In this episode, Amy chats with Mary Zell Galen, an Architectural Survey Data Analyst at the Maryland Historical Trust. Mary Zell shares her journey into the museum field and offers practical advice for anyone aspiring to build a career in museums or historic preservation.

Links from the Episode:

• Mary Zell Galen’s website: https://www.maryzell.com/
• Maryland Historical Trust: https://mht.maryland.gov/Pages/default.aspx
• American Alliance of Museums Job Website: https://aam-us-jobs.careerwebsite.com/
• Virginia Association of Museums Job Board: https://www.vamuseums.org/career-center

More Free Resources for Museums:

• Love my Museum Private Facebook Group for Museum Professionals
• Museum Planning Calendar
• Museum Metrics Template

About the host: 

Amy Kehs is a brand strategist and communications expert for museums. She has owned Kehs Communications since 2000 and has worked for the most renowned and well-loved museums in Washington, D.C. Her goal is to ensure that museums thrive into the next century and she hopes people will come to love museums as much as she does. Her proven process sets up proactive communication habits for museums, cultivating relationships with visitors who will want to return and bring a friend. Want to learn more? Visit the Love my Museum website.

Today, on the podcast we're joined by Mary Zell Galen.

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Mary Zell is a passionate museum and

historic preservation professional.

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And today we're talking about

creating a career in the museum field.

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Let's get started.

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Welcome to the love my museum podcast.

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I'm your host, Amy Kehs,

and I love museums.

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I'm also a brand strategist and

communications expert for museums.

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Today, we're joined by Mary Zelle, Galen.

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A passionate museum and historic

preservation professional.

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Mary Zell is currently an

architectural survey data analyst

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at the Maryland historical trust.

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Mary Zell.

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Welcome to the show.

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. Thank you so much for having me, Amy.

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Uh, to start, I thought maybe we could

tell my listeners a little bit about

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your journey into the museum field.

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Was there a specific moment that

inspired you to pursue this path?

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Mary Zell Galen: So my first introduction

to the museum world was sort of a

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non traditional route through my

4 H club when I was growing up.

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Um, 4 H is typically an agricultural based

group, and animals really aren't my thing.

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So instead, I, um, did a museum

curatorship project, and I did a

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Virginia history project, and a historic

preservation project, and an archaeology

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project, and lots of things like that.

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Um, which really allowed me to sort

of experiment and learn about lots

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of different career paths within

like the broader humanities bubble,

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which really sort of led me to

working in museums down the road.

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Amy: can you tell us a little bit

about your education and and your path

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through college and what you studied.

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Mary Zell Galen: So I went to Longwood

University for my undergrad degree,

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which is in Farmville, Virginia.

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Um, I majored in history,

but was still able to have a

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concentration in public history.

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And then I minored in business

to justify my history degree.

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But I had a really great

experience at Longwood.

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I was able to work at the Robert Rusa

Moten Museum while I was a student

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there, which is a civil rights museum,

which tells the story of student

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involvement in the civil rights movement.

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Oh, wow.

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Yeah.

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I had the opportunity to explore a part

of history that I didn't previously

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have a deep educational background

in, and I really enjoyed getting to

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lead tours of student groups there.

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So that was definitely a

formational museum experience,

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well, during my time in undergrad.

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Amy: Oh, definitely.

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Oh, that's, it's so nice when you're

interested in museums and you're In

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college, and you have museums close by,

So for someone who's just starting out,

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do you have any tips on building a career

in museums or historic preservation?

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I, I know that we've talked a lot

before about your internships and what

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Experiences like those internships or,

or even skills, would you say are really

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valuable, especially when you're trying

to figure out, you know, you might love

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museums, but like figuring out what

you are interested because there really

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are so many different careers and so

many different paths to working either

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in a museum or working with museums.

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Mary Zell Galen: Definitely.

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So I guess to sort of break it

up a little bit, I have some job

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hunting specific tips and also some

career development specific tips.

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Oh, love it.

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Oh, great.

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The job hunting tips.

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I have to give all the credit to

that I learned in graduate school.

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Um, Um, I went to a museum studies

master's program at the Cooperstown

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graduate program, where I spent a lot

of time thinking about how to get a

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job, which was a huge program, which

is very important in this economy.

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But some of my job hunting advice is,

first of all, when you're at networking

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events, I find it so important.

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That you really want to try and talk

to established professionals, um, in

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the room, not just other people who are

also students like you, because those

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students aren't going to hire you, those

students, though, they're sort of in

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a similar career path as you, they're

not going to have those connections

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you need to get that first job.

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So it's so important to expand your

network beyond your classmates.

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I was required to do several informational

interviews while I was in graduate

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school, which I'd really recommend to

anybody who's starting to try and find

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that first job in the museum world.

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Um, I talked to some people

who had jobs I definitely would

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never want in a million years.

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And that was really fun to

hear about their experiences.

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And I also talked to people who

definitely had career paths that

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were really interesting to me.

