Education

Museum Technicians and Conservators

Restore, maintain, or prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit. May work with specimens such as fossils, skeletal parts, or botanicals; or artifacts, textiles, or art. May identify and record objects or install and arrange them in exhibits. Includes book or document conservators.

Median salary (BLS)

$51,440

10th–90th percentile (BLS)

$34k – $88k

Job outlook

+5% (faster than average)

AI exposure

Early-career check: graduates of the matching programs below typically earn $85,000 ten years after starting college — an early-career figure, vs. the all-experience BLS median above. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard.

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Education

Typical entry: Bachelor's degree

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Typical progression

Junior Museum Technicians and Conservators
Entry / Junior
$33,780
~2 yrs to advance
Museum Technicians and Conservators
Established
$51,440
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Museum Technicians and Conservators
Senior
$69,485

Key skills

A typical day

•Install, arrange, assemble, and prepare artifacts for exhibition, ensuring the artifacts' safety, reporting their status and condition, and identifying and correcting any problems with the set up.
•Repair, restore, and reassemble artifacts, designing and fabricating missing or broken parts, to restore them to their original appearance and prevent deterioration.
•Clean objects, such as paper, textiles, wood, metal, glass, rock, pottery, and furniture, using cleansers, solvents, soap solutions, and polishes.
•Photograph objects for documentation.
•Determine whether objects need repair and choose the safest and most effective method of repair.

Fields of study

Any field

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Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.