Historic Photo Digitization & Preservation Specialist

National Museum of Wildlife Art; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza seeks an experienced Photographic Preservation & Digitization Specialist to support a major two-year initiative to preserve, digitize and expand access to the Bob Jackson Collection, an extraordinary photojournalism collection documenting Dallas and national history from the 1960s and 1970s.

Reporting to the Head of Collections & Registration, the Specialist will assess and stabilize photographic materials; establish and implement preservation quality

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in photography, photographic preservation, conservation, museum studies, archives or a related field.
• Minimum of three years of relevant professional experience with photographic collections, digitization, preservation, archives, museums or related cultural heritage collections.
• Knowledge of photographic formats and preservation practices, including the handling, housing, storage and digitization of negatives, slides and photographic prints.
• Demonstrated experience with high-resolution digitization, digital imaging principles, file formats, color management, image derivatives and quality control.
• Familiarity with digital preservation principles, metadata and long-term management of digital assets.
• Strong research, organizational, analytical, documentation and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Assess the condition and preservation needs of photographic negatives, slides, prints and related materials.
• Rehouse materials using archival-quality enclosures and identify materials requiring conservation assessment or specialized storage.
• Develop and implement preservation and rehousing strategies based on format, condition, use and long-term preservation needs.
• Perform high-resolution digitization according to established professional standards and project specifications.
• Review previously digitized collection materials to determine whether they meet current project standards and identify materials requiring rescanning or additional documentation.
• Conduct image processing and quality control and create appropriate preservation master, research/reference and publication/access files.
• Apply established file-naming conventions, technical metadata, color-management practices and quality-control procedures.
• Coordinate with Digital Preservation Archivist to ensure digital files and metadata meet institutional requirements for storage and preservation in Preservica.
• Maintain documentation of digitization equipment, technical specifications, workflows and quality-control standards.

Skills

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Organizational skills

Analytical skills

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in photography, photographic preservation, conservation, museum studies, archives or a related field

Minimum of three years of relevant professional experience with photographic collections, digitization, preservation, archives, museums or related cultural heritage collections

Tools

TMS

Preservica

Job description

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza seeks an experienced Photographic Preservation & Digitization Specialist to support a major two-year initiative to preserve, digitize and expand access to the Bob Jackson Collection, an extraordinary photojournalism collection documenting Dallas and national history from the 1960s and 1970s.

Reporting to the Head of Collections & Registration, the Specialist will assess and stabilize photographic materials; establish and implement preservation quality