The Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) is the center for specialized technical collection research and conservation for all Smithsonian museums and collections. MCI combines knowledge of materials and the history of technology with state-of-the-art instrumentation and scientific techniques to provide technical research studies and interpretation of artistic, anthropological, biological, and historical objects.

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The Smithsonian Institution's Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) has posted a position for a Preventive Conservator on USA jobs.
This is a full-time federal position with the opportunity for promotion.

For: federal employees with permanent status or individuals eligible for special appointing authorities: 
MPA - https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/805629900

For U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals: 
DEU - https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/805630700

MCI has a new Director, Dr. Sanchita Balachandran and is actively undergoing a mission, vision, and strategic planning process. Please consider applying to join an institution with a strong history and newly imagined future.

All applications due by 9/10/2024.

 

In the News

MCI's Shared Stewardship and Ethical Returns Statement

Carol Grissom's, Senior Object Conservator, newest book is now available online - Producing Posies: A Technical Study of the Frances Jones Poetker Collection of Bouquet Holders at Smithsonian Gardens, 7/19/24

HSI Investigation Leads to Repatriation of Rare 16th Century Book to Kingdom of Spain, 5/22/24

Nicole Little, Physical Scientist,  quoted in C&EN article, Early western European coins' Byzantine origins: Lead isotopes and trace elements in medieval coins reveal unexpected silver source, by Brianna Barbu, 4/16/24

The Story of the Indigenous Wool Dog Told Through Oral Histories and DNA, Hakai magazine, by Devon Bidal, 12/14/23

Mutton, an Indigenous wooly dog, died in 1859 - new analysis confirms precolonial lineage of this extinct breed, once kept for their wool, The Conversation, by Audrey T. Lin, Chris Santis, and Logan Kistler, 12/14/23

Color analysis of the 1918 first US airmail stamp
MCI scientists Thomas Lam and Edward Vicenzi forged a collaboration with National Postal Museum's historian Susan Smith and conservator Scott Devine to analyze the colors in the 1918 Curtiss Jenny 24 cent airmail stamp.

 

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