Conservation Documentation Intern

Schedule: Full Time, 35 hours/week, Monday, June 15 - Friday, August 14, at least three days working onsite

Department Description

The Elise S. Haas Conservation Department is charged with the preservation, conservation, research, and display of modern and contemporary artworks, and in the exploration and documentation of artists’ practice. Eight staff members (conservator, director, and preparator) work collaboratively in a shared studio space for five conservation disciplines (electronic media, objects, paintings, paper, and photography).  

The art of our time necessitates new models of care for preservation and access, and SFMOMA conservators work collaboratively both intra- and inter-departmentally to address new challenges presented in unorthodox materials and emerging art-making methods. The scope of work encompasses activities across the preservation space to include treatment of art objects, documentation, exhibition installation, storage/ packing and transportation of artworks, environmental control, tracking acquisitions and outward loans, policy writing, and holistic care for the collection. The department cares for the Artist Materials Collection, representing the physical manifestations of artists’ practices and is displayed and housed on the in the center of the Conservation studio. 

Position Description

The Conservation Documentation Intern will assist the conservation team in developing a cohesive practice for capturing critical information about an artwork’s lifecycle, from accession and conservation to installation, within a museum environment. This internship focuses primarily on documentation, archiving, and digitization.

It will not offer hands-on treatment training and is not designed as a pre-program position.

The intern will play a vital role in maintaining the integrity and accessibility of essential records. The role involves a significant amount of routine data processing, making these records available to the conservation team and departments across the museum. We are seeking a self-motivated individual who enjoys independent, detail-focused work and takes pride in exceptional accuracy and efficiency.

Project Plan

Over the 9-week program, the Conservation Documentation Intern will: 

· Assist the team to consolidate and archive documentation related to past projects and conservation activities from multiple sources

· Engage in conversations with conservators to understand different needs and workflows for documentation

· Assist with archiving and organizing conservation records, ranging from treatment reports to photo documentation

· Collect and digitize critical records (such as installation instructions) and make them accessible to other stakeholders within the museum

· Participate in cross departmental meetings to understand museum’s existing workflows in order to help identify potential knowledge gap and needs

· Verify and cross-reference data for errors, discrepancies, and inconsistencies, making necessary corrections to ensure data integrity

Educational Objectives

Contemporary art conservation requires collaborations from multiple disciplines, and conservators often work closely with the artists and their studios. This internship will provide an opportunity for the intern to bridge knowledge gaps between conservation, registration, and curatorial departments. It will offer an overview of the conservator’s roles in acquiring, preserving, and installing contemporary art in a museum setting. Through this work, the intern will help improve information accessibility and contribute to the planning strategies for long-term collection stewardship.

Additional Internship Programming

The Summer 2026 Internship will offer 9-weeks of hands-on experience and mentorship along with weekly presentations and discussions with various departments in the museum, off-site educational visits within the Bay Area community, and access to various tours and events within the museum.

Requirements 

· Applicants must be currently enrolled in Master's program or a recent graduate. The SFMOMA recognizes a graduation date within 6 months of the internship start date as a recent graduate.  

· If you are a current employee of the SFMOMA applying for an internship, you must be a current student or a recent graduate, within 6 months of the internship start date.   

· Must have prior experience working in an archive, library or museum

· Excellent attention to detail

· Strong organizational skills, with the ability to meet weekly input deadline efficiently

· Familiarity with database management systems

· The preferred candidate should be enrolled in a related graduate-level program, such as museum studies and information science

· Ability to work independently in a focused, self-motivated manner

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$7,000 pre-tax stipend paid out in a one-lump sum after start date

*TAX WITHHOLDING: For certain non-US residents and non-CA residents, any payments that constitute taxable income under U.S. tax law may be subject to up to 30% federal and 7% state tax withholding (or the current applicable rates), and so any payments you receive may be reduced accordingly. Please consult with your tax advisor regarding the tax treatment of your stipend from this internship.

Application Requirements

· Intern application on SFMOMA job site

· Resume, in PDF format

· Cover letter stating the specific internship of interest, in PDF format

  · Describe the experience you bring, why you are interested in museum or nonprofit work, reasons for applying to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and your goals for the internship.

· Two letters of recommendation from either a college professor or current/former employer, in PDF format

· College/university transcript, in PDF format

· Transcripts can be unofficial but must be legible

  · If you are currently enrolled in a master's or PhD program, please provide the transcript for your current program, not your undergraduate transcript

Application Deadline: February 28, 2026

Please note: You only need two letters of recommendation total, not separate letters for each internship. If you apply to multiple internships (up to three), simply inform your recommenders which positions you’re applying for. We’ll review the same two letters across all your applications.