Museum & Archive Consulting

Museum and archive consultants charge $75-$200 per hour or $5,000-$50,000 per project.

Serving 10-30 organizations annually generates $100,000-$500,000 annually with 75-85% margins.

In 2025, small museums and archives need professional guidance for collections management.

Services include collection assessment and planning, archival processing and arrangement, finding aids and cataloging, digitization project management, grant writing assistance, preservation planning, and staff training.

Successful museum consultants have museum studies or archival credentials, understand museum and archival standards, work with collection management systems, provide pragmatic advice for small institutions, write grants effectively, and train staff and volunteers.

Can serve small museums, historical societies, university archives, church archives, and community collections.

Many small institutions lack professional archivists.

Marketing through museum associations, historical society networks, and preservation conferences.