Fall 2026 Courses
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ARTH584
Maximum Enrollment: 2
Dates: Wednesdays 11-3; Sept. 16 to Nov. 4.
Instructor: Eileen Rafferty, MMAC Photographer/Registrar
Consent of Instructor Required
Museums obtain new acquisitions through donations, gifts or bequests. Accessioning is the process of transitioning artwork into a Museum's Permanent Collection.
Students will learn the workflow of Accessioning, including presenting to Collections Committees, inventory and legal documentation, transporting, photographing and
cataloguing. This is essential for each piece of artwork to ensure its proper record and storage in the Permanent Collection.
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ARTH584
Maximum Enrollment: 2
Dates: TBA
Instructor: Derick Wycherly, MMAC Associate Curator/Collections Manager
Consent of Instructor Required
Through readings, assignments, and hands-on experiences, students will learn best practices in object handling, maintenance and care, building archival housing, and organizing collections in the museum.
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ARTH584
Maximum Enrollment: TBA
Dates: Nov 13-17 (approx. 9:30-3:30 each day, with a 1/2 day session on the 17th)
Instructor: Rafael Chacon, MMAC Director
Museums are among the most dynamic cultural hubs of the modern world; their evolution in the western world has been the topic of much scholarship and historical analysis since at least the 16th century. The course is an intensive seminar in which the class discusses the development of museums in the west as well as the ideological implications for their function in contemporary society. It is primarily based on lectures, reading and discussion, and a supervised research project.
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ARTH584
Maximum Enrollment: 10
Dates: Sept 14-Nov 16
Instructor: Katrina Derieg, Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum Curator and Museum Collections & Outreach Coordinator
This course has two goals: firstly to introduce students to the history, preparation, curation, and scientific use of natural history collections; and secondly to familiarize them with the basic structure and management of data associated with museum collections. The course will be leaning on vertebrate zoological collections as examples for both goals, as they involve complex physical and data curation. However, the core concepts are transferrable to different types of collections, with different practices and purposes, across disciplines.
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ARTH595
Museum Studies Certificate students who have completed a minimum of four of their five seminar classes are eligible to complete their field project (often referred to as a Capstone). With MMAC advisor approval, students may be able to simultaneously complete their fourth seminar requirement and complete their field project.
The field project course requires students to implement a project of their own creation, such as an archives organization system; with MMAC approval, they may work with Museum Studies faculty to build on the work of a Museum Studies class, or locate a partnering institution to work with.
Students will complete a final presentation for Museum Studies faculty. Projects may be completed on a flexible timeline during spring semester, with presentations scheduled near the end of term.
Students interested in completing their field project should reach out to museum@mso.umt.edu for further info and to arrange an advising session with the MMAC.