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. Dumbarton Oaks is launching a three-year Access Initiative to expand opportunities to engage with its resources and collections by scholars and the general public. One goal of the Access Initiative is to create more professional opportunities for early-career PhDs in the areas of study supported by Dumbarton Oaks. The ICFA Postdoctoral Fellowship in Byzantine Art/Archaeology is one of several opportunities that Dumbarton Oaks is announcing for 2019/2020 under this initiative.

The Postdoctoral 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 Program and will work closely with staff and Dumbarton Oaks researchers to establish intellectual control over ICFA’s multi-media holdings. The Fellow will support the ongoing cataloging of the Frank Kidner archive of Syria photos from the 1990s, a collection of nearly 10,000 color slides documenting in rich detail a great number of sites, including many that have now been fundamentally altered or completely destroyed. As that project reaches completion, the Fellow will assist with setting priorities for the cataloging, processing, and digitization of other collections related to Byzantine Art and Archaeology, based on their intellectual and cultural significance. Outcomes of the fellowship may include a research gateway similar to Dumbarton Oaks’ Moche Iconography site: https://www.doaks.org/resources/moche-iconography. This fellowship offers unique opportunities to build career skills in special collections and digital technologies while benefitting from the unique resources of Dumbarton Oaks. The Fellow will benefit from 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, Architecture, or Archaeology, with a specialization in Byzantine, ancient, or medieval art, or the late Antique Near East.
• Excellent research skills, particularly in the use of archival and photographic collections.
• Excellent knowledge of Ancient or Medieval Greek. Reading knowledge of one or more of the following languages: Modern Greek, Latin, Turkish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Italian, French, German, or Arabic.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a research library, archive, special collection, museum, or comparable environment.
• Strong computer skills, including experience using relational databases, collection management software, and electronic library resources.
• Experience with digital photography or digitization of photographs, slides, negatives, and other media, including working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Bridge or comparable software.

Term
This is a one-year fellowship, with the possibility of renewal for two additional years.