Position at Fitzwilliam Museum

Research Assistant (Maternity Cover)
Fitzwilliam Museum (Hamilton Kerr Institute)

Salary: 20,842 UK Pounds p.a.

Limit of tenure:  This post is available until December 2007 or the
return of the post holder whichever is the earlier.

Manuscripts containing Winsor and Newton's 19th century recipes for
artists' materials are being published using an innovative database.
This unique resource of 17,000 pages of paint formulations will be
invaluable for authenticity studies, scientific analyses, and care
and preservation of 19th century paintings. The main aims of the
project include digital photography of the manuscripts, indexing and
interpreting recipe content, and publishing the database.

You will work on all parts of the project. You will carefully read
and interpret the recipes, and assist with entering this data into
the database. You will assist with editing the database, including
making editorial decisions on style and content. You will assist in
managing quality and consistency of data.  Toward the end of your
contract there will be opportunities for publishing and presenting
individual research based on this unique untapped resource.

The priority is that you should be able to demonstrate a good
knowledge of historical painting materials. Preferably you would
have trained in conservation. An excellent reading knowledge of
English is required for comprehension of the nineteenth-century
manuscripts. In addition to this, experience in as many of the
following would be helpful: editing, photography, digital imaging,
image processing (preferably Adobe Photoshop), databases (especially
image databases).

The project (in collaboration with Tate) is based at the Hamilton
Kerr Institute, a department of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University
of Cambridge. The Institute undertakes the conservation of easel
paintings for public and publicly shown collections
<URL:http://www-hki.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/>

Applicants who wish to work full time or part time (job-sharing) are
encouraged (one to five days per week). After initial training it
will be possible to do a large part of the work from home if
preferred. Ideally the successful candidate(s) would start work in
mid- to late January 2007, but a later would be acceptable.

Applications, to include CV, PD18 form (PD18 available from

    <URL:http://www-hki.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/pd18.html>

Complete Parts I and III only), and giving the contact details for
two referees should be sent to:

    The Administrator
    Hamilton Kerr Institute
    Whittlesford, Cambridge CB2 4NE
    +44 1223 832040
    Fax: +44 1223 837595
    hki-admin [at] lists__cam__ac__uk

Closing date: 10am, Tuesday 19 December 2006. E-mailed or faxed
applications are welcome. Interviews are expected to take place in
Cambridge on Thursday 21 December 2006.

Dr Mark Clarke
Hamilton Kerr Institute (Fitzwilliam Museum)
University of Cambridge
Whittlesford, Cambridge, CB2 4NE, England
+44 1223 832040
Fax: +44 1223 837595

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:31
                Distributed: Saturday, December 9, 2006
                       Message Id: cdl-20-31-030
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