Opportunity - CURATORIAL CATALOGUING FELLOW – ACHENBACH FOUNDATION FOR GRAPHIC ARTS, FINE ARTS MUSEUMS OF SAN FRANCISCO
CURATORIAL CATALOGUING FELLOW – ACHENBACH FOUNDATION FOR GRAPHIC ARTS, FINE ARTS MUSEUMS OF SAN FRANCISCO
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
Applications due: 02/14/2025
The Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums is offering a Curatorial Cataloguing Fellowship with the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts (AFGA), the Museums' works on paper department. This fellowship program aims to support the Museums’ strategic goal to significantly enhance the scope of information available about works of art in the Museums’ collection, and make this information digitally accessible to a wider public. The two-year paid Fellowship program, onsite in San Francisco from September 2025-August 2027, is designed to provide an important professional development opportunity for eight emerging art museum professionals. We strongly encourage applicants from backgrounds historically underrepresented in the art museum field. This fellowship will advance participants’ curatorial training through rigorous research and cataloguing experience.
Under the supervision of Curators, Curatorial Cataloguing Fellows will be responsible for cataloguing works of art from the Museums’ permanent collection, with particular focus on enhancing information about the artwork’s provenance, exhibition history, and bibliographic records. Guided by the FAMSF curatorial team, Fellows will analyze gaps in existing collections data, conduct collection research, and write textual entries for the Museums’ collection management database, The Museum System (TMS). Throughout the two-year program, Fellows will also have the opportunity to engage with visiting experts in the field of provenance, research, and collections data to strengthen their professional development.
The Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts Fellow will be based at the Legion of Honor Museum and will work with the curatorial staff of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, the department responsible for works of art on paper: prints, drawings, photographs, and artist books. The Fellow will engage with works on paper from across time and cultures; the first stage of their cataloguing project will address the collections of Old Master and French drawings and French 19th-century prints. The Fellow will receive professional mentorship and gain hands-on experience examining objects within a dynamic works on paper department, while also collaborating closely with staff in Paper Conservation, Registration, and Collections Information.
Typical duties and responsibilities:
Work closely with curatorial staff to review and update department collection records through in-depth library and web-based research, primary and secondary source documents, consultation with outside scholars and institutions, and object file review.
Review and enhance object records and organize records in physical and digital files.
Research, compile and catalogue object provenance, exhibition history, bibliographic references, and geography; input data into the Museums’ collections database, TMS.
Work closely with the Collections Information team to ensure proper documentation of the collection in TMS as per FAMSF cataloguing guidelines and protocols.
Perform advanced searches, create packages, and analyze collection data in TMS.
Perform data cleaning and data entry in the TMS database with close attention to detail for consistency, accuracy, and adherence to the FAMSF cataloguing guidelines.
Participate in department and TMS project meetings on the implementation of cataloguing standards and guidelines.
Regularly meet with supervisors to set goals, discuss progress and to track work.
Performs other duties as assigned.