Description
Manage, interpret, and grow photography collections—prints, negatives, slides, digital files, and related ephemera—for museums or cultural institutions. Oversee research, exhibitions, preservation, and public engagement for photographic materials.
- • Develop and maintain cataloging, metadata, and digital asset management systems for photographic materials.
- • Provide research support and access to photography holdings for staff, scholars, and the public.
- • Monitor storage and gallery conditions for photographs (temperature, humidity, light) and coordinate conservation and pest control.
- • Train and supervise photo archives staff, registrars, imaging technicians, volunteers, and interns.
- • Negotiate and authorize acquisition, deaccession, sale, exchange, or loan of photographic works and archives.
- • Plan and conduct research on photographers, processes, provenance, and collection narratives.
- • Collaborate with leadership to set collecting policies, digitization priorities, and annual budgets.
- • Represent the institution at photo-focused conferences and community events to build partnerships and donor relations.
- • Plan and schedule photography exhibitions, talks, and programs, coordinating logistics and vendor services.
- • Write and review grant proposals, catalog essays, collection reports, and promotional content.
- • Examine and test photographs to authenticate process and authorship, assess condition, and determine value.
- • Arrange insurance for photo loans and exhibitions and recommend coverage levels for the collection.
- • Establish specifications for digitization, color management, and print reproductions; oversee production workflows.
- • Plan and manage acquisition, storage, matting/framing, and exhibition design for photography collections.
- • Develop and lead tours, workshops, and educational sessions on photographic history, processes, and care.
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
