# any conserators/preservationists out there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 25, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conserators-preservationists-out-there/266002 "2004-09-25T03:54:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sandlegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@Sandlegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandlegs)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conserators-preservationists-out-there/266002/1 "2004-09-25T03:54:43Z")
As some college students may find in their final year at school; that the calling they felt as sophomores may not be the one you feel at senior level, is coming upon me. I am a broadcasting student with an emphasis on radio. Radio is ok, and i can do it perfectly, but i have a nagging itch that i really don’t want to do radio. Maybe it is the low pay. or the crap hours, or the live aspect, but i don’t really want to do this any more…but…it is too late for me. I am going to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting. so, (here is where the thread title comes into play) i find conservation to be very very cool. mostly music and library conservation. It seems to be a career where you can stay away from people and do your job, and that is very enticing to me. Are any of you, the teeming millions, a conservator or preservationist, and would you give me some tips on where i could start once i graduate at becoming what i am really pulled to? ---
**Author:** ![Sandlegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@Sandlegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandlegs)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conserators-preservationists-out-there/266002/2 "2004-09-25T03:56:58Z")
crap, i spelled conservator wrong in the thread title ---
**Author:** ![Sandlegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@Sandlegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandlegs)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conserators-preservationists-out-there/266002/3 "2004-09-25T03:58:49Z")
but i spelled preservationist right…it figures ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conserators-preservationists-out-there/266002/4 "2004-09-25T04:42:28Z")
I currently work in a museum. Your career opprotunities in this field vary according to where you live. Should you want to get hired by some place like the Smithsonian, you’ll probably need a degree specifically in conservation, or at least have a lot of vocational training. You might be able to join one of their internship programs, but I don’t know what would be needed for that. Some museums have higher requirements than others. I’d suggest calling a museum in which you’d be interested in working and asking them what you’d need to get started. The museum in which I work is in a small town, and only has a handful of employees. I got my job by volunteering at the museum for about a year before I was hired. I have no degree, and they trained me in everything I do. However, my paycheck is so small as to be a mostly symbollic gesture, and not all of my work is with the artifacts-- I have to work with the public, too. Working in conservation/preservation may sound attractive, but you’ve got to ask yourself if you’re the kind of person who dosn’t mind doing the same thing day-in-day-out. Sometimes, I will work on the same item for _months_, with agonizingly slow progress. (I’m working on a project now that I started about three months ago, and I’m only about a quarter of the way finished.) Some people can’t take it-- they find it tedious and boring. I actually enjoy it. It just depends on your personality. ---
**Author:** ![Sandlegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@Sandlegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandlegs)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conserators-preservationists-out-there/266002/5 "2004-09-26T06:52:52Z")
oh boy do i love stuff that is tedious and boring. If i am doing the same thing for months, that is great for me, just as long as people let me work and don’t bother me very much…it sounds perfect.