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Museum technician vs archivist

The differences between museum technicians and 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 museum technician and an archivist. Additionally, an archivist has an average salary of $47,145, which is higher than the $40,953 average annual salary of a museum technician.

The top three skills for a museum technician include collections database, museum collection and artifact. The most important skills for an archivist are archival collections, online database, and archival materials.

Museum technician vs archivist overview

Museum TechnicianArchivist
Yearly salary$40,953$47,145
Hourly rate$19.69$22.67
Growth rate12%12%
Number of jobs5,697449
Job satisfaction3-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

Museum technician vs archivist salary

Museum technicians and archivists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Museum TechnicianArchivist
Average salary$40,953$47,145
Salary rangeBetween $24,000 And $67,000Between $23,000 And $94,000
Highest paying CityWashington, DCWashington, DC
Highest paying stateDelawareAlaska
Best paying companySmithsonian InstitutionApple
Best paying industry--

Differences between museum technician and archivist education

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

Museum TechnicianArchivist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorHistoryHistory
Most common collegeHarvard UniversityHarvard University

Museum technician vs archivist demographics

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

Museum TechnicianArchivist
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 39.0% Female, 61.0%Male, 43.1% Female, 56.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.3% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.4% Asian, 5.2% White, 76.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%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%
LGBT Percentage13%13%

Differences between museum technician and archivist duties and responsibilities

Museum technician example responsibilities.

  • Assist with planning, designing, and prototyping new exhibits.
  • Prepare daily animal diets and perform cleaning duties to USDA and AZA standards.
  • Perform an array of prototyping, fabrication, assembly, integration, and installation of exhibits.
  • Organize and catalog anthropology, mineral science and paleobiology collections.
  • Create and run excel macros on ceramic artifacts providing statistical analysis data.
  • Create and run excel macros on ceramic artifacts providing statistical analysis data.

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.
  • Show more

Museum technician vs archivist skills

Common museum technician skills
  • Collections Database, 11%
  • Museum Collection, 11%
  • Artifact, 11%
  • NPS, 9%
  • Pest Management, 8%
  • Cataloging, 8%
Common archivist skills
  • Archival Collections, 15%
  • Online Database, 11%
  • Archival Materials, 8%
  • Reference Services, 8%
  • Archival Research, 4%
  • Manuscript Collections, 4%

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