Photographic Preservation & Digitalization Specialist

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is one of the nation’s leading history museums and the most visited historic site in North Texas. Located within the historic Texas School Book Depository, the Museum preserves and shared the story of President John

F. Kennedy, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the enduring legacy of the 1960s through exhibitions, educational programming, collection and public engagement.

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, The Sixth Floor Museum stewards an expanding collection of archival materials, photographs, oral histories, audiovisual media, publications and institutional records that document one of the most significant events in American history and its broader historical context.

The Opportunity The Sixth Floor Museum seeks an experienced and detail-oriented Photographic Preservation & Digitization Specialist to support a major two-year initiative to preserve, digitize and expand access to the Bob Jackson Collection, an extraordinary photojournalism collection documenting Dallas and national history from the 1960s and 1970s.Reporting to the Head of Collections & Registration, the Specialist will assess and stabilize photographic materials;

establish and implement preservation quality digitization workflows; review and standardize previously digitized materials; create preservation, research and publication files; and help ensure the collection’s long-term physical and digital preservation.

Working collaboratively with the Museum’s Collections and Curatorial teams, the Specialist will also contribute to cataloging and research as needed, helping identify people, places, events, dates, publication history and other contextual information that strengthens future research, rights and reproduction, exhibition and public access.

This is a full-time, grant-funded, two-year position supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Key Responsibilities Include:

Assess the condition and preservation needs of photographic negatives, slides, prints and related materials.

Rehouse materials using appropriate archival-quality enclosures and identify materials requiring conservation assessment or specialized storage.

Develop and implement preservation and rehousing strategies based on format, condition, use and long-term preservation needs.

Perform high-resolution digitization according to established professional standards and project specifications.

Review previously digitized collection materials to determine whether they meet current project standards and identify materials requiring rescanning or additional documentation.

Conduct image processing and quality control and create appropriate preservation master, research/reference and publication/access files.

Apply established file-naming conventions, technical metadata, color-management practices and quality-control procedures.

Coordinate with Digital Preservation Archivist to ensure digital files and metadata meet institutional requirements for storage and preservation in Preservica.

Maintain documentation of digitization equipment, technical specifications, workflows and quality-control standards.

Documentation, Research & Access Maintain accurate records documenting condition, rehousing, digitization and digital assets, and update collection management system as required.

Coordinate with the Photographic Collection Cataloger to ensure physical materials, catalog records and digital assets remain accurately linked.

Assist with collection research and cataloging as project workflow permits, including identifying individuals, locations, events, dates and subjects represented in photographs.

Research publication and use history of photographs in newspapers, magazines and other sources to strengthen…