Conservator (Photography (IS-1001-12)

Application Deadline: 2 April 2024

Department: Smithsonian American Art Museum

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Washington, DC

Reporting To: Head Conservator

Compensation: $99,200 - $109,119 / year

Description

• Pass Pre-employment Background Check and Subsequent Background Investigation for position designated as low risk.
• Complete a Probationary Period
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer.
• The position is open to all candidates eligible to work in the United States.  Proof of eligibility to work in U.S. is not required to apply.

OVERVIEW

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Guides proper handling and consults on object transport care,
• Designs, proposes, documents, and completes complex, advanced conservation treatments, scientific research including identifying fabrication materials on a wide variety of photographic materials within the collection.
• Provides expertise on the care, handling, and condition issues of photographic collections for accession, loans, exhibit, transport, and storage.
• Provides guidance and consultation to an exhibition team and exhibition fabrication teams to recommend specific climate parameters for the materials.
• Provides expertise and guidance on photographic and photomechanical processes within the collection.
• Participates in active acquisition, loan, and rotation schedules.
• Conducts technical material science research for all photographic materials within the museum’s collections including publishing findings in books and peer-reviewed journals.
• Provides guidance and expertise in preservation and conservation to staff and interns.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to create and manage a preservation plan for modern inkjet and pigment prints, digital-born photographic prints, including creating and updating collections handling standard operating procedures for collection and cold storage of prints and negatives.
• Ability to schedule, coordinate, and manage projects and resources, and to recommend contracting out work that would better serve the project timeline.
• Ability to inspect individual collections or surveys groups of collections, requests for loan, including archives as well as those being considered for acquisition.
• Ability to provide technical instruction based upon scientific evidence for loans and exhibition of the collections regarding permanent light degradation of materials and material culture and provides guidance to the light duration of exhibitions and cumulative light exposure for materials on display or loan.
• Ability to provide expertise and guidance on photographic and photomechanical processes within the collection to ensure their preservation is held to the highest standards.
• Ability to provide scientific analysis and historical knowledge of materials to guide and council the curators in the acquisition and study of collections.
• Ability to conduct analytical and scientific investigations into the composition of materials and determine the methods of fabrication as well as the root causes for deterioration on complex and fragile artifacts.
• Ability to communicate with a wide range of audiences on current conservation and preservation practices for photographic materials.