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Internships at the National Museum of African Art

Posted: Aug 30, 2009

The conservation department at the National Museum of African Art has hosted interns and fellows almost continuously for the past twenty years, and most of our pre-program interns have gone on to graduate training in one of the programs. The following is a brief overview of the program from the NMAfA webpage:

Conservation Department
The department is responsible for the care and preservation of the museum’s collection. Staff implements preventive maintenance procedures, conservation treatments, and appropriate handling and installation of objects. The department accepts interns with a demonstrable interest in the profession. Interns’ responsibilities are commensurate with prior work experience, the educational experience desired, and established programs within the department. Specific duties may include environmental monitoring, exhibition installation, object examination and condition reporting, conservation treatment, and technological or material science research. The department accepts pre-program conservation interns, conservation graduate students, and post graduate conservation students. Competitive funding may be available for post graduate students through the Office of Research and Training Services [www.si.edu/ofg/Applications/CFELL/CFELLapp.htm]

We make a particular effort to train our interns about Conservation Ethics and Standards of Practice as they pertain to non-Western material culture; the museum actively collects traditional art produced throughout the continent and contemporary works by artists from Africa and the diaspora including kinetic, ephemeral and time-based media.

The application packages are managed by our Education Department and applicants are instructed: For information about internship opportunities at the National Museum of African Art, contact Frank Esposito: at 202.633.4633 or e-mail espositof@si.edu espositof@si.edu . I also encourage students to contact me directly (smellor@si.edu) so that I can give them ideas about upcoming projects and to answer any specific questions.

Steve Mellor
Chief Conservator
National Museum of African Art
Smithsonian Institution
P.O. Box 37012 mrc 708
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
202.633.4616