Chicago even suggests that students "acquire a reading knowledge of French and German before beginning the study of Egyptian." 

Of course, internships are great, but the fields you are interested in are deeply embedded in philological work. Moreover, a great portion of scholarship—both current and otherwise—is produced in languages other than English. Unless you're already fluent in the necessary languages (which is possible, I have no idea) I would look into language study. An internship really won't help you if you're trying to enter one of the necessary programs with 1-2 languages. 

 

[condivi]

Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages.

If you want to work with ancient art (and you'll have to narrow it down—you're not going to be able to work on Greek, Roman, AND Egyptian art) you'll need to be highly competent in multiple languages. At this point in time, you're looking at a PhD if you're serious about working in the area. All significant collections of ancient art are held by large institutions, and these institutions hire curators with doctorates. 

For Greek or Roman art, you're going to have to prove reading knowledge of Greek, Latin, and German, as well as the likely addition of either French or Italian. If you choose to work with Egyptian art, you're looking at even more extensive language study. Chicago and Johns Hopkin's PhD programs in Egyptology requires students to study modern languages as well as the historically specific Egyptian scripts. Chicago even suggests that students "acquire a reading knowledge of French and German before beginning the study of Egyptian." 

Of course, internships are great, but the fields you are interested in are deeply embedded in philological work. Moreover, a great portion of scholarship—both current and otherwise—is produced in languages other than English. Unless you're already fluent in the necessary languages (which is possible, I have no idea) I would look into language study. An internship really won't help you if you're trying to enter one of the necessary programs with 1-2 languages. 

 

 

YES!

[AmyAngell]

Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages. Languages.

If you want to work with ancient art (and you'll have to narrow it down—you're not going to be able to work on Greek, Roman, AND Egyptian art) you'll need to be highly competent in multiple languages. At this point in time, you're looking at a PhD if you're serious about working in the area. All significant collections of ancient art are held by large institutions, and these institutions hire curators with doctorates. 

For Greek or Roman art, you're going to have to prove reading knowledge of Greek, Latin, and German, as well as the likely addition of either French or Italian. If you choose to work with Egyptian art, you're looking at even more extensive language study. Chicago and Johns Hopkin's PhD programs in Egyptology requires students to study modern languages as well as the historically specific Egyptian scripts. Chicago even suggests that students "acquire a reading knowledge of French and German before beginning the study of Egyptian." 

Of course, internships are great, but the fields you are interested in are deeply embedded in philological work. Moreover, a great portion of scholarship—both current and otherwise—is produced in languages other than English. Unless you're already fluent in the necessary languages (which is possible, I have no idea) I would look into language study. An internship really won't help you if you're trying to enter one of the necessary programs with 1-2 languages. 

 

This is really helpful, thank you. I've been looking at some possible language study options in addition to internships, but I wasn't sure with which to start. My main interest is Greek art, so that's probably what I'll end up focusing on. I've studied French throughout school, so I'm fairly confident with that one. Out of the three you mentioned for Greek or Roman art (Greek, Latin, and German), is there one that I should give priority to? Realistically, I will probably be able to build up one new language during my gap year, maybe two. 

[poliscar]

Greek is your best bet if you have no experience with the language, especially since you intend to focus on Greek art. Keep in mind that you're looking at Ancient Greek, as opposed to Modern Greek.