Art History to Archives
Almost four years ago to the day, I left my job as an archival assistant at the library of a major university and moved to the Greater Atlanta area. I was newly married and was moving to "the big city" to live with my new husband. If I could've packed up my job at the university and brought it with me, I would have. In a heartbeat. C'est la vie.
About six months before I had landed that awesome job I graduated from that same university with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History. I loved my major. It was everything I had wanted. I was extremely happy with what I had accomplished in my academic career. I figured that one day I would get my graduate degree in that same major and then maybe my doctorate and eventually become an Art History professor. But then I got that archival assistant job. My passion took a slight detour. The History part of my Art History degree became what I felt like I needed to follow. It was my calling.
For the past four years I haven't been able to find another job anything like that. I had a couple of jobs here and there, retail stuff. They sucked. I sold some of my art here and there too. A commission or two, jewelry booths at art fairs once in a while, but all the while I searched for another dream job. And guess what? I finally found it. I am now an archival and genealogical assistant at a public library! I am in heaven, lemme tell ya. My calling found me again. I had been searching for a long time because it was lost, but I must've been living right recently or something and the powers that be saw fit to return it to me.
I have plans to get a Masters of Library Science with a concentration in Archival Science. I'm working on it, really I am. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that my art degree would lead me to a library degree. I knew I've always been pretty geeky, but not this much. It's fantastic.
