History curators participate in this conversation by studying the existing collections and by adding artifacts to them that their study suggests are worth preserving from the American past. Only a fraction of what is available can be preserved, and so curators must draw on their knowledge of what has proven important about the past, or promises to be important about the present, to collect for the museum. The world is a complex, multifaceted place. There are many points of view. Every collecting decision is a judgment call that requires knowledge both of the artifacts and of American history more generally.
General knowledge is needed to answer many other questions.
The research then becomes the basis for exhibitions at the museum and the many other ways in which we disseminate information. For example, curators write books and articles, both popular and academic. Curators answer inquiries from people with historical questions or with objects to identify. They also assist academic colleagues with a specialized knowledge of material culture. And they develop and deliver lectures, demonstrations and a wide variety of educational programs for the museum's audiences.