Job Opening Title:
Director of Photography Collections
Name of Employer:
Briscoe Center for American History – University of Texas at Austin
Job Site Location (City, State) :
Austin, Texas
Application Deadline:
until filled
Minimum Degree Requirement:
Masters Degree
Years of experience required:
Six
Salary Range:
$80,000
Job Opening URL:
https://utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UTstaff/job/Director-of-Photography-Collections_R_00033850
Job Description (if URL to posting not available). Include instructions for how to apply.:
Director of Photography Collections
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
The Briscoe Center for American History, a research unit of the University of Texas at Austin reporting to the university’s Executive Vice President and Provost, seeks a visionary leader to direct its photography collections, which are growing rapidly in volume, depth, range, and national significance.
As one of the leading history research centers in the nation, BCAH collects, preserves, and makes available archival evidence that encompasses key themes in US history. From its inception, the center has collected photography that provides evidence of the people, places, and events of American history. Recognizing the importance of photography for historical research and interpretation, in the early 1990s the center began extensive efforts to collect the archives of major American photojournalists. Those efforts soon expanded to include documentary and commercial photography, resulting in a collection that now contains more than 10 million images and spans from 1849 to the present.
BCAH collections include comprehensive holdings, including negatives, contact sheets, color transparencies, prints, papers, publications, and other material documenting the work of Pulitzer Prize-winners Eddie Adams, Lucian Perkins, Steven R. Nickerson, John Moore, and Carolyn Cole, as well as such widely recognized and honored photographers as Russell Lee, George Tames, Diana Walker, Dirck Halstead, Flip Schulke, Wally McNamee, Jacques Lowe, Charles Moore, Spider Martin, Wendy Watriss, Stephen Shore, John Zimmerman, Steve Shames, Ben Martin, Christopher Little, Robert Polidori, Ed Kashi, and more than 80 other important photojournalists and documentary photographers.
The center’s photography archives (analog and digital) are among the Briscoe Center’s most frequently accessed materials, popular with researchers for use in documentary films, publications, and exhibitions around the world. Our photography collections also serve as inspiration for many of the center’s own research projects, exhibitions, public programs, and publications. For more information about the Briscoe Center, please visit our website:
www.briscoecenter.org
Purpose:
The Director of Photography Collections will assume a key leadership role at the center, working in collaboration with the center’s founding executive director and leadership team to oversee the care, description, cataloging, and promotion of the center’s photographic collections. The Director of Photography Collections will have primary responsibility for supervision of the photography archives staff and will facilitate key relationships with the center’s growing network of donors and supporters, including the photographers whose collections are in the center’s care. The ideal candidate for this senior-level position will bring an ability to work proactively and collaboratively, as well as a willingness to perform both high-level and ground-level tasks.
Responsibilities:
• Develop and implement policies and procedures for the acquisition, care, description, cataloging, and promotion of the center’s rapidly growing photographic collections, including analog and digital formats. Supervise the overall operations and programmatic activities of the photography unit, including the inventory, processing, and housing of all current and incoming collections. Supervise 3 FTE professional staff and student interns, setting clear direction around goals set by the Executive Director.
• Under the direction of the Executive Director, build and advance relationships with current and potential collection donors, including photographers, collectors, dealers, and other key individuals in the field of photography.
• Work with Briscoe Center’s archival registrar to document accessions. Work with Briscoe Center’s business office in arranging collection shipments. Oversee storage of collections in collaboration with the center’s Director of Research and Collections.
• Coordinate licensing of the center’s photography and coordinate permissions with photographers and donors as required. Oversee policies regarding reproduction and duplication of photographic resources. Collaborate with the Director of Research and Collections on reference services for photo collections, including digitization efforts and reference requests.
• Enhance collaboration with the University’s academic programs, faculty, students, and staff by leveraging the Briscoe Center’s outstanding photography collections to increasing visibility, scholarly activity, and student experience and utilization.
• Serve on the Briscoe Center’s Administrative Committee. Collaborate with Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director, Director of Research and Collections, and Director of Exhibits to implement the Briscoe Center’s vision, mission, and goals, including providing clear, consistent, and timely communication to the Center’s internal and external constituencies.
• In collaboration with Briscoe Center’s communications staff, serve as one of the Briscoe Center’s spokespersons for its photographic holdings and related collections, effectively representing them to all its constituencies to enhance its public and professional visibility and reputation nationally and internationally.
• Collaborate with and support the center’s exhibitions program and assist Director of Exhibitions as required to select materials for center exhibitions. Collaborate with the head of publications on photography books and the use of photos for other Briscoe Center publications.
• Collaborate with the Center’s Development Officer to determine fundraising needs and opportunities.
• Other duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications:
• Master’s degree with major coursework in American history, American Studies, Information Science, or related fields
• Documented experience working with and understanding of the use of photographs as historical evidence, particularly news and documentary photography. Knowledge of photographic formats, both analog and digital
• Six years of related work experience, including two years of managerial experience
• Superior written and oral communication skills
• Strong time management and organizational skills
• Demonstrated ability to organize, plan, prioritize, and coordinate multiple projects
• Demonstrated ability to work in a collaborative environment
• Strong commitment to and enjoyment working with donors, students, faculty and the public
• Proven ability to manage multiple internal and external relationships
Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.
Preferred Qualifications:
• Ph.D. in American History or American Studies
• Several years of progressively responsible experience in archival or museum leadership
• Knowledge of and coursework in the history of photography. Demonstrated proficiency in developing and implementing collections management policies and procedures
• Experience or familiarity with the Briscoe Center’s photographic collections
• Ability to conduct research on collection items, provenance, and historical context
• Creative thinking skills to explore innovative approaches to collections management, preservation, and access
• Experience in curation of photography exhibitions
• Experience with processing collections, creating finding aids, and producing other collection management tools and working with digital assets in an archival setting
• Experience in advancing an organization through external relations and organizational partnerships
• Highly professional demeanor
Salary:
$80,000
Please note: this is a full-time, exempt position located on the main campus of UT Austin. Position is open and earliest start date is Sept. 1, 2024.
Required Materials:
• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest
For more information or to apply, please visit:
https://utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UTstaff/job/Director-of-Photography-Collections_R_00033850
Archives Gig 