History and Museum Studies
The master’s program in history and museum combines studies in the history of a particular area or areas with professional training for a career in the museum field.
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Degree Offerings
- Faculty
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Application Requirements
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Contact the Program
Questions about your application?
Contact us:
Office of Graduate Admissions
Bendetson Hall
Medford, MA 02155
(617) 627-3395
gradadmissions@tufts.edu
M.A. in History and Museum Studies
The Museum Studies Program combines theory and practice by bringing together scholars of the Tufts Department of History and professional experts in Museum Studies. By emphasizing both historical scholarship and practical application, the program prepares students for public history as well as museum work. Students also benefit from Tufts’ location in the greater Boston area, one of America’s most important hubs for museums and historical societies.
Students take courses in history and museum studies simultaneously. Graduates of this program typically pursue careers as curators, collections managers, educators or administrators in historic houses, sites and museums.
Visit the Museum Studies Program
Visit the Department of History
- Understand history museum issues in the twenty-first century and how these issues compare to the issues of other types of museums
- Show familiarity with all aspects of museum operations and how they come together to support audiences and collections
- Be able to interpret primary and secondary sources, including material and visual culture, quickly and critically
- Show familiarity with printed and electronic aids to historical research, exhibit knowledge of bibliographical search procedures, and show the ability effectively to develop bibliographies for research, museum exhibitions, and museum programs
- Display familiarity with (and knowledge of how to find) museum literature generated by museum professionals, and show an understanding of how insider-generated work differs from museum literature produced by outsiders (academics, critics, and the public)
- Understand broad outlines of historical interpretation and narrative in fields of specialization and with public history approaches
- Understand dominant schools of historical explanation and narrative, and exhibit the ability to apply the various interpretative frameworks to the investigation of data
- Exhibit disciplined habits of research through experience at gathering primary and secondary historical data and effectively storing them so as to be readily retrieved
- Show proficiency at marshalling arguments for interpretation or narrative involving complex data, and exhibit skill at writing up results or narrative in clear, persuasive language, suitable for a variety of outcomes and audiences in museum settings
- Present historical arguments through a variety of means and to a range of audiences orally in formal and informal settings, visually and physically through exhibitions, educationally through the design of activities in school and public programs, and through new media
- Exhibit knowledge of a language other than English, sufficient for research into sources in that language
- Work cooperatively on the investigation of an area of historical inquiry and be able to accommodate one's own research to findings of co-researchers and exhibition/program planning team members
- Exhibit an elementary ability to lead classroom discussion of historical material, assess historical work, and organize readings and agenda for analysis into an effective syllabus
- Apply skills and knowledge gained through coursework to the real-world setting of a museum
Related programs:
- History M.A., Ph.D.
- Art History and Museum Studies M.A.
- Museum Education M.A.
- Museum Studies Certificate
Faculty
Application Deadline
Fall: January 15
Application Requirements
> Application fee
> Resume/CV
> Personal statement
> In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the availability of standardized testing, GRE scores are currently waived for students applying to this program.
> Official TOEFL or IELTS, if applicable
> Transcripts
> Three letters of recommendation
For more information, visit the Department of History.
For more about this program, please see the Department of History website and the Museum Studies website.
For questions about the program, including scholarships and assistantships, contact Associate Professor Elizabeth Foster, Director of Graduate Studies in History.
Museum Studies
Tufts University
Ballou Hall, third floor
Medford, MA 02155
Phone: 617.627.2320