Organizer Information
The University of Notre Dame is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana. Its art museum's collection dates to 1875, making it one of the oldest and most highly regarded academic art collections in the United States. The museum — the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, formerly the Snite Museum of Art — opened its current 70,000-square-foot, Robert A.M. Stern-designed building in December 2023. The permanent collection holds more than 31,000 works representing many cultures and periods of world art history. The building features 23 galleries and site-specific commissions by internationally recognized artists including Jenny Holzer, Maya Lin, Mimmo Paladino, Jaume Plensa, and Kiki Smith. As stated in the source, the fellowship program is funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Title & Description
Curatorial Postdoctoral Fellowships, University of Notre Dame — Photography
With funding from a grant provided by Lilly Endowment Inc., the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art is inviting applications for four postdoctoral research fellowships across its main curatorial areas: European and American Art before 1900, Indigenous Americas and Africa, International Modern and Contemporary Art, and Photographs. This posting is specifically for the Photography fellowship. The Lilly Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow for Photography will be responsible for cataloguing, researching, and interpreting the Museum's photography collection — some 10,000 objects, numerically the largest segment of the Museum's holdings, spanning the full range of dates, methods, and styles within the medium. The Fellow will work with the collection curator to affirm or update attribution, subject, and dating information, and to record provenance, exhibition history, and bibliography, contributing this refined information to the Museum's digital records and the University database. A key project goal is to reorganize collection storage ahead of a planned dedicated Works on Paper Study Room, which will serve as a hub for research into the Museum's prints, drawings, and photographs from the fifteenth through twenty-first centuries.
The Role Overview
- Position Type: Full-time, in-residence appointment
- Contract Type: Temporary — two years, with the possibility of a one-year extension
- Salary: $63,480–$71,748, depending on work experience
- Reports To: Assigned collection curator (Photography)
- Department / Programme: Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, Office of the Provost
- Appointment Period: Anticipated to run from September 28, 2026 through September 2028
Position & Tasks
- Examine works to describe media and subject matter; update attributions; take measurements
- Compile bibliographies, exhibition histories, provenance records, and historic scholarly opinions
- Update records in the Museum's collections management database
- Conduct in-depth research on selected works within the photography portfolio
- Contribute, as directed, to the forthcoming selected works catalogue
- Upon request, meet with faculty and students to connect them with the collection
- Be available for public programming, including lectures, presentations, gallery talks, tours, and panel discussions
- Assist in researching and processing new acquisitions, and help consider purposeful collection expansion
- Contribute cataloguing work to the Museum's collection digitization project, Marble
- On a limited basis, assist in supporting academic classes through campus partnerships
- Assist curators in preparing the photography collection for the planned Works on Paper Study Room
- Identify works or themes in the collection aligned with personal research interests, for publication in scholarly journals or presentation at conferences
Categories
- Curatorial Practice
- Photography
- Museum Studies
- Art History Research
- Collections Management
- Archival Research
Eligibility
- PhD in art history required, received within the last five years, from an accredited institution in the U.S. or Europe
- Reading knowledge of at least two European languages required
- Command of the art historical canon required
- Familiarity with archival research required
- Interest in connoisseurship required
- Ability to communicate with both multi-disciplinary academic and diverse general audiences, with clarity and precision, required
- Ability to work independently while coordinating with staff in other departments required
- Museum experience with collections: desirable but not essential
- Understanding of collections management databases: a plus
- Preference given to applicants intending to pursue a curatorial career
- Fellows must be able to be in residence at the University for the full appointment period
- Appointment is contingent on successful completion of a background check, including disclosure of any felony convictions or pending felony charges (a felony conviction does not automatically disqualify a candidate, but dishonesty in disclosure can)
Program Benefits
- Salary: $63,480–$71,748, depending on experience
- Travel stipend: $4,000 per year, for the Fellow's own research or professional development related to museum practice
- No other specific benefits (health insurance, retirement, paid leave, etc.) are itemized in the source
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 17 August 2026
- Appointment Start: Anticipated September 28, 2026
- Appointment End: Anticipated September 2028 (with possible one-year extension)
Location
Notre Dame, Indiana, United States
Additional Details
- This fellowship is one of four Lilly Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellowships offered concurrently, alongside European and American Art before 1900, Indigenous Americas and Africa, and International Modern and Contemporary Art
- The photography collection has seen significant acquisitions over the past ten years and is described as among the most frequently requested by University faculty for classroom study
- The University of Notre Dame is an Equal Opportunity Employer and states it does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or age, and complies with 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-300.5(a)
- The University "strongly encourages" applications from candidates attracted to a university with a Catholic identity, though this is not stated as a formal eligibility requirement