Project Assistant & Cataloguer (African Photography Collections) in London

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to Image Makers: exploring photographs from Africa, a project focused on significant historic photographic collections from Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Working closely with the Project Curator and Project Lead, you will create accurate catalogue records and upload digitised images to the Museum’s database as well as helping to organise several thousand photographs so that they can be made accessible to project partners in Africa. You will also support biographical and provenance research and help maintain the project’s SharePoint files.

As part of the role, you will support African artists working with the collections during visits to London, acting as an approachable point of contact and helping them access relevant material. You may also assist visiting academics, artists and members of the public wishing to consult the photographic collections.

About you

• Hold a degree, or equivalent experience, in a relevant subject such as African history, art history, anthropology or visual anthropology, together with an enthusiasm for African histories, heritage and the arts.
• Experience of cataloguing collections and using a collections management database within a museum or other heritage institution. Experience of working with image databases, museum objects or photographic collections is also essential.
• Accurate, efficient and highly organised, with the ability to manage large quantities of digital information and maintain close attention to detail during sustained periods of database work.
• Personable and confident liaising with artists, academics, colleagues and project partners, and able to provide practical support to people accessing the collections.
• You will be able to manage your time effectively, remain focused and work both independently and collaboratively as part of a small team.
• The ability to write engaging content for social media would be an advantage but is not essential.

Key areas of responsibility

• Catalogue the project’s selected photographic collections to Museum standards, including establishing appropriate thesauri and authority-controlled fields.
• Prepare spreadsheets for the bulk upload of images and data to relevant databases and inventories.
• Organise and catalogue several thousand digitised photographs.
• Support collection visits by African artists and other researchers, including assisting visitors to access relevant photographic material and supervising visits where required.
• Contribute to biographical and provenance research and reorganise photographs into archival-quality storage.
• Maintain project documentation and correspondence.

The Masterplan

The British Museum is undertaking its biggest transformation since its founding nearly 300 years ago. This physical and intellectual transformation includes large scale building and gallery transformation, new ways of connecting with audiences and different ways of working. As we look towards this exciting future, we remain guided by the words of our founder Hans Sloane - who dreamed of a museum connecting all arts and sciences, which would be accessible to everyone, everywhere.

At the British Museum, we believe our people are at the heart of everything we do and have designed a benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary. Our full list of benefits can be found here, but we’ve outlined some highlights below:

• Free exhibition entry for you and guests, exclusive private views, ICOM and reciprocal museum access.
• Civil Service Pension Scheme defined benefit with considerable employer contribution.
• 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays and 2.5 privilege days (and +5 days after 10 years).
• Social and wellbeing perks including Staff parties, social clubs, CSSC sports and leisure, and support from the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship.
• Learning and development through courses, mentoring and Athena as well as support for professional qualifications.
• Enhanced parental leave including maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave.
• Support for carers through Employers for Carers.
• Interest‑free loans including season ticket, rental deposit and bicycle loans.

Our values drive everything we do, from how we handle our objects to how we work in our team to fostering a culture where everyone feels heard and empowered:

• Care Deeply
• Embrace the Unknown
• Spark Curiosity
• Value Many Voices

These are a core part of how we recruit. Throughout the application, interview and selection process, we look for examples of how candidates demonstrate these behaviours in their own work and experiences. We encourage you to familiarise yourself with our values and reflect them in your application.

If you have any additional needs that we should be aware of to support you with your application, please provide details to bmrecruit@britishmuseum.org.

Internal Applicants: We welcome internal applicants regardless of background, department or length of service but encourage you to let your manager know before applying. If you are on a permanent contract and want the fixed-term contract to be treated as a secondment, you will need to obtain your manager’s support before submitting an application.

The Museum also adheres to the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) for pre-employment screening of Civil Servants.