Please find the SI Trust Careers posting for a Photography Conservator, SAAM at the preceding link. Application window closes June 20, 2024.

This full-time, temporary, Trust position has a salary range of $99,200 / year at the GS-12 level. 

Duty Station:

Washington, D.C.

Summary:

This position is located within the Lunder Conservation Center (LCC), Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), Under Secretary for Museums and Culture, Smithsonian Institution (SI). SAAM is dedicated to collecting, understanding, and enjoying American art. The Museum celebrates the extraordinary creativity of artists whose works reflect the American experience and global connections. The Lunder Conservation Center is a fully visible lab showing how the SAAM conservators preserve cultural artifacts.

The primary purpose of the position is to provide conservation treatment, preservation, and collection care, on a wide variety of photographs, photographic processes, and photographic materials within the collection. The position advises on preservation measures for exhibition, loan, and acquisition, conducts scientific and scholarly research, and collaborates on projects with SAAM staff.

Duties:

• 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 conservation, collection care, preservation, handling, and condition issues of photographic collections for accession, loans, exhibit, transport, and storage.
• Provides conservation guidelines and consultation to an exhibition team and exhibition fabrication teams to recommend specific climate parameters, display, and presentation protocols for the materials and display equipment used in exhibitions.
• Provides conservation expertise and guidance on photographic and photomechanical processes within the collection, including scientific analysis and material research when necessary to understand the material construction, artistic process, and preservation needs of the photographic works.
• Participates in active acquisition, loan, and rotation schedules through conservation assessments, examinations, condition reports, and conservation treatments.
• 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.
• Provides conservation guidelines for the proper handling, storage, and transportation of photographic artworks.