Museum Technicians and Conservator Restore, maintain, or prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit. May work with specimens such as fossils, skeletal parts, or botanicals; or artifacts, textiles, or art. May identify and record objects or install and arrange them in exhibits. Includes book or document conservators.
Museum Technicians and Conservator is Also Know as
In different settings, Museum Technicians and Conservator is titled as
- Art Preparator
- Conservation Technician
- Conservator
- Exhibit Technician
- Museum Registrar
- Museum Technician
- Objects Conservator
- Paintings Conservator
- Paper Conservator
- Preparator
Education and Training of Museum Technicians and Conservator
Museum Technicians and Conservator is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Museum Technicians and Conservator
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Education Required for Museum Technicians and Conservator
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Degrees Related to Museum Technicians and Conservator
- Bachelor in Museology/Museum Studies
- Associate Degree Courses in Museology/Museum Studies
- Masters Degree Courses in Museology/Museum Studies
- Bachelor in Art History, Criticism and Conservation
- Associate Degree Courses in Art History, Criticism and Conservation
- Masters Degree Courses in Art History, Criticism and Conservation
- Bachelor in Public/Applied History
- Associate Degree Courses in Public/Applied History
- Masters Degree Courses in Public/Applied History
Training Required for Museum Technicians and Conservator
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Museum Technicians and Conservator in different industries are
- Curators
- Set and Exhibit Designers
- Archivists
- Historians
- Forest and Conservation Technicians
- Chemical Technicians
- Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary
- Craft Artists
- Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators
- Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
- Calibration Technologists and Technicians
- Architecture Teachers, Postsecondary
- Landscape Architects
- First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers
- Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers
- Painters, Construction and Maintenance
- First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers
- Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Geological Technicians, Except Hydrologic Technicians
- Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians
What Do Museum Technicians and Conservator do?
- 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.
- Coordinate exhibit installations, assisting with design, constructing displays, dioramas, display cases, and models, and ensuring the availability of necessary materials.
- Determine whether objects need repair and choose the safest and most effective method of repair.
- Clean objects, such as paper, textiles, wood, metal, glass, rock, pottery, and furniture, using cleansers, solvents, soap solutions, and polishes.
- Prepare artifacts for storage and shipping.
- Supervise and work with volunteers.
- Specialize in particular materials or types of object, such as documents and books, paintings, decorative arts, textiles, metals, or architectural materials.
- Recommend preservation procedures, such as control of temperature and humidity, to curatorial and building staff.
- Classify and assign registration numbers to artifacts and supervise inventory control.
- Perform on-site field work which may involve interviewing people, inspecting and identifying artifacts, note-taking, viewing sites and collections, and repainting exhibition spaces.
- Repair, restore, and reassemble artifacts, designing and fabricating missing or broken parts, to restore them to their original appearance and prevent deterioration.
- Prepare reports on the operation of conservation laboratories, documenting the condition of artifacts, treatment options, and the methods of preservation and repair used.
- 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.
- Cut and weld metal sections in reconstruction or renovation of exterior structural sections and accessories of exhibits.
- Perform tests and examinations to establish storage and conservation requirements, policies, and procedures.
- Plan and conduct research to develop and improve methods of restoring and preserving specimens.
- Notify superior when restoration of artifacts requires outside experts.
- Estimate cost of restoration work.
- Preserve or direct preservation of objects, using plaster, resin, sealants, hardeners, and shellac.
- Build, repair, and install wooden steps, scaffolds, and walkways to gain access to or permit improved view of exhibited equipment.
- Construct skeletal mounts of fossils, replicas of archaeological artifacts, or duplicate specimens, using a variety of materials and hand tools.
- Direct and supervise curatorial, technical, and student staff in the handling, mounting, care, and storage of art objects.
- Photograph objects for documentation.
- Lead tours and teach educational courses to students and the general public.
- Deliver artwork on courier trips.
- Enter information about museum collections into computer databases.
Qualities of Good Museum Technicians and Conservator
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Tools Used by Museum Technicians and Conservator
- Adjustable widemouth pliers
- Air abrasive tools
- Binocular light compound microscopes
- Brazing equipment
- Carpenters' chisels
- Claw hammers
- Cold chisels
- Cordless drills
- Dental explorers
- Desktop computers
- Digital cameras
- Digital micrometers
- Digitizers
- Dusting brushes
- Handheld digital thermometers
- Hygrometers
- Infrared cameras
- Laboratory scalpels
- Laptop computers
- Mallets
- Oxyacetylene welding equipment
- Personal computers
- Photocopying equipment
- Power saws
- Soldering irons
- Stereo microscopes
- Temperature sensors
- Ultraviolet UV examination lights
- Vacuum cleaner micro-tools
- Vacuum cleaners
- Wire cutters
- Wire strippers
- X ray examination equipment
Technology Skills required for Museum Technicians and Conservator
- Adobe Acrobat
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Autodesk AutoCAD
- Gallery Systems EmbARK
- Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Visual FoxPro
- Microsoft Word
- PastPerfect Software PastPerfect
- Questor Systems ARGUS
- Questor Systems QScan32
- Word processing software