Museum Technicians and Conservators

What the job really is

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.

At a glance

• Sector: Education & Library
• O*NET-SOC code: 25-4013
• O*NET job zone: 4 — considerable preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• 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.

Tools and technology

Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk AutoCAD, Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Curators
• Set and Exhibit Designers
• Archivists
• Historians
• Craft Artists
• Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators
• Painters, Construction and Maintenance
• Forest and Conservation Technicians

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 4 (considerable preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Museum Technicians and Conservators — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.