Digital archivist vs museum archivist

The differences between digital 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 a digital archivist and a museum archivist. Additionally, a digital archivist has an average salary of $50,746, which is higher than the $50,396 average annual salary of a museum archivist.

Digital archivist vs museum archivist overview

	Digital Archivist	Museum Archivist
Yearly salary	$50,746	$50,396
Hourly rate	$24.40	$24.23
Growth rate	12%	12%
Number of jobs	16,449	459
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

Digital archivist vs museum archivist salary

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

	Digital Archivist	Museum Archivist
Average salary	$50,746	$50,396
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $105,000	Between $24,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between digital archivist and museum archivist education

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

	Digital Archivist	Museum Archivist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common major	Photography	History
Most common college	Harvard University	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Digital archivist vs museum archivist demographics

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

	Digital Archivist	Museum Archivist
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 50.8% Female, 49.2%	Male, 38.9% Female, 61.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 77.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%	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 digital archivist and museum archivist duties and responsibilities

Digital archivist example responsibilities.

Provide archiving support to international team of boutique design firm, digitizing a high volume of fashion publications.
Establish systems and process protocol for cataloging and archiving future digital material additions.
Create and coordinate a research and cataloging system for digital media archival and written communication.
Create correspondences/completed FDA forms/maintain submission calendars/review submission documents.
Accession and process collections maintaining records using PastPerfect software.

Museum archivist example responsibilities.

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

Digital archivist vs museum archivist skills

Common digital archivist skills

Metadata, 22%
Digital Preservation, 15%
Digital Materials, 14%
Digital Assets, 8%
Online Database, 6%
Digitizing, 5%

Common museum archivist skills

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Digital Archivist vs Museum Archivist

Updated January 8, 2025

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