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Boston Career Explorer

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Museum Technicians and Conservators

Restore, maintain, or prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit. May work with specimens such as fossils, skeletal parts, or botanicals; or artifacts, textiles, or art. May identify and record objects or install and arrange them in exhibits. Includes book or document conservators.

Also called: Conservation Technician (Conservation Tech), Conservator, Exhibit Technician (Exhibit Tech), Museum Registrar, Museum Technician (Museum Tech), Objects Conservator

Median pay in Greater Boston
$58,530
$28.14/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
290
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+7.1%
40 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Bachelor's degree

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$48,680$53,220$58,530$70,200$87,650

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Determine whether objects need repair and choose the safest and most effective method of repair.
  • Specialize in particular materials or types of object, such as documents and books, paintings, decorative arts, textiles, metals, or architectural materials.
  • Recommend preservation procedures, such as control of temperature and humidity, to curatorial and building staff.
  • Install, arrange, assemble, and prepare artifacts for exhibition, ensuring the artifacts' safety, reporting their status and condition, and identifying and correcting any problems with the set up.
  • Study object documentation or conduct standard chemical and physical tests to ascertain the object's age, composition, original appearance, need for treatment or restoration, and appropriate preservation method.
  • Clean objects, such as paper, textiles, wood, metal, glass, rock, pottery, and furniture, using cleansers, solvents, soap solutions, and polishes.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Moderate exposure43 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 44
  • Language-model AIOE 44
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 42

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

Museum technicians and conservators have moderate AI exposure, and few people in this work use AI so far. AI tools may help with looking up object records and organizing documentation. Hands-on repair, testing, and handling fragile objects still depend on trained people making careful choices.

Likely to change

  • Searching and organizing object documentation
  • Drafting condition reports and treatment notes

Still relies on people

  • Hands-on repair of fragile objects
  • Choosing the safest treatment method

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

15 programs near Boston (plus 8 graduate)

Related occupations

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