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So it was really helpful to

hear from other people and

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see where their routes were.

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But some of my other career job

hunting tips are, um, I really find it

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important to when you're job hunting

never to just look at the museum job

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boards, though, a bunch of museum

associations such as the Virginia

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Association of Museums has a really

great well maintained job board, but.

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Some usually museums, the first line

of posting a position is always on the

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institution's website, and sometimes it

won't appear anywhere else but there.

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So it's really important to be

regularly checking museums websites

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that you're interested in working at,

um, so you're the first person to know.

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Or sometimes that's the only place to

post it, so you see those postings.

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Amy: Definitely.

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Oh, that's a really great tip,

and in the show notes, I'll link a

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couple of those so people can sort

of see what we're talking about.

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Mary Zell Galen: In terms of career

development, I know you work in

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a role where you're talking about

helping museums build their brand,

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but I think it's also important for

you to build your personal brand as a

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museum professional when job hunting.

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So that could be, um, trying to make

sure you have a well maintained LinkedIn

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page or personal website, um, or just

finding ways you could self promote

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yourself because you're, you could be

a fantastic person and if people don't

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know you exist, They're not going to

think about you for that next great

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opportunity, so it's really important

to be able to brand yourself to seem

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like a really, to seem like the capable

museum professional that you are.

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Amy: Oh, that's a great suggestion.

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or even if you can, have a website

for yourself is a great idea.

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Mary Zell Galen: Absolutely.

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and my final career development tip,

this is really angled at the fundraising

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professionals out there or folks who want

to be working in a development office.

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It is so important for you to learn

that CRM software, whether, um,

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whether you're using it regularly

or not, Often when you're hired as

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the youngest person on staff, you're

imagined to be the technology expert,

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whether you naturally are or not.

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So the more you know about the fundraising

software, the greater odds you will

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be able to land that fundraising job.

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Amy: Oh, that is a great tip.

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That's a really good idea.

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Mary Zell Galen: So that

concludes the portion of my

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tips for emerging professionals.

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Amy: Thank you.

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in your current role at the Maryland

Historic Trust, which I think is so cool,

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uh, you focus on historic preservation.

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So can you tell us a little bit about

how your work with historic preservation

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intersects with the museum world?

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and maybe you can talk to us a little

bit about how, you know, you're

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not working in the museum right

now, but you still get to work.

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With museums So how, how do those two

kind of intersect and, and work together?

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Mary Zell Galen: So I think it's helpful

to think of it in museum terms that I

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just have a museum collections job now,

except for the collection I'm working

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with is all the historic buildings

throughout the state of Maryland.

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So instead of all the collections

that museum might have in their

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storage spaces, I'm just working

with buildings out in the wild.

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So with those buildings, I'm working to

build a Of the records pertaining to all

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of those buildings to be able to have the

searchable tool where both researchers

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or the general public or state officials

can easily pull information such as,

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oh, how many buildings were built,

or that we have records on at least.

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Prior to 1900 in Wicomico County,

and then we can have that piece of

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information for whether you're trying to

advocate to preserve those buildings or

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interested in developing those properties

in the future to, um, as an adaptive

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reuse project or anything like that.

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Amy: That's so interesting.

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so one thing that you and I, I know,

Have talked about before and one thing

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that we're kind of passionate about is

expanding museum audiences and it is

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is a big challenge for a lot of museums

And one thing that I talk a lot about

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on the podcast is how do you get more

visitors through your museum's doors?

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And also, how do you get them

to come back and bring a friend?

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So, Let's talk a little bit, and I'd love

to hear your experience, um, what do you

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think are effective ways for museums to

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Mary Zell Galen: I think an important

first step is to know who your

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audience is and who's visiting

your museum in the first place.

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I know surveying visitors can be expensive

and sometimes a little complicated,

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but I think it's really valuable

to know who's already visiting your

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institution and who you might be missing.

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Um, this is a really good data point

before you begin the project of

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really trying to expand your audience.

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Amy: that is a great idea.

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I know that you had some amazing

museum jobs before you worked

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at the Maryland Historic Trust.

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Do you have any, stories about

museum audiences at those?

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places.

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Mary Zell Galen: so I previously

worked before coming to Maryland

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at the Virginia Museum of Natural

History in Martinsville, Virginia.

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VMNH did a lot of fantastic work

about trying to engage with folks

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who might not be able to otherwise

afford to visit the museum.

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They participated in this program that's

run by IMLS called the Museums for All

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program, which provides a discounted rate

to visit the museum for people who qualify

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for having an EBT card or food stamps.

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But VMNH was able to take this another

step farther, and they actually

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partnered with several local businesses.

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who were able to underwrite

the other portion of the cost.

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So say the Museums for All program

reduced the admissions rate to

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only two dollars per person.

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A local business came through and

provided the support for the other

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two dollars of the admissions fee.

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So people with an EBT card were then

able to visit the museum and also attend

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all their events for free, which was a

really valuable asset for the community.

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Amy: Oh, What a great program.

