Staff Profile

Jennifer Atkinson oversees six distinct units that support the work of curators and conservators as well as the Harvard Art Museums’ mission as a center for teaching. Collections management is charged with the registration, movement, installation, and storage of collections and has ultimate logistical responsibility for control of and access to the collections, with a special emphasis on the safety, security, and efficiency of the handling and movement of works of art. Departments and programs under Atkinson’s supervision include the Art Study Center; registration departments for collections, exhibitions, and loans; collections administration; the campus lending program; exhibition design and production; and collections care. Atkinson has given presentations at the New England Museum Association, the American Alliance of Museums, and the New England Regional Art Museum, and she frequently acts as a resource for students and professional colleagues on the topics of collections moves, museum renovation, art storage, collections care, and logistics, as well as innovations in the field of collections management. She is a member of the executive board of the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African American Art at Harvard University and is an alumni advisor for the history of art and architecture program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.