Archivists, Curators, and Museum Workers

Archivists, Curators, and Museum Workers typically perform the following tasks: • Install, arrange, assemble, and prepare artifacts for exhibition, ensuring the artifacts' safety, reporting their status and condition, and identifying and correcting any problems with the set up. • Repair, restore, and reassemble artifacts, designing and fabricating missing or broken parts, to restore them to their original appearance and prevent deterioration. • Clean objects, such as paper, textiles, wood, metal, glass, rock, pottery, and furniture, using cleansers, solvents, soap solutions, and polishes. • Photograph objects for documentation. • Determine whether objects need repair and choose the safest and most effective method of repair. • Prepare artifacts for storage and shipping. • Enter information about museum collections into computer databases. • Recommend preservation procedures, such as control of temperature and humidity, to curatorial and building staff. • Notify superior when restoration of artifacts requires outside experts. • Supervise and work with volunteers. • Perform on-site field work which may involve interviewing people, inspecting and identifying artifacts, note-taking, viewing sites and collections, and repainting exhibition spaces. • Lead tours and teach educational courses to students and the general public. • Classify and assign registration numbers to artifacts and supervise inventory control. • Study object documentation or conduct standard chemical and physical tests to ascertain the object's age, composition, original appearance, need for treatment or restoration, and appropriate preservation method. • Prepare reports on the operation of conservation laboratories, documenting the condition of artifacts, treatment options, and the methods of preservation and repair used. • Specialize in particular materials or types of object, such as documents and books, paintings, decorative arts, textiles, metals, or architectural materials. • Perform tests and examinations to establish storage and conservation requirements, policies, and procedures. • Direct and supervise curatorial, technical, and student staff in the handling, mounting, care, and storage of art objects. • Coordinate exhibit installations, assisting with design, constructing displays, dioramas, display cases, and models, and ensuring the availability of necessary materials. • Preserve or direct preservation of objects, using plaster, resin, sealants, hardeners, and shellac.