Internship at the Fitzwilliam Museum- Conservation of Medieval Manuscripts & Rare Books

Ref 12/06 

Icon Internship – funded by the Sumitomo Foundation 

Conservation of Medieval Manuscripts and Rare Books  

6 months Internship - September 2012 to February 2013  

Venue: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 

Supervisor: Kristine Rose, Conservator of Manuscripts and Printed Books (Assistant 

Keeper) 

Educational Stipend of: £15, 750 pa pro- rata  

The Fitzwilliam Museum holds one of the finest museum collections of illuminated manuscripts in the 

world, second only to that of the Vatican Museum. It houses a remarkable collection of fine printed 

books, ranging from incunabula to contemporary artists’ books; a rich collection of manuscript and 

printed music, including autograph scores by leading composers, such as Purcell, Handel, Mozart, 

Beethoven, Vivaldi and Stravinsky; literary autographs by major writers, including John Keats, 

Thomas Hardy and Virginia Woolf; and extensive archives of artists, composers and literary figures.      

The successful candidate will work under the supervision of the Museum’s Conservator of 

Manuscripts and Printed Books and will be involved in every aspect of work in the busy 

Conservation studio. The interventive conservation of fine printed books, from the 15th to the 18th 

century, will form a central component of the internship. The intern will be encouraged to take 

initiative and responsibility for the conservation of individual volumes. In addition, the successful 

applicant will assist the Conservator’s work on illuminated manuscripts, including 17th-century 

Persian manuscripts as well as Western medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.  

The intern will also contribute to other major projects in the Department of Manuscripts and 

Printed Books: the preparations for the Museum’s next major exhibition, Calligraphy Today (Nov. 

2011-Jan. 2012), which will display contemporary calligraphy on parchment, paper and papyrus, as 

well as objects in stone, glass and ceramics; the conservation aspects of the new storage for the 

department’s special collections which will be under construction by September; and the research 

project MINIARE (www.miniare.org), which focuses on the non-invasive pigment analysis of 

illuminated manuscripts and involves collaboration with scientists, art historians and conservators in 

Cambridge as well as at academic and art institutions nationally and internationally.  

Through participation in these diverse projects, the intern will gain experience across a wide range 

of skills and develop an understanding of complex materials that present challenging conservation 

issues. There will be opportunities to present work to colleagues, students and the public.  

The Fitzwilliam Museum, founded in 1816, holds the art collections of the University of Cambridge. 

The Museum cares for more than 500,000 objects of national and international importance across 

five curatorial departments: Paintings, Drawings and Prints, Applied Arts, Antiquities, Coins and 

Medals, and Manuscripts and Printed Books.  The Hamilton Kerr Institute at Whittlesford is a 

department of the Museum, specialising in the conservation of paintings and the training of paintings 

conservators. The Museum conservators and the staff and students of the Hamilton Kerr Institute 

together make up the Fitzwilliam’s Conservation Division. In addition to working on material in the 

Department of Mnauscripts and Printed Books, the intern will be involved with other conservators 

in aspects of the Museum’s collection care programme. 

• A recent, recognised qualification in manuscript and book conservation is essential for this 

internship.  

• Experience with manuscript, book and archival material as part of that qualification or, 

through work experience to an equivalent level of understanding and practice, is desirable. 

Please apply using the application form on the Icon website only.  

Closing date 14 June, interviews will be held on 26 July 2012