With the generous support of the Donald and Marilyn Keough Foundation, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame has established a pre-doctoral, curatorial fellowship focused primarily on the development of its growing collection of Irish art dating back to the eighteenth century. The Fellow will be appointed for 12 months, working 30 hours per week with the assumption that the remaining 10 hours will be dedicated to the completion of the dissertation. The fellowship carries a $36,000 stipend plus benefits,* including medical benefits, life insurance and two-weeks vacation, with an additional $2,000 travel fund to conduct research or attend conferences related to the Museum’s collections. The Fellow will be appointed for one year with the possibility of renewal (with an attendant standard 3% increase of the stipend) based on progress toward completion of the dissertation and the advancement of the Museum’s objective to raise the profile of its collections through publications, participation in conferences, and the organization of exhibitions. The 12-month appointment runs on the University’s academic calendar, beginning in mid-August or early September 2024.

The primary responsibility will include research into the Museum’s growing collection of Irish prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, and photographs. The Museum values its collaborations with the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies (KNI) and the Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) division of Hesburgh Libraries whose holdings of Irish material is well known and highly esteemed. Reporting to the Curator of European and American Art before 1900, Fellows will have full access to these resources and the many faculty and visiting scholars from a wide array of disciplines they attract.

This is an especially exciting time for the visual arts at the University of Notre Dame as it recently opened the new Raclin Murphy Museum of Art to the public on December 1, 2023. The Keough Fellow’s curatorial assistance will be relevant for the interpretation of the collections in the Museum’s permanent galleries, digital presence, and plans for future temporary exhibitions and new acquisitions. A chief initiative is the organization of an exhibition focusing on the Irish artist Walter Osborne scheduled for fall 2025. Logistical coordination of the international loans, exhibition design and script writing will be fundamental. Other projects may include completing cataloguing that will further contribute to the Museum’s ongoing collection digitization project entitled Marble.

The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art has an active academic program, serving more than 10,000 university students from many disciplines every year. In light of the increasing collaborative opportunities between the Raclin Murphy Museum and KNI resulting from the growth of the Irish art collection, the Fellow may, at times, be asked to assist with supporting these classes by coordinating with the curator of education and her efforts to provide meaningful access to the collection not currently on view.

Candidates for the fellowship must be enrolled in a Ph.D. program at an accredited university in the United States or Europe and will have completed all course work and passed any qualifying exams 2 prior to application. Candidates writing dissertations on Irish artists or themes related to the Museum’s collection** will benefit most from this opportunity.

To apply: Applicants should complete the online application, submit a letter of interest identifying the relevance of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art’s collections to their research, c.v., writing sample, and two letters of recommendation from faculty and/or previous employers sent under separate cover. The Director of the Raclin Murphy Museum will have final approval of the appointment.

-In addition to two-weeks vacation, the Fellow will also have fall and spring breaks and any regularly scheduled University holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July) or days that the Museum is officially closed to the public (Labor Day). Fellows will be responsible for their own moving expenses and finding their own housing (on- or off-campus) with resources available through the University’s Division of Student Affairs, Residential Life, Graduate Students.

-To explore the Raclin Murphy Museum’s collection, see Cheryl K. Snay, et al., The Donald and Marilyn Keough Collection of Irish Art at the University of Notre Dame (Snite Museum, 2019); Catherine Bindman, et al, No Cross, No Crown: Prints by James Barry (Snite Museum, 2016). A complete list of Irish works in the collection is available upon request.

Candidates writing dissertations on Irish artists or themes related to the Museum’s collection will benefit most from this opportunity.

This is a ‘12 month’, limited term position