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Mary Zell Galen: VMNH also worked

with the public libraries to

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provide passes you could check

out to visit the museum for free.

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I know museums throughout

Maryland are also doing that.

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I've seen it in the Anne Arundel

County Public Libraries as well.

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And I think making sure your museum

is as affordable as possible is a

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really important step to be taking.

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And I think another way to sort of go

about that and building those community

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partnerships is by hosting sort of unique

events that might not necessarily seem

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like they're museum related, but still

are related to the museum's mission.

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At VMNH, they hosted um, four annual

science festivals, which had fun themes.

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One was a bones theme.

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One was bats themed.

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We did snakes.

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We did dragons a couple of times,

which instructs a little more there

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on the science connection, but there

still was a science connection.

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And we had an outdoor festival that

had games and activities, but also had

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really important educational content.

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So it would draw visitors in with this

exciting activity, and they'd learn

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some science in there, too, as well.

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Amy: Oh, that is a really good idea.

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I know that a historic home near

where I live, the Bellaire Mansion

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in Bowie, Maryland, It serves as a

host for Daughters of the American

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Revolution meetings, and then in, in

turn, the DAR chapter will organize

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speakers, And those speaker sessions

are free and open to the public.

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So welcome.

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Thank you.

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The historic home is able to help a

nonprofit organization, but then they

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also have a way to give back and have

a free event for their community.

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Mary Zell Galen: I think partnerships

are such an important way for museums to

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stay relevant and stay connected with all

different facets across the community.

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Amy: Definitely, I have one last question.

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It's my favorite question.

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Mary Zell, do you have a

favorite museum that you love?

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So I broke this up in two ways.

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Mary Zell Galen: Um, my favorite

all time museum is definitely the

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Air and Space Museum's Udvar Hazy

Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

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It's where the Air and Space Museum fits

all the really cool, big vehicles that

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can't quite fit into their Washington, D.

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C.

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facility.

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So that's where the space shuttle

lives, and um, other really large

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planes that could otherwise not feasibly

fit into the Smithsonian downtown.

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Um, they also, at this museum, that's

where they do a lot of aircraft repair.

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And you can actually look into their

collections area and watch them working

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on fixing aircrafts for display while

you're visiting, which I think is a really

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exciting way to engage with visitors.

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Amy: Oh, that's such a great pick.

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I'm so glad you picked that one.

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It's also one of my favorite museums too.

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Mary Zell Galen: But trying to force

myself to think outside of the D.

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C.

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which has so many great museums, it's

so hard to choose other favorites in D.

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C., so instead I also tried to pick a

favorite museum that I visited this year.

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Oh, great.

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along the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, which

is the main art museum in Buffalo.

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I was, I visited, um, as part of a

trip where I was also visiting Niagara

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Falls, but, um, the Buffalo Art

Museum had such fantastic interactive

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exhibits for what otherwise was

more of a traditional art museum.

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Um, like I walked away with multiple like

elements of interactive art projects I

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got to participate in as the visitor.

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they also sort of formatted their museum

in a slightly non traditional way.

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Most art museums that are more of like

an academic type art museum sort of start

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at the beginning of the history of art

and then work their way to the present.

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And this museum flipped it, so you walked

in and first explored the art that was

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being created now, about very relevant

topics now, and you worked your way back

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in time as you wove through the museum.

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Oh,

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Amy: that is so cool.

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I will make sure I leave the

links to both of Mary Zell's

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favorite museums in the show notes.

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I will probably be going to Buffalo

next year, so I'm definitely

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going to put that in the Museum

on my list of things to visit.

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Mary Zell Galen: That's so exciting.

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Amy: did you have any other

favorite museums on your list?

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There's so many.

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If I had to

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Mary Zell Galen: list other highlights

without maybe going into more depth,

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um, some of my favorite art museums

are definitely, um, the Corning

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Museum of Art, um, or the Museum of

Glass in Corning, New York, which is

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both the art and science of glass.

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Um, I also love the Mass MoCA Museum,

which is in Western Massachusetts, and

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it's all contemporary art, and it's

all really engaging and interactive,

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and often larger than life art.

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And a final pick, just to squeeze

them in there before we wrap up

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today, is Lincoln's Cottage in D.

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C.

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to pick another option.

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They have a really interesting

interpretation method where, and in

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a traditional historic house museum,

you're looking at furniture and talking

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about the people who live there,

but at Lincoln's Cottage, they're

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just interpreting Lincoln's ideas.

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The rooms you walk through are full.

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entirely empty and don't have furniture

in it, and it's to force you to focus

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on the stories they're telling you

on the tour and to force you to more

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focus on contemplating Lincoln's

ideas throughout his presidency.

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Oh, I love that.

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So those are three bonus picks for you.

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Amy: Mary Zell, thank you for

sharing your story with us today.

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And for the listeners, if you're

interested in learning more about

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historic preservation or pursuing

a career in museums, I will leave

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some links in the show notes.

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And that's it for today.

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I'll see you.

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next time.