Dumbarton Oaks is a research institute affiliated with Harvard University that supports research internationally in the field of Byzantine Studies. In addition to world-renowned library and museum collections, Dumbarton Oaks’ Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA) holds more than a million unique items in a variety of media, including extensive material relating to the art and architecture of the late Antique and Medieval eastern Mediterranean. Dumbarton Oaks invites applications for a Post-Doctoral Fellow to join a team working to create comprehensive access to photographic and archival documentation of the Byzantine world held by ICFA.
The Post-Doctoral Fellow in Byzantine Art/Archaeology will receive training in archival processing and digital curation and will support digitization initiatives to increase access to ICFA collections for scholars and the public. The Fellow will be fully integrated into the Library and Byzantine Studies Program and will work closely with staff and Dumbarton Oaks researchers. The Post-Doctoral Fellow will assist the Image Collection and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA) with processing, cataloging, and interpreting these collections. To date, much of the exhaustive documentation produced by the Byzantine Institute of America, including its work at Hagia Sophia, has been published in Harvard’s HOLLIS Images platform alongside documentation of San Marco in Venice and late Antique and medieval monuments in Syria. Collections awaiting online publication include extensive architectural studies of Hagia Sophia created by Robert van Nice, photographic documentation of monuments in Anatolia, the Levant and North Africa, and mosaics throughout the north Adriatic. Dumbarton Oaks is contributing content to open access platforms and is also exploring artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision techniques to enhance access to photographic collections. Outcomes of the fellowship may include scholarly publications on Byzantine art, architecture, and archaeology as well as contributions to digital humanities and further expansion of the online gateway to the Byzantine collections of ICFA. This fellowship offers unique opportunities to build career skills in special collections and digital technologies while benefiting from the unique resources of Dumbarton Oaks. The Fellow will participate fully in Dumbarton Oaks’ dynamic community of scholars and programming in Byzantine Studies and will devote 20% of the fellowship time to personal research.
Qualifications
- PhD in Art History or Archaeology with a specialization in Byzantine Studies.
- Demonstrated experience working with Byzantine art and architecture through archaeological excavation, museum curation, or other demonstrable close study and engagement.
- Excellent research skills, particularly in the use of archival and photographic collections.
This is a one-year fellowship, with the possibility of renewal for two additional years.
The Fellowship will begin on July 1, 2022. Applicants must have fulfilled all the requirements for the PhD by the time of application and must have received the PhD no later than June 30, 2022, and no earlier than July 31, 2018.