Paper Conservator Granton, Scotland
Job description
National Museums Scotland is one of the leading museum groups in Europe. With one of the largest and most diverse collections in the world, we are responsible for the acquisition, preservation and display of a substantial part of Scotland’s cultural, historic and national heritage.
Millions of local and international visitors enjoy our four museums each year, and we also introduce our collections to a much wider audience than can physically visit our museums through, touring exhibitions, loans, community engagement, digital programmes and research.
Over the last decade, we have invested over £120 million in our sites and have more than doubled our visitor numbers, with over 3 million people now visiting our four museums. Alongside this, we have continued to transform how we communicate and engage with our audiences. 2019 has seen the completion of our Masterplan for the National Museum of Scotland with the opening of three new galleries dedicated to Ancient Egypt, East Asia and the Art of Ceramics.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Paper Conservator to join our busy conservation team on a permanent, part-time basis with the primary aim of delivery of our diverse exhibition, display and loan programme. The post will be part of the Paper and Textile conservation team based in our laboratories at the National Museums Collection Centre in Granton, Edinburgh.
Reporting to the Principal Conservator, Paper and Textiles, the post-holder will work across the programme of paper conservation, gaining experience from and contributing to a range of paper conservation activities to prepare our truly diverse collection for display. The post-holder will undertake challenging conservation treatments of paper objects including art, design, archival and photographic material.
As a successful post-holder, you will have a recognised conservation degree with the ability to work independently on the examination and treatment of paper artefacts. You will bring your expert conservation knowledge to our exhibitions, displays and loans programmes. You will have strong documentation and IT skills to document conservation treatments and the condition of objects. You will be a team player, able to work to tight deadlines and effectively plan and prioritise your work programme. A good communicator, you will be organised and adept at problem solving. You will have the ability to supervise volunteers, students and contract staff, and you will have a passion for conservation and be able to communicate this to our audiences.
