Archivist vs museum archivist

The differences between archivists and museum archivists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an archivist and a museum archivist. Additionally, a museum archivist has an average salary of $50,396, which is higher than the $47,145 average annual salary of an archivist.

Archivist vs museum archivist overview

	Archivist	Museum Archivist
Yearly salary	$47,145	$50,396
Hourly rate	$22.67	$24.23
Growth rate	12%	12%
Number of jobs	449	459
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

Archivist vs museum archivist salary

Archivists and museum archivists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Archivist	Museum Archivist
Average salary	$47,145	$50,396
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $94,000	Between $24,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	-
Highest paying state	Alaska	-
Best paying company	Apple	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between archivist and museum archivist education

There are a few differences between an archivist and a museum archivist in terms of educational background:

	Archivist	Museum Archivist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common major	History	History
Most common college	Harvard University	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Archivist vs museum archivist demographics

Here are the differences between archivists' and museum archivists' demographics:

	Archivist	Museum Archivist
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 43.1% Female, 56.9%	Male, 38.9% Female, 61.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.3% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.3% Asian, 5.1% White, 76.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%	Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 5.2% Asian, 3.5% White, 81.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between archivist and museum archivist duties and responsibilities

Archivist example responsibilities.

Create EAD and DACS compliant finding aids for new and existing collections.
Update online database with metadata on newly accession materials and implement new physical arrangement system for archival collections.
Develop a custom RDF metadata model for archiving and cataloging multimedia digital artworks in the library's digital asset management system.
Enter website content, adding basic HTML coding.
Use EAD for collection processing and organization of metadata.
Encode multiple finding aids in EAD including faculty biographical files.

Museum archivist example responsibilities.

Create correspondences/completed FDA forms/maintain submission calendars/review submission documents.
Accession and process collections maintaining records using PastPerfect software.

Archivist vs museum archivist skills

Common archivist skills

Archival Collections, 15%
Online Database, 11%
Archival Materials, 8%
Reference Services, 8%
Archival Research, 4%
Manuscript Collections, 4%

Common museum archivist skills

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Archivist vs Museum Archivist

Updated January 8, 2025

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