Marjorie Schwarzer


Marjorie Schwarzer is an American museum writer and educator. She currently serves as administrative director of University of San Francisco's graduate museum studies program. She is a prolific writer and commentator on issues impacting museums, especially those in the United States but also in the United Arab Emirates and other developing nations. She has authored numerous reviews, articles and books about museums. From 1996 to 2011, she was professor and chair of Museum Studies at John F. Kennedy University, California. Her book Riches, Rivals and Radicals: 100 Years of the Museum in America was published in 2006 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the American Alliance of Museums. The book was the basis for an award-winning Public Television show of the same title. A second edition was released in April 2012. She serves on the editorial boards of the Museums and Social Issues Journal, and the International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship.

Personal background

Born in Boston, Schwarzer spent her early years in Buffalo, New York. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis in 1978 with a degree in art history and French, Schwarzer earned her MBA at University of California, Berkeley and began her museum career. After a brief stint at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, she served as Associate Director of Development at Boston Children's Museum snf Director of Education at Chicago Children's Museum before returning to Northern California in 1995 where she served as professor and chair of the museum studies department at John F. Kennedy University until she joined the University of San Francisco to help found a graduate museum studies program with a focus on social justice.
In 2003, she was awarded the Harry Morrison Award for Outstanding Teaching at JFKU. In 2008 she accepted the CAMMY award on behalf of JFKU from the California Association of Museums for leadership in the museum field.
She lives in Oakland, California with her husband, the architectural historian Mitchell Schwarzer.

Publications