[Josh Maxwell]

Hello all,

My name is Josh Maxwell, and I am currently a student enrolled at Southern Illinois University of Carbondale. I am in the process of finishing my senior thesis for a Bachelor of Arts in Art History, the topic of my thesis is the analysis of a sword in our museum archives that we had little information on.

In the process of researching this sword, a paluoar from Afghanistan, I had to delve into the history of this sword type in order to piece together how this particular form came about as well as looking into possible relations that the paluoar type might have to swords of surrounding regions (talwar, shamshir, khanda, saif, etc), a process which I enjoyed very much.

I have had a love of arms and armor since I was little, informally conducting research since I was able to look at images and read about them. My curiosity of them led me to study metalsmithing here at school before I found that I like researching arms just as much as I like working with the materials and techniques surrounding them.

Now that my undergraduate studies are coming to a close I must make a decision concerning graduate school. I have a strong background in art history and am familiar with the field. However, I also have backgrounds in cultural anthropology, some archaeology, and museum studies including a basic introduction to conservation.

My dilemma comes down to deciding what field I want to focus in on for a master's and possibly a doctorate. I know I wish to continue studying arms and armour, and I feel sticking with art history might be the best option for a career based in research and teaching. However, I am also very interested in Museum Conservation and the possibility of me working hands on with these items makes this option tempting.

So, I come to you asking for advice. I know we have some individuals that are a part of this forum that work professionally in the fields I am interested in, and I was curious as to any input you might have. Any advice you might have is very welcome.

Thank you.

[P. Schontzler]

My advice would be to do a little research on professors, at your school and others, and find ones who appear to specialize in your areas of interest. Then reach out to them and get a discussion going on your goals and their experience and expertise should provide you some insight.

I did the same with my professors and ultimately decided to not continue with graduate studies in history, as it didn't fit my goals / desires. History is now one of my hobbies.

[J.D. Crawford]

[Josh Maxwell]

Thank you both, very helpful replies. Whatever I intend on going into, I'm sure it won't be a straight forward path.