Nurturing Conservators

📖 The Scoop

Recent graduates of conservation courses throughout the United Kingdom were surveyed to determine the impact of existing training courses and internship courses on their early careers as conservators. (Conservators are archivists and curators who work primarily in museums.) Of the 404 individuals contacted, 137 (35.2%) returned usable responses. The respondents' average age was 32, and 78.4% of respondents were female. The respondents believed that both the general and technical skills provided by available courses match well with those deemed important in conservation employment. The main deficiencies in existing courses appeared to be related to private sector practice and self-employment. Because of the increasing trend toward self-employment among conservators and current low levels of recruitment in the museums and galleries sector, recent graduates were having great difficulty gaining vital initial experience without internship programs. Despite the many problems in becoming established in a conservation career, most conservation graduates manifested a striking commitment to conservation work. Four out of five were working as conservators, even if their posts took a long time to obtain, and most of those not currently working in the conservation sector hoped and expected to return to it. (The report contains 20 references and 50 tables/figures. The survey questionnaire is appended.) (MN)

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