Curatorial Postdoctoral Fellowships, University of Notre Dame European and American Art before 1900

University of Notre Dame • Notre Dame, IN

3d • Onsite

About The Position

This Postdoctoral Fellow position is being managed through a separate application system. We are sharing here to increase visibility and accessibility. Apply here through August 17, 2026 if you are interested. With funding provided by a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc., the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame invites applications for four postdoctoral research fellowships in its main curatorial areas: European and American Art before 1900, Indigenous Americas and Africa, International Modern and Contemporary Art, and Photographs. Fellows will be appointed for two years with the possibility of a one-year extension. Each fellow will work with a collection curator who will direct their research activity. Fellows are expected to be in residence at the University for the duration of the appointment, anticipated to run from September 28, 2026 through September 2028, in order to contribute to the community of scholars on campus. The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art opened its new building in December 2023. With a collection of over 32,000 objects, it serves a campus with about 10,000 students and 1,500 faculty, in addition to diverse communities in northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan. Its holdings are increasingly recognized nationally and internationally for their breadth and quality. The Lilly Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow for European and American Art before 1900 will be responsible for cataloguing, researching, and interpreting the Museum's growing collection of prints, drawings, paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts. The portfolio includes over 5,300 objects from countries in Europe, North America, and South America and is especially strong in Italian Renaissance and Baroque, French Rococo, neoclassical, and nineteenth-century academic art. Important acquisitions of old master and nineteenth-century prints and drawings over the last fifteen years have strengthened the works on paper holdings, making them among the most frequently requested works by University faculty for classroom study. The Fellow will work with the curator to research the permanent collections and devise appropriate strategies for disseminating that research. Provenance research is a priority. They will assist in researching and processing new acquisitions and planning routine rotations of prints and drawings on view in thematic permanent collection galleries. Cataloging efforts will contribute to the Museum's new database and ongoing collection digitization project, Marble. With increasing partnerships with various institutes and departments across campus, the fellow may be asked to assist in supporting these classes on a limited basis. A chief initiative of the Museum’s strategic plan is to publish a new selected works catalogue. In consultation with the curator, the fellow will select objects to research and write select entries. The fellow will also be encouraged to identify works or themes in the collections that correspond to their own research interests and publish in scholarly journals or present at conferences. A new addition is planned for the Raclin Murphy Museum that will feature a dedicated Works on Paper Study Room intended to serve as a hub for the research and interdisciplinary study of the Museum’s collection of prints, drawings, and photographs from the fifteenth through twenty-first centuries. The Fellow may assist the curators in preparing collections for this new facility with a team of Museum staff.

Requirements

• PhD in art history (received within the last five years) from an accredited institution in the U.S. or Europe.
• Reading knowledge of at least two European languages.
• Command of the art historical canon.
• Familiarity with archival research.
• Interest in connoisseurship.
• Ability to communicate equally with multi-disciplinary academic and diverse general audiences with clarity and precision.
• Ability to work independently while coordinating efforts with staff in other departments.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in museums with collections is desirable but not essential.
• Understanding of collections management databases a plus.
• Interest in and enthusiasm for museum work, with preference given to applicants intending to pursue a curatorial career.

Responsibilities

• Examine works and describe media, support, and subject matter; update attributions; measure.
• Compile bibliographies, exhibition histories, provenance, and historic scholarly opinions.
• Update records in the museum’s collections management database.
• Conduct in-depth research on selected works in the portfolio.
• Propose works on paper rotations.
• Write labels and other didactics for public display.
• Contribute as directed to the forthcoming selected works catalog.
• Upon request, meet with faculty and students to connect them with the collection.
• Be available for public programming (lectures, presentations, gallery talks, tours, panel discussions, etc.)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree