Towards a modern museum. Women in the German museum association

Abstract

The German Museums Association (Deutscher Museumsbund, DMB), founded in 1917, was made up of a few directors. Between 1927 and 1934, the men’s circle opened up to 14 woman employees, who represented the hierarchy of museum staff across the board, from unskilled workers to collection managers to directors. However, the association was also important for female academics who turned to the office as job seekers. Thanks to the preserved applications, including CVs and references, sent to the DMB by female museum service candidates, another dozen little-known or forgotten female actors in the historical art and museum world can be identified.

By looking at these early museum women, it can be shown that rigid structures of the institution based on asymmetrical gender relations were set in motion shortly before the staff was replaced on a large scale under National Socialism. The social change in the museums, which the women art historians in the association’s environment had helped to bring about, has probably been lost from view, not least because of this.