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Spencer Barton was hired as an independent museum consultant serving museums in Southeast Iowa.
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Just Hired: Spencer Barton

November 13, 2025

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Just Hired! Through the experiences of local, regional, national and international students, Western Illinois University has some incredible alumni who are changing the world in the workforce. This series will feature students from all over the world who are hired post-graduation.

MACOMB, IL - - Meet Spencer Barton, a graduate of Western Illinois Museum Studies program, who was hired as an independent museum consultant serving museums in Southeast Iowa, stationed out of Mount Pleasant, IA.

With the closure of Iowa Wesleyan University in spring 2023, Barton lost his job as an archivist and director of a historic home at the institution. A new need was created in the aftermath of this tragedy: the University's archives needed to be rehoused.

Barton then negotiated to work as an independent contractor to help design, organize and implement a new room for the archives where four-fifths of the archives were rehoused at a local museum, Henry County Heritage Trust. He not only works with them, but several other museums in the area.

Barton serves what some would consider a micro-museum, a museum with extremely limited budgets and little to no hired staff. He serves to offer professional assistance in an effort to meet any needs including: collection care, database management, marketing, graphic design, video production, social media management, fundraising, exhibit design, collection audits or any other number of things these museums need to thrive.

When asked about his time at WIU, he was very thankful to his professors, naming Pamela White, professor emerita of the Museum Studies program, as one of them.

"The Museum Studies graduate program, based out of WIU's Moline campus, is a well known and respected program in the region, offering comprehensive knowledge and practice related to museum work," Barton said. "I most prominently apply my course-work related to collections care and management, as this makes up the bulk of my contracted work and it is my greatest passion."

Barton plans to act as a resource to other students in the WIU Museum Studies program and be someone who can instill a lasting impact on institutions and communities.

To share your hiring story with WIU, visit go.wiu.edu/4eVgEuw.
To learn more about WIU's Museum Studies program, visit wiu.edu/cofac/qc/museumstudies/.

Posted By: Keyana Cruse (k-cruse@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing